#185 - Distance

An article based around Inverness Museum and Art Gallery (#185)

 In 2013, my sister and I decided to reach new heights personal fitness by entering that year’s Loch Ness festival of running. My sister, who had participated in amateur triathlons and 10Ks, decided to really go for it and run in the Loch Ness Marathon as her first marathon attempt. As for me, a lapsed rower who rarely did anything more energetic than badminton at that time, I signed up for a 5K. And to get into any physical state to be ready for it, I undertook months of training to build up my stamina – if that appeals, incidentally, I would recommend the “Couch to 5k” programme which the NHS provide.

We were not just doing this for fitness, however. The previous year had been a difficult one for the family as my mother had undergone extensive chemotherapy in her fight against lymphoma. Thankfully she is much better some 3 years later, but that’s partially due to the support she received from healthcare professionals and cancer support charities. So, as a thank you, Macmillan Cancer Support was the recipient of our combined fundraising. It would be fair to say that people were putting in more for the efforts of a first time marathon than a first time 5K, but every little helps!

I had a further ulterior motive: I wanted to go to Inverness. The Loch Ness festival of running had been chosen on the basis that, by late September, we would have enough time to train for our respective runs. Heck, I would have done it was the Milton Keynes festival of running or the Sheffield festival of running, on the basis that I still wanted to give something back to Macmillan. But I am always keen to seek out new parts of the world, particularly if they’re on mainland Britain.

I’ve been to Scotland a few times over the course of my life, and living in Newcastle makes it comparatively easier to visit than if I were living in London. But the furthest north I’d ventured up until that week was Dundee. To travel as far as Inverness required me to set aside some annual leave if I was going to spend more than a flying visit there. Anything else would be a waste, because the northernmost city in the British Isles is not a place you can simply pop across to if you live in England.

I have often complained that the key downside of living in Newcastle is its geographical distance from the rest of England, and whilst this is true in many respects, my trip to the Highlands gave that view some much-needed perspective! To get to Inverness from Tyneside, I took 3 trains for a trip which lasted a good 5-6 hours (accounting for changing trains). It was more straightforward for my sister to simply fly there from London. Other than the fact I was going there primarily for a charitable cause, it dawned on me that I was making a lot of effort to simply to satiate my curiosity about the Highlands of Scotland.

The logistics of travel is often a key barrier between people and visiting museums, visitor attractions or heritage sites. If you don’t have access to a car, then suddenly the number of National Trust or English Heritage sites available to you becomes somewhat limited. Schools cite transport costs as the main hindrance to offering its pupils regular school trips. And whilst London is the de facto cultural hub of the UK, not everyone has the means to make regular trips to the most expensive city in the country.

So with all that in mind, Inverness was the main nexus point for my week in the Highlands, which started with a 5km jog alongside children and overweight people (such as myself, I’ll admit!) before moving up to Wick and Thurso before my return to the city. My sister had long gone home by this point, hoping her body would recover on her overnight train back to London. So having spent the first part of the week back-packing around John O’Groats country, I was getting a second bite at exploring Inverness before I continued on down the west coast of Scotland. This allowed me to add Inverness Museum and Art Gallery (#185) to my journals.

The museum is part of a curious building near a main bridge over the river Ness. Already situated on top of a street level tier of shops and eateries, the next level up is the city’s Tourist Information centre. The museum itself is located on the next two tiers, with its own separate entrance via the road which leads up the hill to the back of the building. Incidentally, the top of the hill boasts Inverness Castle, although this is used primarily as a court building rather than a tourist attraction.

Entering the “ground floor” as it were, the museum’s displays focus upon the various eras of the city’s history, and by extension, the highland region as a whole. Having previous visited the Tain and District Museum (#182), Wick Heritage Centre (#183) and Caithness Horizons in Thurso (#184) in as many days, I had already taken in a great deal of regional history, so a look at the development of Inverness as the administrative centre made for a refreshing change. The members of staff at the entrance were welcoming and very accommodating to look after my heavy rucksack whilst I undertook my visit.

The focus of the lower floor starts at the geological history of the region and continues through until the medieval period, after which the focus shifts to a taxidermy-based display which thematically groups the animals by environment. The displays on this floor are a mine of interesting facts about the region’s development, particularly given the invasions by the Picts, Scots, Vikings and the pervasive influence of the Roman Empire. Even more impressive is the use of the two outward looking windows. For example, the one pointing west looks out at “Craig Phadrig” in the distance, and a slanted panel underneath explains its significance as the likely site of regal fortresses in the Dark Ages, as well as a potential visiting destination of St Columba.  

The upper floor picks up the thread of the city’s history, as well as being the home of the building’s two art gallery spaces. I didn’t enjoy this floor quite as much on the basis that the history I was looking forward to the most – Inverness during the Jacobean era – was not afforded much gallery space, although the subject of Bonnie Prince Charlie and his links to the region were suitably addressed. Beyond this, thematic displays were interlinked with the chronology of the region’s history, and whilst there are a number of impressive artefacts on display, particularly regarding the musical instruments that were common to the region, the gallery sections did not hold my interest in the same way the ones downstairs had. The fact that there was an out of order database and an exposed extension plug was powering the one other interactive that was present also tempered the visitor experience for me.

Finishing my notes, I walked back down the museum’s stairs, past the wall panels which acted as a Gaelic alphabet for local flora and faunae. After collecting my rucksack and thanking the attendants, I headed onwards to Inverness bus station for the next leg of my Scottish holiday. Reflecting as I walked, I tried to formulate some last memories of Inverness and whether the museum had stood out amongst them. Could I recommend a visit to Inverness solely on the back of one museum? Or is it unfair to lump the expectation of an entire city break on the basis of a single site?

Inverness is a beautiful city. My 5k run was largely around the riverside to the south of the main city, with the weather holding up nicely and a number of trees lining the route which had yet to be ravaged by the autumn. The surrounding countryside is quite stunning as well for that matter. Regardless of the distance, it was well worth the visit (on both occasions). The museum taught me a fair bit about the city, and whatever issues I had with the second floor, is an interesting place to visit. It wouldn’t be fair for me, wearing my museum hat, to burden it as the sole reason to visit Inverness because, ultimately, that was not the reason I planned my trip to the Highlands.

At any geographic extremity, it is going to be harder to attract the passing interests of tourists in terms of short breaks. Personally, it is much easier for me to get to Edinburgh or, at a push, Glasgow from Newcastle than it is Aberdeen or the Orkneys, and even then, that’s still a journey of 100+ miles to get to the Scottish capitol from Tyne & Wear. Of course, Inverness is somewhat helped by the tourist-trap aspect of Loch Ness and its various monster tie-ins, but its appeal to me was that it was so far away. Now that I’ve been there, I’m happy to say that I would go back.

Whether or not I’d drive there is another matter...