To Hell and back

We decided to have a day out on the last day of the summer holidays. A trip to Troup Head to see the gannets (not that there were *that* many left), a barbecue on the beach and then a walk to Hell's Lum. We had first spotted Hell's Lum from the distance, when we visited Peace Camp. Today we decided to see if we could explore it.

Looking towards Pennan from the path to Fort Fiddes, and then looking across to Hell's Lum.

It was a steep scramble...

... but we managed it no problem.

Reaching the top here ...

... we could see a glimmer of light in the distance, and hear the sea.

The tunnel stretches right through the headland and is very impressive.

We scrambled our way back up, which wasn't as bad as I expected it to be. Seems rather ironic that, after all this scrambling up and down very steep slopes, I managed to badly sprain my ankle immediately on returning home - by running to get the washing in as it had started raining! So I haven't been out walking since, and going by the slow rate of progress with my ankle it'll be a good few weeks more before I'm walking anywhere much - let alone somewhere like Hell's Lum. 

Not really the best way to end the holidays - or to start a new job!

Peace, perfect peace

As the Olympic flame seemed to rather miss out the vast majority of the north and north east corners of Scotland (we must have been in the 5% of the population it didn't pass within 10 miles of - so I can only assume, given the number of people in this area, that it passed within 10 miles of everywhere else in the country...) it was surprising to find that we had a Cultural Olympiad event - Peace Camp. It was part of the London 2012 festival and was an art installation in coastal locations around the UK. There were 2 locations in Scotland - Valtos Beach in Lewis, and Fort Fiddes, Cullykhan Bay, between Pennan and Fraserburgh in Aberdeenshire.

We had no real idea what it was going to be like, but decided it sounded like it was defintely worth a look. The first night we had tickets for the event was cancelled - it was apparently because of high winds, but having been in the area (less than 2 miles away on both sides of the site) earlier that day and again early evening, I'm not sure why this was a problem. Apparently the tents all had to be taken down, but they were definitely still standing when we drove past at almost the exact time our tickets had been for! Anyway, we obtained more tickets for the next night, and headed off...

Views of the site from Pennan.

First close up view.

The views from the site itself were spectacular - from Hell's Lum along to Troup Head in one direction, and Pennan in the other.

The art installation itself was weirdly compelling - small rounded tents, lit internally, with a 'soundscape' being played on speakers inside the tents, so as you wandered round the site you could listen as well as look at the lighting and just enjoy the experience of being there. A gentle sunset added to our experience.

Afterwards we went down to Cullykhan Bay - the campers around their fire had a great view too.

A great evening.