Nairn Trip Away

July 6, 2017 | Rebecca Gibson

With my second year of university done and dusted, I was really looking forward to celebrating the start of summer by doing very little. When Kerr had a few days off in a row, we decided to head up to his parents’ house in Nairn, a quaint seaside town in the Highlands of Scotland. I can’t get enough of Scotland; if Kerr and I aren’t spending a day out in Edinburgh, we’re on a mini holiday with his parents.

The journey was five hours from Carlisle and we arrived in the early hours, so after a long sleep in a marshmallow bed we headed into town for some supplies. Kerr tracked down a bakery, so we bought lunch and ate it looking out to sea. As I tucked into my Highland bridie I was faced with the challenge of consuming the delicious flaky pastry as quickly as I could whilst not burning my tongue. Thanks to the coastal breeze I got more hair in my mouth than bridie, but it was so good to be by the sea again. Far too cold for a dip, but it was lovely enough just to watch the choppy waves and hear the gulls bickering over leftovers.

CO0A0631 — “Hey, take a casual photo of me looking natural.”

We spent the rest of the day destroying the third season of American Horror Story – introducing loved ones to your favourite TV shows is one of life’s greatest pleasures. After a quite formidable tray of chilli beef nachos for dinner, we headed back out for a walk along the seafront. It was past 9pm but the sun was still setting, with diluted orange splashes amongst the blue. All kinds of prints were peppered in the sand; big boots, smaller boots, dogs and the scratchy lined prints of birds.

Kerr told me to run out to the stretch of sand not yet submerged by the approaching tide and he’d take my photo. I foolishly did as he said, and struck my most nonchalant pose as I gazed out to sea. Suddenly my Vans were wet and I looked down to find my route back to dry land had shrunk significantly. I had no choice but to sprint back before I got trapped on all sides by freezing cold seawater. The photo looked great though, so the hair-raising stunt had been worthwhile.

Thanks to the lovely Kerr McNicoll for the photos in this post. You can see more of his beautiful photography on his website: http://www.crosssectionindustries.co.uk/

Taking an Unplanned Timeout

January 11, 2017May 3, 2017 | Rebecca Gibson

It’s time for a little reflection. Recently my blogging has been slacking and in many ways I’m annoyed with myself that I’ve let it slide slightly. I think a blog is such a good way to show people what you’re about on a regular basis, so it’s something I will not let slide too far.

However, in a way I’m glad I’ve been absent for a few weeks because the reason for it is… I’ve finally been relaxing! The run-up to Christmas was manic; an essay and a 20-minute film in close succession, as well as planning a photography exhibition. So when Christmas finally showed up, I completely switched off and spent the next two and a bit weeks doing very little.

Anyone who knows me well will understand that I am very often incapable of not working, much less relaxing. After being questioned on what it is I do during down time, I realised all I did was do a different kind of work. You know, spice things up a bit.

So I think the fact that I relaxed so much over the Christmas break is something of a miracle. I don’t know why it happened during this particular holiday – normally I give myself a project if there’s nothing to do for uni – but this time the chill was real. And I think it did me good.

Of course, when I drove back up and was faced with the prospect of two assignments due in just over a month, all the familiar stress came flooding back and work began promptly the next morning. Although, during those days at home it felt great just vegging on the sofa. I’ve never watched so many films as I did over Christmas this year. Normally this kind of behaviour would have shocked the diligent student that thrives on hard work, but the temporary chill version of me embraced Christmas and all it had to offer.

There are many people who tell me I stress out too much. I only stress because what I do means a lot to me, and if I know I’ve worked hard on something I can rest easy knowing I’ve done all I can. I’m a worker bee; that’s what I do in this hive of life. But at the same time I know that even worker bees can work too hard. So to spend this time relaxing has probably done me a lot of good. Now I can go back to the hectic lifestyle I obviously love and thrive on. Back to work!

Reykjavik – Day 3

January 2, 2017November 3, 2017 | Rebecca Gibson

Today was probably the highlight of the trip for me – the blue lagoon. As we were waiting for the bus to pick us up it was spitting with rain, the first bad weather we’d had. However, if it was going to rain, I’d rather it did it while we were soaking wet and swimming anyway.

As it turned out, it stopped raining when we reached the lagoon. We were ushered inside and wandered off to our separate changing rooms. We were given strict instructions to put liberal amounts of conditioner in our hair because the salts in the lagoon water would dry it straight out.

After only getting marginally lost we got out of the maze-like changing rooms and made it to the lagoon. I immediately fell in love. It was the most beautiful colour I’d ever seen, what I can only describe as candyfloss blue, spoiled only by the dark bobbing heads of other tourists. As I waded in, my body disappeared below the translucent surface and I found myself in nearly 40° water. If I closed my eyes I could have been in the tropics, but with my eyes open the hot steam meeting the cold air reminded me where I was.

It was one of the most romantic things I’ve done, swimming in one of the world’s wonders with the most special person in my life. I was initially reluctant to believe the lagoon had spiritual healing powers as I’d read, but as we bobbed about I felt the most relaxed I’d been in a long time.

There was a bar half-submerged in water, so you could lean on the counter and sip your drink while still floating chest-deep. We got cherry slushies, which were the tastiest I think I’d ever had. Mind you, in my state of ultimate chill anything would have tasted amazing.

Once excessively prune-like and ravenous, we showered and headed to the restaurant. Looking inside gave me a flashback to the Ritz – I’d got very lost one time – so we decided to get paninis from the much cheaper cafe instead, which were also very good.

Once back in Reykjavik city centre, we headed to dinner at the Lebowski Bar, which boasted a broad range of burgers and White Russians as well as the Big Lebowski playing on loop. I tried a white chocolate White Russian, but wasn’t a huge fan. The burger however, honey-glazed bacon and cheese, was pretty special.

The slight downer of the day was the email we received from Reykjavik Excursions saying that the Northern Lights tour had been cancelled tonight due to bad weather. Still, it’s a common fact that the aurora borealis are notoriously difficult to see, and much more experienced visitors than us hadn’t yet had the privilege of a sighting, so it was a long shot seeing in our first short visit. All the more reason to go back to beautiful Reykjavik!

Reykjavik – Day 2

December 26, 2016November 3, 2017 | Rebecca Gibson

When I looked out the balcony window this morning everything was blue. It turns out that Iceland is actually magical. With recharged camera batteries we headed out to explore.

The plan was to go straight to the shops, but down a side street I glimpsed a mountain and the sea. It was decided instantly that we’d put shopping on hold and go explore.

The natural light of Reykjavik is beautiful. Even at 11am there were still the diluted pinks and blues of early morning. We walked over the rocks and photographed the mirror-still water. Curse Iceland for making a cliche the only appropriate way to describe it, but the dirty old ocean looked like milk as it rippled against the shore. It was stunning, especially with Sólfarið (The Sun Voyager, below) standing proud against the city backdrop.

By this point we were getting peckish so we found a cute little creperie along the main street. Doused in Nutella, bananas and peanut butter, it filled the gap nicely.

Rejuvinated, we hit the shops. I bought gifts for family and friends then realised just how much money I’d spent. Iceland is expensive, as I’d been told many times over, but somehow being in such a beautiful part of the world made it all okay.

One thing I loved about Reykjavik was the street art. Nothing like the (mostly) ugly, scribbled graffiti that adorn the walls of London, Reykjavik buildings were covered in every colour imaginable. Giant painted eagles swooped overhead, while elsewhere a huge image of Frankenstein’s monster stood tall. It was a street photographer’s dream, and I couldn’t refuse the opportunity to capture my favourites.

We’d glimpsed Hallgrímskirkja, the tallest church in Reykjavik that dominates its skyline, so decided to get a closer look. The colossal structure looked more like a spaceship than a place of worship, standing 73m tall. The sun was beginning to set so we stayed for some photos. Once the light had faded it began to get chilly so we headed back into town and, after stopping off at the Noodle Station for dinner, chilled out in the hotel room.

Later on we went on one of our booked trips, to hopefully go and see the Northern Lights. We got all wrapped up and set off on the bus. For a while it was a struggle to find any breaks in the cloud, but we eventually got off in the middle of nowhere and set up tripods.

While we were waiting we got chatting to this lovely nurse from New York. She was interested in photography too, and we ended up talking about the migrating waxwings.

We waited eagerly for several hours but were eventually forced to abandon ship and get back on the bus. Naturally we were both pretty disappointed, but the Northern Lights are infamously sneaky and we can go again tomorrow night, so hopefully we still have a chance.

Reykjavik – Day 1

December 15, 2016November 3, 2017 | Rebecca Gibson

Taxi to the station, train to Glasgow, shuttlebus to Glasgow airport, plane to Keflavik and shuttlebus to Laugavegur, Reyjavik.

The journey to Keflavik airport was far quicker than I imagined – less than three hours from Glasgow. As soon as we stepped off the plane we were hit by a gust of Icelandic wind, but despite the cloud cover I was far from cold. Ironically, I was warmer here than in Carlisle.

I noticed immediately that I could take advantage of the beautiful light here. Although the sun rarely shone directly and there were few hours of daylight, the sky always seemed to have a pastel filter over it – sometimes pink, sometimes blue. It was beautifully wintery and I couldn’t wait to go and explore.

After a walk downtown and a traditional dinner of Plokkfiskur, otherwise known as “fish mash” (something I would definitely have again), we headed back to the hotel ready for our first busy day.

Our Day On May

August 27, 2016September 2, 2016 | Rebecca Gibson

When the May Princess left Anstruther harbour the sun was at its highest, so as we headed out into open water we were slowly baking but not daring to complain in case the rain came back. As I watched my fellow passengers slap on the sun cream, I was geographically disorientated, not quite believing I was in Scotland and not Spain.

The water was choppy but that added to the fun. I was once again having to negotiate a tumbling boat and a telephoto lens to desperately try and capture the moving seabirds in focus. Many of my attempts were 96% sapphire sky and 4% wing tip in the corners of the frame. With gritty determination, I managed to photograph a few gannets (Morus bassanus) alone and in their strings of multiple individuals. Gannets happen to be my favourite seabirds. Capable of diving at speeds of 60mph, they hit the water with incredible force in their attempts to catch fish. When I saw my first gannet on the voyage to the Isle of Arran I fell in love with their striking face stripes and lightly tinted brown heads. To me they’re the coolest bird in British seas.

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Before long the Isle of May appeared on the horizon, illuminated beautifully under the intense sun. The cliffs and crag faces oozed drama with their harsh black and white, thrown into sharp relief by the light. The few buildings were dotted around and looked very out of place amongst the grass and rocky shores, just how I liked it.

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Once we’d all disembarked and received a welcoming talk by a volunteer from Scottish Natural Heritage, we were allowed to explore. Visitors branched off in different directions; we decided to head up Fluke Street, past the Bath House and Main Light to the very tip of the crag. Beyond was Rona and North Ness, areas closed to the public for research. While we admired the view, we spotted a lone grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) wallowing in the shallows, snout resting on the rocks as it dozed.

The seal was accompanied by the odd gull swooping through, but otherwise the island was mainly deserted. We hadn’t timed our trip quite right as most of the seabirds had left, including the elusive puffin (Fratercula arctica) that is high on my tick list. However, aside from the beautiful gannets we still managed to see a few kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla), cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo) and a lone juvenile guillemot (Uria aalge), a new bird for me.

All too soon our time on the island was at an end, and we made our way back to the boat. Just as we were leaving, a grey seal – perhaps the one we’d seen earlier – bobbed out of the water as if waving us off. We thought he’d been our only seal sighting that day, but around the corner we were treated by a large colony, splashing each other and gazing at us with huge black eyes. Cormorants basked in the sun, wings spread as if inviting a hug, and once again the gannets swept over our heads. As the Isle of May grew smaller, my nose grew redder, and when I got home I realised I’d acquired a vicious sunburn. It was worth every moment!