A Journey into Scotland : Part The Last
Thank You and Farewell
From Culloden my journey took me back towards the A9 and my memories fade. I spent the night in Kingussie (sort of pronounced kin goosey but the first syllable is very soft and gentle) after ploughing over the mountain pass at Slochd Summit. To be honest I was heads down most of the way having received a call to get back to Devon even quicker than planned. I had thought of putting the bicycle on the train but was determined to reach both Malton and Huddersfield as these had been important places in my past and the journey was intended to take in every place I had ever lived. Malton would bring my formative years to an end. From there I got accepted at university and moved to Manchester to begin a new chapter of my life. A chapter that began by leaving school at sixteen with a handful of unimpressive qualifications and a job offer at a petrol filling station.
I stayed on the bicycle and headed south as fast as my legs would take me.
I couldn’t resist anything out of the ordinary and enjoyed brewing up at Carrbridge where the ancient pack bridge is reputed to be the oldest in Scotland. In days gone by the local loons invented their own version of tombstoning here and dived off. These days you’re advised to stay well back. The major damage was done in a flood many years ago. It is quite a sight.
A steam train near Aviemore. I’m reliably informed that this is as good a view of Aviemore as you are likely to get.
The road from Kingussie to Perth took me over another high pass at Drumochter. Again the road builders have made this a relatively easy climb for a fit cyclist and I was pretty fit by this time. Once past Pitlochry (where there are many opportunities to top up with short bread, sporrans and Arran sweaters before heading south) the land levels out and you are effectively in Lowland Scotland.
I stayed at Perth and then did my first hundred mile plus day by making the border town of Melrose. I continued taking photographs but these have been lost or mis-laid. In a way this whole story has been to write the notes to go with the packs of photographs that remained hidden in a box file for nearly 30 years. The photographs have run out and so has my story. From Melrose I came back into England over Carter Bar. I made it as far as Acomb and the following day slept in Edmundbyers before another all day cycle brought me to Malton. I made it to Huddersfield and the morning after cycled to Halifax where I caught a train to Preston (as the Huddersfield train wouldn’t take a bicycle). I arrived back in Exeter happy, healthy and owing a few bob.
I completed my score for the theatre company and performed with a few small troupes before accepting a teaching job in Halifax and beginning a career that lasted a quarter of a century.
Thank you for reading. I’ve enjoyed re-living some journeys and sharing a few thoughts on food along the way. I’ll keep the blog open and may even pen a few posts in the future. I can’t tell you how much I’ve enjoyed your company and reading your blogs (which I shall continue to do) and I wish you all the very best.
Fondest regards
Simon
travels in my own country 
Well done, lovely man. You have given so much pleasure to so many. Now do your own thing and we shall welcome any offering you make at some future date. Xx
I hope there will be more to come though it will be in a different format. Thank you for your companionship and support throughout this venture.
(I feel like an earthquake struck out of the blue, the house fell down, just as I was taking a shower, and I’m standing in the middle of the road utterly naked with nowhere to go.) Thanks for the wonderful journeys, Simon, and the fabulous food on the way. It
has been an adventure for us all. Every blessing! (And don’t hesitate to come back).
Your perceptive, friendly, funny and encouraging comments have made this a much more enjoyable adventure, for me, than it would otherwise have been. I’ve enjoyed your company enormously and hope to continue to do so.
Thank you so much Simon. It has been an amazing journey. Hope to see you back soon 🙂
Thank you. I’m thrilled that you have enjoyed these posts. I’ve certainly enjoyed reading yours. They make my wish to return to the delights of academic study. Best wishes. Simon
Veramente un viaggio eccezionale, che ho letto con molto piacere, anche se non sempre lasciavo commenti.
Grazie per averlo condiviso e per aver fatto vedere i luoghi con le foto che hai scattato.
Saluti, Patrizia
E ‘stato un piacere avere la vostra azienda e commenti. Continuerò a seguire il vostro delizioso blog e spero che possiamo continuare a corrispondere. Ciao. Simon
P.S.
Non restare troppo a lungo assente!! 🙂
I’ll be back!!
I have nominated you for the Liebster Award. See my blog for the details. Here are your questions. Congratulations! Sierra Michaels. http://sieramichaels.wordpress.com
Here are your 10 questions:
1. What inspires you to blog?
2. Ocean or mountain?
3. Favorite City?
4. Traveler or homebody?
5. Favorite time of the year?
6. Favorite movie?
7. Favorite book?
8. If you could have dinner with three people dead or alive, who would they be?
9. Top thing on your bucket list?
10. Morning or evening person?
Thank you for the offer but while it existed this was always an award free blog. Now it no longer exists it will ever remain so. Best wishes.
Aw, darn. I so enjoyed being in the saddle, effortlessly pedalling my way through Scotland. It’s as close as I’ll ever get to the real thing.
Please let me know if you decide to blog again here, or elsewhere. Otherwise, I do hope you fulfil your literary ambitions. It would be shame if your talent were not put to good use somewhere. Enjoy it all-and your veggie adventures.
It’s time to start planning the next adventure but first a stepladder, a packet of sandpaper a brush and several tins of paint are waiting. I have appreciated (and looked forward to) your comments ever since the blog brought our different ways of seeing the world into collision. All very best wishes. I will continue to follow those runs of yours and if I ever do produce any writing worth sharing, I shall certainly share it with you. With best wishes. Simon
Thank you Simon for a wonderful adventure. The bridge photo in this one is magnificent and all the photos are all very atmospheric. Now it’s time to wish you well with your next venture. I hope it is writing something that we can read further down the track. Shall miss your food photos!! I’ve enjoyed having you visit from time to time. Best wishes to you and your wife. xx
I’m in the early stages of seeing what can be done with a photograph after the shutter has been activated. I’ve learnt a great deal from all my fellow bloggers and will continue to read with interest. I’m sure we’ll meet again on here and ideally in Tasmania (though I’m not great at air travel). I have so enjoyed your comments and company. Love Simon x
What happened to Inverness ? Did I miss it ?
Never mind; it doesn’t matter …
Just don’t stop remembering these times.
Inverness is in there hidden under the battle of Culloden. I will remember these days for the rest of mine and thank you especially for your delightful company. I’ll be switching off the blog for a week or two in the spirit of a change being as good as a rest but will then continue to follow those who have made this journey such a pleasant one. You are a very special person and I feel blessed that our paths have crossed. With love. Simon
Oh, me too. Believe me ! I always get a thrill when I see your email in my lists; and save it till last.
You’ll be greatly missed; but it’s understood, the need for a recharge. And we have the assurance of your return to look forward to, my dear. That’s worth the wait.
Your natural facility for writing of the things that have meaning for you is, if I’m not boasting, a bit like mine, I think. But happily you have a lot more to write about !
Love from me, the slowly smallening M-R
Thanks for sharing your wonderful writing. I suppose I have no excuse now not to start going through your old posts. Thanks for keeping the blog open.
Good luck with your onward journey; bon voyage. 😀
It has been a pleasure Sarah. I feel it entirely possible that I will follow your route of taking a blogging break and then coming back with more occasional posts. I have enjoyed your blog, your encouragement and your company and hope to continue to do so. Warmest regards.
Thank you Simon, I appreciate your kind words.
A very fine end to a blog that has amused, instructed and amused in abundance. The photos you finished with are wonderful. The original journey was a major achievement and the blog has done it proud. Come back soon.
Thank you so much. We have a good deal more in common than I perhaps first recognised. I had no idea what a blog was when I started this and had no idea that it would lead to such good and welcome company. I could easily send your kind words right back at you. Your blog is intelligent, witty, genuinely funny (not always the same thing) and inspirational. I’ll take a break and then continue to read it with pleasure. I may even return with the occasional piece myself.
Love the bridge, and being able to ride via a bike even better. It brings you so close to your surroundings.
I agree, a bicycle is such a good way of getting around. By any other means I would have missed so much. Thank you for your comment.
I looked away for an instant and now you are gone? I feel as if my child has disappeared into the cereal aisle whilst I am looking for bread. Oh wait, my four-legged children are not allowed in the market. Perhaps I misread. Are you really closing up shop? A fond farewell, until we meet again in your literary journey. It has truly been a delight. Do let us know when these posts have been combined into a book because that is what you have written here my friend. Au revoir!!!
I feel you are my oldest (in the correct way) blogging friend. We’ve both come a long way and I will continue to follow your cooking, your recipes and your love for those four legged fellows. I’m not planning on putting the blog posts into book form. I think they’ve done good service as what they are. But I do hope to put some words between book covers at some point and will let you know if that happens (unlikely in the next five years). Thank you for your companionship. Until the next time..
Noooooo, you can’t stop! (Well you can, but please do keep us all entertained even if it is more occasionally!) Thank you for all of your work.
And thank you for giving me more pleasure from reading about beer than I ever got from drinking it. There may be an occasional blog but for the moment it feels as though I have completed the circle. Jolly and I are planning a long walk in the spring and before that I’ve got a lot of wallpaper to hang and paint to smear. You’re a good man Simon Broderick and I’ve enjoyed your company and hope to continue to do so. I haven’t forgotten an offer to bring a good pork pie to Athlone at some stage.
I have SOOO enjoyed your blog: the photographs, writing style, history and science, wisdom, and especially nature writings and photos. Oh, wait! How did I forget food?!! That too!!! We will miss you so very much. But I am happy for you that you are looking forward to new projects and adventures. I will be going back through your old posts since I never got to read them all and will enjoy every single one. My mom also loves your blog! Best regards to you, your wife, and all your family in this next stage, and thank you for the many gifts your blog has given to all of us! Dixie
How I wish I could have been on this ride with you…so much history and beautiful countryside. Really loved this journey…and I get to look forward to catching up as I look at your past posts. Take care!
I’d love to do the ride again. It was quite an experience. I’m limited by a dog who I won’t put into kennels and is too much of a handful for those who would otherwise look after her. Therefore another cycle is out of the question (unless she rides pillion!). We’re planning a long walk up the spine of England before deflecting out towards the coast. I hope to write that up.
Many thanks for your kind and supportive comments. I will continue to follow your blog with a degree of awe. Best wishes.
Nothing like having ‘man’s best friend’ along side…a walk up the spine of England would be a great adventure, although riding pillion would be pretty cool!
Cheers!
I do hope to see you back again soon! All the best to you, Simon!
🙂
Stunning photos there!
Finally, finally, caught up with your Last Post. Or rather the last episode of your grand tour. Something special, Simon, and shame on me for missing so many stages (on a journey of my own, as it happens, moving house) but very inspiring and what a privilege to share both travails and travel. Good luck with your current endeavours, and may they inspire another sequence of posts in the not too distant future.
Many thanks for your comments. your fabulous blogs and your company. I rather think that, but for a sign off, that may be it for me as far as this blog is concerned. It’s been most enjoyable and has put me in touch with a number of people it has been a pleasure to correspond with. I hope I am able to stay in touch. I will certainly drop in on your blog from time to time.
Well, thank you so much for your comments and your company, Simon. At least there’ll be all those posts of yours to catch up on, even if you don’t keep this blog up–though that would be a shame: you have a rare gift for writing engagingly.
Hello Simon, I remember the day very well when you knocked on my door and told me you had once lived at my house, 51 Pennyland Drive, and asked me to take a photograph of you at the front door, I invited you in for a cup of tea, and we had a nice chat, and went out into the garden, and I seem to remember you took a picture of me holding my two year old son Paul…. Its amazing to come across you again after all these years.. My husband and I still live there to this very day.. A colleague of my husband shared the link to your blog, he noticed our address and wondered if it was me you were talking about… and it was haha !
Dear Maggie. I’m amazed and delighted to hear from you. I hope you don’t mind me mentioning you in the blog (though I’m afraid I had forgotten your name). I’m thrilled that you are still living in the house. It will always mean an awful lot to me. The blog allowed a lot of memories to surface both of the early sixties and of the cycle ride in 1987. I’ve temporarily added the photo of you and Paul onto the relevant post to allow you to take a copy if you would like to. My fondest greetings from Clowne. I don’t suppose I will return to Thurso again; certainly life is too busy to plan any major journeys for the foreseeable future. BUT if I do, I will be sure to knock on the door of 51 Pennyland Drive in the sure knowledge that the house belongs to lovely people. Kindest regards. Simon
http://simonjohnsonofclowne.com/2014/10/20/day-414-who-taught-you-to-read/
No I didn`t mind at all you mentioned me.. I always wanted to see the photo of Paul and I, and now 28 years later here it is…thank you SO much for posting it, and I`m afraid I had forgotten your name too ! but I do remember the mug you had hanging from your handlebars.. yes we are still here.. we have had a wonderful time in this house, my youngest son Paul who I am posing with in the picture is now 30 years old, and works offshore.. My eldest son lives with his family in Brisbane, and my middle son lives locally… and now I have 5 grandchildren and another on the way…and if ever you do come up here again… rest assured a cup of tea, coffee (or something stronger!) will be waiting.. warm wishes to you and your family.. peace and love, Maggie
Simon, thank you for your card, it was so unexpectedly special to receive it.
I shall take this opportunity to wish You and Your loved ones, a very very Happy Christmas and warm Blessings for the New Year..Peace and Love always, and all ways, Maggie