Now, I’m not usually one to complain (Editor, quoting Bender the robot from Futurama: “Ahahaha. Oh wait, you’re serious. Let me laugh even harder”) but I’m starting to think that tourism up here is getting a bit out of hand. A lot of this is down to the North Coast 500, a clever marketing exercise that’s seen the broad loop of road that runs 120 miles north from Inverness to John o’ Groats, then west to Durness, and south down the west coast, taking in Skye, before heading east back to Inverness, rebranded as a tourist trail. And yes, it’s a lovely drive, even travelling at 30mph in a winding queue of traffic. But it’s turned the north Highlands from somewhere to go into something to do.
Muckle Skerry from John o’Groats
In the west country tourists are known as “grockles”, nobody knows why, but it’s a great name. In Cornwall I’ve heard them referred to as emmets, derived from an Old English word for ants (aemete), and you can see the metaphor. The other day we went up to Duncansby, to go for a walk along the cliffs and look and the sea stacks. But when we got there the car park was full, cars and vans were double- and triple-parked, and a solid line of people like emmets at a picnic trudged across the headland to see the view, take a few photos, and trudge back. (Reader, we chickened out, and went to John o’ Groats for an ice cream in the sun instead.)
In gansey news, it’s always exciting to start a new project. This time it’s another stone-cold classic, Mrs Laidlaw of Seahouses’ pattern, from Gladys Thompson. It’s a pattern I’ve loved ever since I first opened the book nearly 40 years ago, but have scarcely ever knit—well, it’s overdue a revisit. The yarn is Frangipani Breton, a lovely soft russet shade that should capture the pattern definition well. So it begins.
Stack at Sarclet
And do I begrudge other people the chance to experience the beauties of the Scottish landscape? Of course not: I’m a tourist myself every time I get in my car. So I guess I can see it from both sides. After all, what’s the point of scenery if no one looks at it? Here in Caithness there are plenty of quiet places that haven’t (yet) made the guidebooks, which you can visit with nary a camper van in sight. Though I do rather hanker back to wartime, when the north Highlands was a protected area, and you needed a special pass to go north past Inverness. You could limit the number of vehicles coming in, to avoid overcrowding: hmm, about five a day seems about right…
Looking forward to seeing your Mrs. Laidlaw’s guernsey. I am knitting that pattern and have just started the second sleeve, knitting downwards for the first time.
Penny
Hi Penny, I’m going to play it straight this time. It’s such a great pattern it needs no embellishments. Best of luck with the sleeves!
Thank you.
Thank you, Gordon,
We know the feeling here in Norfolk. The invasion of emmets every year is causing this once unspoilt county to become just like anywhere in middle England. Cars, campervans and cars with trailers for boats parked anywhere and everywhere, including on what were once verges of wild flowers. But its the tourist industry that is the only one left here now.
I knitted Seahouses many years ago, wish it had been for myself! Enjoy it.
Hi Rita, yes, it’s the curse of our times isn’t it? The local economy needs the tourists, but the tourists risk spoiling everything that makes coming and living here worthwhile! Same as it ever was, as the song says…
Dear Gordon….the time will come
the walrus said..
when it becomes impossible and word will spread…don’t go there it’s overcrowded…
And so the circle turns…I remember the time when it was only bird watchers and out of the Box cyclists who came north…. to escape the ever-expanding chaos of city life…everyone is under pressure living within the confines of “the narrative”….but as exoerienced by a friend 30 camper vans in a row is without doubt on the edge
Hello Meg, yes, we took a friend out to see the stone circle at Achavanich yesterday. Despite all the crazy traffic on the A9, suddenly there was only mile after mile of emptiness, moorland stretching as far as the mountains on the far horizon. The Heather was blooming, the sun was shining on the loch down at the foot of the slope, and for a while it was possible to believe that camper vans had never been invented…
Would it be as bad if, instead of camper vans, it was cars and people renting b&bs? Or bicyclists or hikers and tent camping?
Another gansey begins… and the cycle continues.
Hi Tamar, you make a good point. Is it the traffic, or is it the people I mind? And really I think I just don’t like crowds. I love Caithness partly for the people, partly for the landscape, partly for the space. So when that space is encroached upon I get kinda stressed. But then, everyone else probably feels the same about me!
Some 10+ years ago I was casting on my first gansey, for my dad, and knitted my way through it while avidly reading your blog both for inspiration and instruction. And then, I finished that sweater and somehow forgot about this blog.
I’m casting on my second gansey, for my partner (a former fisherman and current kayak guide on the other side of the north Atlantic, in Maine), and I suddenly wondered if your blog was still going. I can’t tell you how delighted I am to find it still is!
We’re just coming off the height of our tourist season, and we’re more than ready!
Hi Sarah, many apologies, I missed your comment first time round! Glad you found us again, not sure how long we’ll keep going but so far so good.
Best of luck with your new gansey project – I’ve been to New England and it’s definitely gansey country in the winter! What pattern or patterns are you using this time?
All the best,
Gordon
Hi Gordon, I’m so glad I came upon your blog! I found it because I’m using Mrs. Laidlaw’s pattern in some socks and was looking around for other people who had used it. I’m quite enamored with your passion for ganseys. What size needles are you using for this project?
Hi Elise, glad you found us! My standard needle size is 2.25mm to give me a stitch gauge of 8 stitches to the inch, give or take, with guernsey five-ply yarn.
I have just found this blog and love reading it. My daughter is a deckhand on the visitor boats operating out of Seahouses and she has been wanting a gansey for a long time and I would love to have a go at knitting one. Could you tell me where I could buy the pattern please.
Hi Gillian. The pattern is from Gladys Thompson, “Patterns for Guernseys, Jerseys and Arans”. It’s fairly widely available and has lots of patterns in it. This is our affiliate link to it: Patterns for Guernseys, Jerseys and Arans. Best of luck, and let us know how you get on! – Margaret