scotland visit?

[stanley]

Hi, my wife and I are thinking about traveling to scotland in july. We'd like to find a nice concetration of sessions to listen in on. In another thread there are some suggestions for Glasgow & Edinburgh, but we're interested in Inverness or other locations.

Any info on locations & days would be helpfull....

Thanks, Bill & Anne

[mad dawg]

If you can hold off your trip until August, you'll be in for a treat if you visit Edinburgh during the peak of her festival season. My wife and I were there for the tail end of the festivals one year, and it was a blast; it seems like all of Europe converges on Edinburgh during August. For background and dates, here is a handy link (http://www.edinburgh-festivals.com/).

[Bren]

All of Europe - nay, the world - converges on Edinburgh in August during the festival and accommodation is damn near impossible to come by. Summer is the time to get out of the city and up into the Highlands. Check The Session (http://www.thesession.org) - do a search on "Scotland" to find the regular sessions. There are several folk festivals - my favourite being the local Stonehaven Folk Festival on July 8 - 11 check footstompin's (http://www.footstompin.com/articles/festivals/july/) festival guide for more info. There are sessions galore in pubs around each town or village at festival time. Ditto for Highland Games - there's usually sessions in the local pubs when these are on - at least in the smaller places.

July in Scotland is great. Especially if the weather is like last year, but be warned - accommodation could be booked up well ahead.

But don't hang around Edinburgh and Glasgow - save that for winter.

[Dagger Gordon]

There is a small magazine called Ceol Beo (Living Music) published in Inverness which does a great job in listing all the gigs, sessions and events in the Highlands.

E-mail him at ceol.beo@btconnect.com (there is a line underneath the address) and perhaps you could organise #a copy. It's basically a subsciption mag.

There is an organisation called Feis Rois which puts on a lot of music in the summer, particularly a programme called Best of Ross which organises music in hotels and bars so visitors can hear some trad music. Their web site is always a bit out of date, but check it anyway.

Main venues to check are Hootananny in Inverness (there's another similar place opening soon called MacNabs) where you can hear good music most nights, and The Ceilidh Place in Ullapool. There's a couple of places in Ullapool, and it's worth a look anyway.

There a tiny place west of Fort William called Glenuig that often has gigs at the village hall. Should be on their web-site.

On the whole, I think you're probably more likely to find something on the West Coast and Skye in the summer than the East Coast (unless you know where to look, like Bren).
Also bands tend to tour the Highlands in Summer. Check the tour dates for any band you fancy seeing on their web sites, and you may well strike lucky. You could then maybe catch a post-gig session with some of your favourite musicians having a tune with the locals.

Be prepared to be flexible with your arrangements and you should catch some stuff if you keep your ear to the ground.

[stanley]

Great suggestions....but perhaps you can help more.

We're looking to arrive july 2 and stay through the 18th (or so). Our only plan so far is to catch the 'Old Blind Dogs' show in Laggan (my wife is becoming a fanatic fan). We'd then like to spend the rest of the holiday between (maybe?) 2 locations that could offer nightly sessions to listen in on (poss. between a few pubs, and with mainly traditional/instrumental music) and some nice countryside to bike/hike around in. We're not planning on renting a car, and instead would like to use bicycles & public transport.

What would be your 'top three' locations/towns to visit? Or perhaps you could offer a 'relaxed' 2-week intinerary from Laggen?

Ideally, if we could find someone to house-swap with....it would save us a fortune in accomodation. Ever been to the Sierra?

Thanks again, Bill & Anne

[Dagger Gordon]

Hmm,

Quite a bit to think about there. Laggan (I think we're talking about the same place, near Kingussie) is perhaps not the easiest place to get to without a car, although it's not that far from the main road North. There's plenty of hiking around there. I believe there's a camp site around there, you can see it from the main road. I haven't been to Laggan for years and I can't remember what it's like. I should think Old Blind Dogs are also playing Inverness which is less than an hour to the North. I've noticed a poster but I didn't read it.

Everywhere in the North tends to revolve around Inverness in terms of public transport, so you'd be best to be based there and get buses to wherever you want to go, possibly staying for a day or two. There are a number of backpacker hostels in Inverness. I've never been in them actually, but for a budget trip I would try and find them on the web. There's a very central one called the Ho Ho Hostel which is run by the guy who has Hootananny (the main music pub/venue), and others I can't remember the names of, and also the Youth Hostel (good for cheap travelling in Europe, and you don't have to be that young!).

As regards house swopping, we did that ourselves once through a company called Intervac. We stayed in a very central appartment in Grenoble , France. It worked well, acyually. Send me some detail on your place at home. I'm not sure we'll be going away as a family in the summer, but certainly someone might be interested.

gordon@inchindown.fsnet.co.uk

[stanley]

The countdown is on...7 days until we leave...can't wait!

Any last minute suggestions or recomendations for upcoming performances, or sessions to catch?

Thanks again,
Bill & Anne

[Dagger Gordon]

Hi Bill,

Achiltibuie Games on the 3rd July. I'm playing the pre-games dance in the hall the night before. Not sure if Kevin MacLeod is around then or not. That's his neck of the woods.

The Battlefield Band seem to be touring small halls around then. They're in my local Ardross Hall on the 8th. Check their web-site for others.

Always something at Hootananny, Inverness. Was playing there last night. John MacCusker was on in Eden Court Theatre, and various musicians arrived in Hoots for a tune after his gig. John and Iain MacDonald (pipes, flute) arrived just as I was leaving unfortunately. As it was after midnight on a Wednesday, the session had pretty much died down.

Weather has turned rough but hopefully should have cleared by your arrival. I'm behind schedule shearing my sheep. I'll be busy for a week or so once it stops raining.

Cheers,

Dagger.

[kmmando]

Doing an Occasionals gig in Edinburgh on the Saturday, darn it - I'd have loved to have been there. Next year.

Finishing off the cover artwork for Ali Beag MacLeod's new cd "The Sands of Achnahaird", which should be out later this Summer. It's great.
Kevin

[Dagger Gordon]

Sorry to have missed you, Bill and Annie.

My wife's dad died in Connecticut and we went over to the funeral for a week.

I hope you had a good time and caught some good music.

Regards,

Dagger.