A Visit to Northern Scotland @lucyburdette

LUCY BURDETTE: you may remember back in 2019 that I went on a wonderful small musical tour in Scotland that became the basis for A Scone of Contention. As the pandemic locked us all down, I developed a terrible itch to visit the stomping grounds of Ann Cleeves, whose Shetland series is one of my very favorites. I was yearning to see the haunts of Jimmy Perez. Luckily, I found another small tour focusing on walking and music in northern Scotland, the Orkney islands, and Shetland, and was able to talk some friends and family into going with me. I will show you a few highlights, but I promise to keep this brief! 

We started out in Stirling, Scotland, where I realized right away that I should have learned to play the bagpipes when I had the chance in high school. (Our high school in New Jersey had the only all girl bagpipe band in the country back in the 70s.) I did dabble in trying the drums (unsuccessful), and then became a sword dancer for the bagpipe band.

Our next stop was in Wick up on the northeast corner of Scotland. We visited the most amazing Wick Heritage Museum, crammed with artifacts and history of the area including its strength as the center of a salted herring boom before WWI. While in that museum, we were treated to a concert by well-known fiddler Gordon Gunn, and his accompanist Isobel Harp. In the background of the video, you can see some of the herring fisherman wearing the sweaters that are famous in that area.

After a shortish ferry ride to Orkney, we visited the mystical standing stones of Stenness...

and then onto an incredible multi-level archeological site called the Ness of Brodgar—all seen in a driving, cold rain. This is the only photo I managed to get—you might think it was a dump rather than a fascinating archeological dig with layers and layers of historical artifacts and structures stretching over many thousands of years. 

The whole thing was accidentally discovered when a neighboring farmer plowed up a stone. We were so lucky to have our tour from site director Nick Card.

I had no idea there had been so much World War II action in this part of the world (I am no historian!) This was a church called the Italian Chapel, built by Italian prisoners during the war. I began to imagine the historical romance I could write between a prisoner and a local Orkney girl. 

At the bookstore in Kirkwall, I inquired whether such a book existed. Umm, yes. There was an entire shelf of them, which I figured saved me a lot of trouble researching and writing something totally unfamiliar. 

That night we heard the music of Douglas Montgomery, along with his musical partner Brian Cromarty, and Douglas’s astonishingly talented children Lily, Magnus, and Tom. 

(Magnus and Tom had played for then Prince Charles on the island of Hoy earlier in the day.) Oh how I wish I’d stuck with an instrument as a kid!

If you’ve read the Shetland series, you will have heard of the ferry from Orkney to Shetland (about ten hours overnight.) Here was our bunk—I was prepared for the high seas with a scopolamine patch, but it was one of the mildest crossings our guide had experienced. 

Photo by Steve C

Finally we reached Jimmy Perez’s stomping grounds…below, his home...

We were taken on so many amazing hikes…

with one stop at a small graveyard where our musician guide Ed played a lament at fiddler Tom Anderson’s grave.

And then a concert and storytelling from Maurice Henderson on this rugged beach near Tangwick...

There was one extra guest in the audience...

Back on the mainland, our last stop was with fiddler Dougie Lawrence in Findhorn. 

By this point, we’d obviously done in our guides…

A final goodbye concert (Sneug Water Waltz,) though I hope we’ll be back!

My brother-in-law sent me this, do you think it’s too late?