Heading north

Thanks to supermoving and flickr for this image.

As Yazz once so brilliantly put it ... the only way is up.

So, we are heading North ... to Glencoe.

Me, my housemate, Ruby, my van ... 511 miles each way ... actually more as we're stopping off in the Yorkshire Dales on route and at Kendal on the way back ...

The van has been cleaned, waterproof clothing has been packed, windscreen washers filled, dog toys stowed, maps printed ... and most importantly a 9 hour playlist has been created and put onto my iPod. We have gone for a scottish theme with the music ... Deacon Blue, Del a mitre, Tom Clelland, Aztec Camera, Roddy Frame, John Martyn ... I am looking forward to having an excuse to sing badly for hour after hour. With the right sound track the M6 is my time machine.

I've packed my guitar, my capo and even a spare set of strings. Pen knife, compass, lunch boxes.

We're not leaving for another 35 hours and I am damn near ready to GO.

I'm excited about meeting up with friends and relatives seen too infrequently. I was born in a place called Bellshill, just outside of Glasgow, but left to come south when I was only three. We made pilgrimages back a few times each year until I was a teenager ... and whilst the journey was challenging, my recollection is that it was always something I looked forward to - desperate to have time playing with cousins and best friends.

As I drive from Grandparents to aunts to family friends ... Strathaven, Coatbridge, Carnwath, Lanark ... the area has a familiarity with an odd quality, most of this landscape having been imprinted in my mind whilst I sat behind my dad in an old Ford Cortina or Granada Ghia. I'm almost shocked when I step out of the driver's door and find my own car instead.