Julian Worker's Blog, page 8

Offer – 9 Canadian Cities

The book 9 Canadian Cities from Victoria to Montreal is available at a discount between 30th April and 7th May.

Canada is the world’s second-largest country and is justly famous for its great outdoors. This does not mean visitors should ignore the cities. Vancouver and Toronto are the best-known cities and are covered in great detail elsewhere.

I’ve concentrated on nine cities in western and central Canada, each of which is worth a few days of your time. The journey I describe took the best part of 5 weeks and Montreal was the furthest point east that I visited. The pleasures of Quebec City and The Maritimes await. It’s worth mentioning that it’s three thousand miles by road from Victoria to Montreal in a more or less straight line. That’s a long way, a similar distance to the mileage from London to the shores of the Caspian Sea.

All the cities are close to magnificently varied and beautiful countryside, so if your urban surroundings become too much, it’s easy to get out into the natural sprawl of the country.

This book is a travelogue and not a travel guide. I went to all the places I describe and tried to see as much as I could, but you can’t see everything and perhaps you shouldn’t always try as it’s good to leave a few places to see on your next visit.

I’ve added the size of each province and territory as well as the population to show how vast the country is and how low the population density is.

Day 7 – Loch Shiel

Loch Shiel is a beautiful freshwater loch that’s 18 miles long and the best way to see the entire length is via Loch Shiel Cruises. Captain Ali is a great skipper, Peter can see white-tailed eagles coming from miles away, and Robbie has all the local geological and historical information at his fingertips including the journey of Bonnie Prince Charlie to the head of the loch where he began his ill-fated quest to take over the British throne in the Jacobite rebellion. On the cruise I was on, we saw two white-tailed eagles diving for fish in the loch close to the boat as well golden eagles, buzzard, waterfowl, and sea birds who were on holiday from the nearby coast. The scenery is beautiful and the variety of trees is gorgeous with many shades of green dotting the steep sides. The bare mountains have great grandeur.

Isle of Jura – 2

This is a sight to behold, between the east coast of Jura and the uninhabited island of Scarba. It’s not just a whirlpool, it’s a tidal race too where the waters of the Atlantic get forced into a steep-sided channel with its very own underwater pinnacle called The Hag, that creates the vortex you see on the surface. The Royal Navy does class this area as unsailable, although fast speed boats do skim across most of the waves, allowing visitors wearing life jackets the opportunity to look at the swirling waters from close at hand. It goes without saying that canoeing and kayaking are probably not a good idea in this stretch of water at any time. There is a story that George Orwell almost came a cropper here, his boat sinking and he and his son just managing to scramble to a nearby rock where they were eventually rescued. 

Walking for around fourteen miles up and down the east coast is not the best preparation for walking up The Paps of Jura. That’s my excuse anyway. The Paps are three mountains on the western side of the island. Their highest point is 2,575 feet, and although that doesn’t seem very high, these are steep-sided quartzite hills. Their conical shapes resemble breasts and the Vikings thought so too, as the word pap is an ancient word of Old Norse origin for the breast. I made it to the top of the lowest of the three Paps called Beinn a’ Chaolais. As there was cloud all around, I decided that was enough. The descent took a lot longer than the ascent, as the scree is loose and I had to zig-zag down at a slow pace. You might just need a stick for the descent. 

There has been a recent increase in the craze of classifying hills / mountains in the UK, so that almost any hill will fit into a classification. This started with Munros and Corbetts, but has spread to lower and lower peaks. Beinn a’ Chaolais is classed as a Fiona as is the second highest peak Beinn Shiantaidh, whereas the highest of the three, Beinn an Oir, is classed as a Corbett. 

A Corbett is a peak between 2,500 and 3,000 feet high. Originally just used in Scotland, it is now sometimes used in other parts of the UK. It is named after John Rooke Corbett (1876–1949), who compiled a list of these peaks in 1952. A Fiona is a hill in Scotland that is between 2,000 and 2,499 feet (610 and 761 meters) tall, with a drop of at least 150 meters on all sides. The hills are also known as Grahams, and are named after the late hillwalker Fiona Torbet (née Graham).  

Day 6 – Glenfinnan, Scotland

A steam train pulling carriages from Mallaig back to Fort William passing through Glenfinnan station just before the train crosses the Glenfinnan viaduct.

I’d just been over that same viaduct on the West Highland Express train from Glasgow’s Queen Street station. This is a wonderful journey through Glasgow’s suburbs before heading past Loch Lomond to Crianlarich where the train splits into two. The first two coaches head to Oban and the other carriages begin the rest of their trip to Mallaig crossing Rannoch Moor before heading towards Fort William and the bulk of Ben Nevis.

At Fort William, the train comes in and goes back out the same way. To see the Glenfinnan Viaduct, sit on the left facing the engine. Soon after the train stops at Glenfinnan station so you can enjoy the station museum, the important Glenfinnan Monument, and perhaps a cruise on Loch Shiel.

Day 5 – Glasgow School of Art

The Glasgow School of Art is housed in a number of buildings along Renfrew Street in the centre of Glasgow. The most famous building was designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh between 1896 and 1909. The eponymous Mackintosh Building soon became one of the city’s iconic landmarks, of international fame. It is a pioneer of the British Art Nouveau style. It has been badly damaged by fire twice in the last eleven years and it was good to see the building without scaffolding.

The plane from Barra was delayed by around two hours due to low levels of light today, but the plane did arrive in Glasgow unlike the previous day when flights were cancelled due to fog. Even though it was windy at ground level, there was little turbulence higher up.

Day 4 – Barra, Outer Hebrides, Scotland

Barra has a distillery and I visited on a Sunday. As per the photo, the shop sells all their products and has information on the distilling process.

Isle of Barra Distillers is a family-owned spirits company based in Castlebay, founded in 2017. It’s best known for its award-winning Barra Atlantic Gin, infused with local seaweed, harvested sustainably on the island. The company also produces vodka, rum, and a rhubarb and heather gin liqueur.

A new £12 million distillery is set to open in 2026, bringing whisky production to the island, though you have to remember it will be probably 10-12 years before the distillery will produce a malt whisky(if that’s the intention).

The distillery is located near the Co-op and Padula’s Barra Island store where I purchased a freshly made and very tasty cappucino flavoured with caramel.

When visiting Castlebay, if you enjoy cuisine from India, you must try Cafe Kisimul near the ferry terminal. This is authentic Punjabi cooking. Cafe Kisimul first opened its doors in 2004. There’s Hebridean produce, classic curries, Scottish beer from what appear to be independent brewers, and malt whiskies. For a dessert, you can drink ‘flights’ of three whiskies – generous amounts too – from the Highlands, Speyside, the islands, and Islay. The ‘islands’ whiskies comprise Arran, Talisker, and Tobermory from Mull.  

Day 3- Vatersay, Outer Hebrides, Scotland

A complete contrast to yesterday with thin clouds jogging over the island propelled by a strong breeze with plenty of lovely sunshine thrown in for good measure.

Today, I caught the W33 bus from the ferry terminal in Castlebay to Vatersay and was dropped off at the Annie Jane memorial overlooking the beautiful white sands of Traigh Shiar. The cost was one pound seventy pence. I decided to walk back along the road to Castlebay, in effect walking the first five miles of the Hebridean Way footpath and cycling route.

The monument commemorates the tragic shipwreck of the emigrant sailing ship the ‘Annie Jane’ which went on the rocks on this beach on 28th September 1853.

The ship left Liverpool on 9th September bound for Quebec. The ship lost its mast but still continued before it was  caught in an on-shore gale and wrecked.

The remains of the 350 men, women and children who died are buried in the dunes but the exact location of the two mass graves is unknown.

Heading back towards Barra, there’s also a memorial to a Catalina aircraft that crashed on 12th May 1944. Some of the wreckage still lies amongst the heather by the road. The World War II Catalina flying boat came down during a training flight from Oban, killing 3 of the nine men crew.

The walk is not all doom and gloom even though I did pass the WWI / WWII memorial on the Barra side closer to Castlebay. The Community Centre at the start of the Hebridean Way serves lovely cakes and biscuits and the views are stunning as you head northwards. Make sure not to miss Traigh a Bhaigh beach on the right hand side just after starting out.

The road has many passing places so if you’re walking be observant regarding which vehicles are around you in both directions. As regards the bus service, if there is a ‘B’ next to a service, don’t assume the service will run, phone the number provided on the timetable to make sure they’ll pick you up at the time indicated.

 

Isle of Jura – 1

The first item to mention about Jura is that the Jurassic period is not named after this island, but after the Jura Mountains that form part of the border between Switzerland and France. The name of the island is usually attributed to the Norse meaning ‘Deer Island’, although in Gaelic the word ‘diura’ means ‘tough or durable’. 

I caught the ferry from Port Askaig on Islay to Feolin on Jura. This is a local ferry that runs between just these two places. I believe the flat-bottomed boat I caught was a stand-in as the permanent one was undergoing maintenance. At Port Askaig, we pedestrians all had to wait until a large pantechnicon backed onto the ferry and then we all squeezed in around the edges. All the other vehicles had to wait for the next ferry. We chugged over the water and I admired the view of the Paps of Jura whose tops were covered in misty clouds. 

The bus was waiting to take any passengers to Craighouse, the main settlement on the island. Jura has around 200 permanent residents, a number that can be easily doubled and more by summer visitors. There is also a passenger ferry from Tayvallich on the Knapdale Peninsula to Craighouse. Buses do run to Tayvallich via Lochgilphead from Glasgow and meet up with the Jura ferry, a journey that takes less than 4 hours.

I stayed at the wonderful Jura Hotel with its bar and restaurant that seemed to be the centre of the island’s social life. My room overlooked the distillery so there was no excuse for me to miss visiting the place. There’s a rum distillery called Deer Island nearby and a gin distillery at Inverlussa on the way to Barnhill. 

The road from Feolin up the east coast of Jura is the only tarmac’ed road on the island. It’s about two cars wide, with passing places every few hundred yards, in case you meet the public bus or the lorry from the distillery. This road carries on through Craighouse up to Inverlussa. Just beyond, visitors can park and carry on walking up the coast towards Barnhill where George Orwell came to complete the first draft of the novel that would become 1984. Barnhill is a private house so visitors shouldn’t go into the property especially to admire the view Orwell would have had from an upstairs window, looking towards the Scottish mainland. Two miles further on, across some very boggy ground – you can sink up to your waist if you’re careless like I was – is a headland that overlooks the Corryvreckan whirlpool.

Day 2 – Barra, Outer Hebrides, Scotland

A complete contrast to yesterday with the clouds scudding over the island propelled by what seems to be a strong wind that means you have to hold on to your hat.

What better day then to visit Buth Bharraigh Ltd, a local community social enterprise providing a route to market for local produce and artisan’s work. I bought a hat that will stay on my head instead of heading towards the Atlantic like the previous one did. I bought some birthday cards and admired local paintings and wool products. There’s books on the area as well as food including the bulk purchase of certain items that people take away in their own containers ranging from shampoo to popcorn – please see photo.

I also visited Dualchas the heritage cultural centre on Barra where I read about the local life and traditions. Unfortunately one of those traditions was the landlords throwing people off their land. I’d heard of the Highland Clearances but never of the Island Clearances which happened until 1923, when around 60 people from Barra were given the opportunity by Emily Gordon Cathcart the local ‘landowner’ to move to Red Deer in northern Alberta in Canada. Cathcart was anti-Catholic and tried to replace the people on nearby Vatersay with sheep, but failed to do so thanks to the bravery of locals. The people Cathcart sent to Alberta spoke Gaelic, were fisherfolk, and had never seen a tree before. In Red Deer, an English-speaking town, they were given land covered by trees that they had to fell and then turn into farmland. They realised that misinformation had been provided by the church too. Somehow, some of those people made a go of this terrible situation, but others couldn’t cope and either moved or ended their lives. Another problem was that close-knit community people were given large plots of land that were many miles from their nearest neighbour. This was similar to the plight of Ukrainians in Manitoba in the 1800s that I read about on a trip to Winnipeg three years ago.

Day 1 – Barra, Outer Hebrides, Scotland

I flew from Glasgow to Barra in the Outer Hebrides today, Thursday 24th April. As you can see from the photo, Barra airport is a beach on the north of the island. The airport cafe is lovely and I had a coffee and snack there before catching the W32 bus (2 pounds 10 pence single) to Castelbay the main place on the island. The weather was sunny and after leaving my belongings at the hotel, I walked over to Vatersay for some exercise. The idea is to catch the W33 bus on Saturday and walk around the island of Vatersay.

Castlebay is so called because of Kisimul Castle situated in the bay. It’s the former home of the Chief of the MacNeils but is now in the possession of Historic Scotland.