A train ride to Inverness, a couple of hours clattering across Inverness’ cobbled streets with my luggage, and a long busride later, and I’m away from the glamour of the Scottish cities and deep into the Highlands.

Ullapool is a small village on the northwest coast of Scotland, in the Highlands but also easily reached by bus from Inverness. I chose it because it seemed like a place to walk around and take in scenery while also having the basic amenities and some places to hide out and sketch the view in case the day should turn wet. Most of the Highlands require a car, and Ullapool seemed like a perfect solution for me. Getting off the bus, immediately I knew I had made the right decision. Ullapool was dramatically beautiful, even in the cool, wet weather.

My bus came in a little early and I started to walk towards the b&b, when the b&b owner actually came and found me in her car and gave me a lift and an incidental quick tour of the village, pointing out everything I might want to know about during my stay – book stores, restaurants, an art gallery, and so on. Alice was really kind and helpful, and arriving at Wingfold B&B was a relief after a long trip. They have one of the few single rooms in Ullapool (in most cases, a solo traveler has to either take a hostel bed or pay for double occupancy), which the owner calls “The Lilac Room” and decorates accordingly. It was cozy and sweet and so good to come home to.

Immediately I went out to explore the main area of town, and sketched along the harbour area. The harbour actually looks into Loch Broom, not to sea, which confused me at first.

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…and I had dinner at the Ferry Boat Inn. The scampi was luscious.

 I was still deeply sad to have left Glasgow and Edinburgh, but it was deeply wonderful to be in Ullapool. Even in poor weather, which seemed to be arriving, I looked forward to sketching this amazing place.

I woke up this day already feeling heartbroken that my time in Glasgow was now coming to an end, but at least that knowledge got me out the door early, excited to sketch all the Must-Sketch locations that had been missed so far.

Oops; this one is a little skewed by the angle of the photograph. The view is from Great Western Road a few blocks east of my b&b; I had been walking down this street repeatedly over the last week and was very fond of it. I’m actually seated on Kelvin Bridge near the entrance of the subway station and directly over the Kelvin river. Looking down on the other side of the river while walking by, I had often seen men hanging out on the grassy banks drinking beer and fishing.

Then it was up to the University of Glasgow for this view of the Kelvingrove Museum emerging from the foliage of Kelvingrove Park, which is basically Glasgow’s Central Park. Beautiful scene. I was already starting to have issues with mixing greens – I tend to bite off more than I can chew and end up with muddy clashing tones, so here I experimented with adding as little color as possible.

A student tour group came by while I was there and snapped a lot of photos; this would be the first time (but not the last) that someone asked permission to take my photograph because they thought it was interesting to see a person sketching.

I broke for lunch and stopped by Two Fat Ladies for some seafood. It’s fancier than I would normally feel comfortable with but I’d read a review online and wanted to make sure to eat a very nice meal while in Glasgow. I had a Cullen Skink (seafood chowder) which was very lovely; portions of firm-yet-tender smoked haddock in a light-yet-rich creamy pale yellow broth, and the spring green leeks provided a perfect visual/textural balance. My main dish was fillet of coley with black pudding crust and apple/celery fricasse, and it was all tender and flavorful. But I sketched the iron work in the front window.

I had to run some errands in the City Centre, so went wandering through Merchant City again and found a gorgeous vantage point looking at the City Chambers building. I didn’t capture the grand feel of the scene but it was still fun.

Then I visited Glasgow Central train station for some people sketching. For anyone who spends a lot of time on any sort of public transit and feels bored with all the waiting involved this may seem like a strange choice, but I reveled in the opportunity to simply be in the train station, listening to the announcements, watching the people, checking the destination board.

Afterwards I was quite tired but still managed to drag myself out to The Wise Monkey bar (two blocks from my b&b) for some live music. Just a tiny bit of sketching…

…but I was glad to be there, since I hadn’t seen as much live music as I’d hoped for while in Glasgow. This band was influenced by ’70s rock and glam and was actually quite fun to listen to. The bar had free wifi, free music every night, a definitely eclectic feel, reasonable and vegetarian friendly food options, and even a book recommendation of the week scrawled on the board. Good place! I can imagine living around the corner and spending a lot of time here. Like many Scottish, English, and Irish bars, this place was large enough to accommodate music in the larger room while groups gather to talk in other nooks and crannies – with this kind of configuraration, live music doesn’t take over the entire establishment, it’s just an option you can choose.

Glasgow is so wonderful to spend time with, and I could have stayed here to sketch for quite a while longer – but had to catch an 8:45 train to Inverness in the morning. Goodbye, Glasgow – for now!

Once upon a time, I was on the train with Stephen and we could see the village of North Berwick through the trees as we passed by on another line. I remember it looked impressive so always hoped to visit it some day.

Today was that day.

I took the train to Edinburgh and then caught this train to North Berwick…

North Berwick is an old Victorian town down the east coast from Edinburgh. Immediately off the train I met a retired woman from Bath who was traveling alone, and we walked together for awhile. Sometimes people seem surprised and impressed that I travel alone, but I have met a lot of older women doing the same, they are the ones that impress me – they have not gotten lazy in their older age and I hope to follow their example.

Together Catherine and I navigated straight for the beach and walked towards town…

The sky was dramatic and lighting was constaintly shifting, so I tried to capture the look of the sunlight touching just bits of the hill and the town…

It appears there was once a church out on this rocky promontory, but most of it fell into the sea, leaving only this little ancient porch and some partial stone walls.

Since this would be my last day on the East Coast, I had to head back to Edinburgh for some more sketching there before the weather turned.

Edinburgh!

This is along Fleshmarket Close…

Then Cockburn Street, where I ducked out of the rain into the Scotsman Lounge and did this sketch over a half Guinness while listening to drunk locals singing in Gaelic apparently to impress to the bartender that they knew as much Gaelic as she did…

Then a view down the Royal Mile…

And it was starting to rain again so I popped into a cafe for a clotted cream scone and coffee, and got this view out the window…

I just walked after that, and the rain started dumping down but I felt happy and wished for more time in Edinburgh. Alas, that was my last day there on this trip.

Today I was finally to meet up with one of the Glasgow urban sketchers, Stuart. Unfortunately Wil got hit by a heavy work load and had to cancel!

That morning I stopped for a cream scone at the Willow Tea Room (scone, strawberry jam, butter, clotted cream, and tea of course)…

and then joined Stuart at a place he chose because… lo and behold… soy lattes! Yay! They also had plenty of vegan and vegetarian fare, so if you have need of such in Glasgow, look up Stereo. It’s central and it’s cozy and it’s an oasis of healthy food in a land of fried sausage.

I only got one sketch in with Stuart, we had to take shelter from the rain in this enclosed street, Merchant Square I believe…

and here’s Stuart posing with some of his commercial work, which we happened to pass on the way to our sketching location!

Stuart was really wonderful, a joy to spend time with, and it was especially wonderful to have a friendly evening out in Glasgow. It really reset my mood again, and the next day was a good one. Thanks again Stuart!

After a recuperative night in, I woke on the fifth day feeling pretty good, like maybe I’m going to be able to keep up a good pace and not retreat overly early.

This is a view from Cathedral street, walking from city centre towards the cathedral…

Then, still before actually getting into the Necropolis, I got distracted by a Police Box…

and finally, I’m at the Necropolis.

Not pictured is my lunch at Blackfriars. This is a pub that features some unusual beers and I had a fun conversation with a bartender there that really wants to figure out how to get your average Scot to take interest in beers besides your average session beers. He said a Scottish customer will walk in, ask for Tennent’s, and when they don’t have that he may ask for a couple other well-known lagers, and failing that he’ll just walk out the door. Sad state of affairs, but what do you do? Drinking culture is very different here than in… well, I don’t know about the States as a whole, but it’s different from Portland, that’s for sure.

I had a lot of trouble capturing the cathedral, so I’m skipping one sketch and moving on to these studies…

After returning from Edinburgh I went out for a beer at Oran Mor (a cathedral nearly across from my b&b)…

and then tried to hear live music at Nice & Sleezy but was misinformed as to their start time, and ended up next door where everybody was about half my age drinking the crappiest cheap booze ever (cloyingly sweet ciders, lager, and bottled flavored vodkas) but a band was playing. I didn’t manage to stay put very long. This is the aspect of solo travel that is hardest: finding ways to feel comfortable when at pubs and clubs.

The next day I visited the Riverside Museum and the Tall Ship Glenlee, and… it seems like there was a lot more, but apparently I walked a lot and that must be one of the days I crashed early and fell back to the hotel in order to watch weird British telly and eat Jelly Babies.

The Riverside Museum is pretty great!  I could have sketched in there for days… but of course didn’t. Trains and trams and carriages and buses and bikes, along with a replicated Main Street.  I wish the Waverly steamer would have been around with its fat red smokestacks, but it was away in England.

It was a lot of fun sketching the train because as I sat there, I got to listen to Glasgow’s parents teaching the next generation to love trains.

This is the dock right next to the museum.

On the third day I visited Edinburgh, still mostly in a kind of haze – still adjusting to being on vacation.  I walked a lot, and did one drawing I didn’t like even after reworking it and patching it and reworking again…

another study…

…and another from near Waverly that I liked much better and which was in a loose style I wish I could replicate on demand.

I still feel the same about Edinburgh as I did in the past: it’s incredibly beautiful with much to offer, but it doesn’t feel welcoming and warm the way Glasgow does.  That said, I had a great time on my return visit a few days later and now am absolutely pining for more Edinburgh time… more on that soon of course!

It’s actually Day 6 now, and I’m only now starting to hit my stride. Unfortunately, upon arrival in Glasgow I quickly discovered I can’t actually do everything all the time (surprise!) and in the end I’m not making comics here, which is hard to give up but it’s way more important to spend these precious hours exploring the city and sketching.  I also immediately had technical issues as well which is the reason I haven’t been posting more frequently.

But on to Day 2!

It’s the strangest thing to hear small children speaking with a Scottish accent.  It always sounds to me like it must take a huge amount of effort and practice to speak that way.  Obviously it doesn’t and that’s ridiculous, but it still is amazing and delightful to hear a very small person making those crazy, crazy sounds.

My first conversation was with the bus driver, who looked like Robert Carlyle.  Or at least, his brother.  Or at least, his countryman.

Me: How much does the bus cost?

Him: Thrrrree poond for’eh.

Me: And when do you leave?

Him: In five or sex mennuts.

He spoke in a very gentle, kindly tone, like a grandparent praising his favorite grandchild.  (The next day, the ticket checker on the train would tell me “That’s great, cheers!” just for presenting the right ticket.  He was so enthusiastic, I really believed I must have done something pretty awesome.  This is what I love about Glaswegians.)

I arrived at the hotel during their morning breakfast service and expected to just drop off my bag until later, but they hurried to vacuum my room so I could get in immediately. Very friendly, fast, efficient.

I could almost have fallen asleep right then and there – didn’t sleep much the night before *or* on the plane – but Glasgow was knocking at my door.  I went walking…

…and walking, and walking.  I walked until my legs ached.  I used the wrong words when asking for things in shops, repeatedly had momentary panics when it looked like cars were coming towards me with no one in the driver’s seat, and… well, all those things you do when you’re out of your element.  As I walked, I came across more and more familiar places; the bar where I met Stephen, the street he used to live on with Neil, the restaurant where I met up with Liz.  All good memories that made me feel at home.

It was hard to get my feet to stop, but even so, I really was fatigued… not much sketching got done.

One more sketch that day, but I don’t like it much and accidentally didn’t upload it, so that’s enough for now.

I’m here in Glasgow! – and a couple days behind on posts already.  I blame those stupid US->UK electricity adapters that are shaped such that cellphone chargers won’t fit in them.  Yesterday I finally found a good internet cafe near “home”, Kelvin Hotel (which is lovely, by the way – I have a simple, affordable room with a sink, with simple decent breakfast, very kind service and a great location near the University).

I’ve probably spent a grand total of 4 weeks in Scotland in my lifetime which feels like it should be enough to adapt to an unfamiliar accent.  Well it isn’t.  I’m still asking people to repeat themselves, and then failing to understand them on the second time around just as much as the first time.  Sometimes they can’t understand me, either, probably due not so much to accent as my choice of words – when I say ham and mean bacon, or restroom and mean toilet, or coffee with cream and mean white coffee,  or wheat bread and mean brown bread. The first cafe I went to looking for a soy latte told me they’d offered soy for a little while but no one ordered it so they stopped – they suggested I got to Starbucks.  I decided to face the music and switch to milk for the duration of my stay, but my stomach is not totally on board with that yet.  It’s FINE with the increase in cheese and butter, though.

Back to the chronological beginning – here’s my plane prior to boarding at PDX.

During that leg of the journey, I decorated the front of my Fabriano Venezia sketchbook and made a couple of small sketches of my view…

In Philadelphia I sketched the plane again…

and since I haven’t done the photo upload process for Day 2, that’ll wait for tomorrow’s internet time