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THE WESTERLY MORRIS MEN'S TRIP TO SCOTLAND
AUGUST 10-24, 1987

Written by Asst. Squire & Webmaster Norm Dudziak

In 1986, the Westerly Morris Men hosted two Morris teams from Edinburgh, Scotland: a men's side called Lothians Morris Men and a women's side called Jenny Geddes Clog Morris, as described in the "Brief History" tab.

In 1987, our new friends from Scotland invited us over to tour, so we did. This trip was my best documented trip ever and this web page will share it with you. It was my first international trip.

George Utter published a 2-page flyer designed for us to hand out to people we encountered throughout our trip and performances who had an interest in who we were. The front page describes the Westerly Morris Men and provides a brief itinerary of this trip. The back page lists the Westerly travelers, both performers and those traveling with us, and a very brief biography of each. In the posted versions, I have removed addresses and phone numbers that George provided for everyone. George also provided a very detailed trip schedule, day by day, often with specific times, for internal use only. George Utter's organizational skills and attention to detail were amazing. A handwritten letter from John Green of Edinburgh is an example of how trans-Atlantic trip organization happened prior to the internet, though John is now a Facebook friend of some of us.

We flew from Boston on Monday, August 10, arriving at Prestwick Airport in Glasgow, Scotland, the next morning. Wasting no time, we visited Culzean Castle that same day, before meeting up with our Lothians & Jenny Geddes hosts at dinnertime. They took us to the best Indian restaurant I have ever encountered, and I have been to a lot of great ones.

The next morning, we headed out into the countryside to begin dance touring, with the Banchory Morris Men being our hosts for several days. The first day (Wed. 8/12) had multiple dance stops, including at St. Andrews. The second day (Thurs. 8/13) including a visit to the Braemar highland games and a garden party at Pathhead. There was plenty of scenic driving 8/13-14, ultimately getting us back to our hosts in Edinburgh.

On Saturday the 15th we finally got to dance out with the Lothians Morris Men and Jenny Geddes, starting with a morning stand at Waverly Market in Edinburgh. Next we headed out to Traquair House for festival performances on Saturday and Sunday. Scottish country dancers and other Morris teams were there as well.

On Monday (8/17) we visited the island of Lindisfarne en route to meeting up with Carlisle Sword & Morris, a border Morris team, located appropriately near the Scotland/England border. We got to perform and have a ceilidh inside the outer structure of Carlisle Castle. We thought, they being the Carlisle Morris team, that this was a standard venue for them, but "No", they said, "first time". Being past normal visiting hours, another treat was when the staff handed us an enormous ancient key to the "keep" (the inner tower), said we could tour ourselves around and "just lock up" behind us when were done. We chose Hal Walker as the Responsible Adult to be "The Keeper of the Key to the Keep", the one to be sure it got locked up with none of us still inside. An interesting historical coincidence: That very day a stone slab fell out of a ceiling somewhere in the castle and it was found to have Roman inscriptions on the side that had been hidden. Old stone slabs were a valuable commodity, to be reused!

The next day (8/18) the Carlisle folks led us on an adventure into the wilds of the Lake District to see the Roman ruins in the mountains. Luckily, I was not a driver. From there we drove far north to the Kingshouse Hotel in Glencoe, near Fort William for a 3 night stay of pure vacation. The highlight of the stay and literal high point of the trip was when most of us climbed Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the UK, on Wed. 8/19. Kurt Hansen danced a jig at the very highest point, accompanied by Lee Boltz on tin whistle.

The remainder of the trip saw some taking a distillery tour, others not. There was more dancing out and socializing with our hosts in Edinburgh, some free sight-seeing time, and a concert by the Boys of the Lough. Monday (8/24) we headed home happy and exhausted.

DateLocationStory/CommentsPhotos [CLICK them to see them!]
Aug. 11 Unknown ruins,
Culzean Castle 		Arrival date.
First look around Scotland.

Photo of five has (L to R): George Utter, Lee Boltz,
Beth Hansen, Kurt Hansen, Everett Munro.

Sara Munro is added at left in the other photo.

About Culzean Castle: 1, 2
Aug. 12 St. Andrews East Tower and the graveyard in St. Andrews.

Peter Leibert contemplates destiny.
Aug. 13 Ballater A typical dance stop. If we ate lunch here, it was probably the typical "plowman's lunch", which was a half of a raw onion, a hunk of cheese, and a hunk of bread to have with our beer.
Aug. 13 Braemar Highland Games The real deal!
Aug. 13 Pathhead It rained lightly 2-4 separate times during this garden party.
In between the sun came out.
The party did not take any notice of the rain.
That's just how the weather is in Scotland!

Lower left photo is (L to R): Herb Nickel, Wally Fenn, Everett Munro, with Carol Fenn standing.

Upper right photo adds Hal Walker.
Aug. 14 Echt Standing Stones of Cullerlie
a.k.a. Standing Stones of Echt
Aug. 13-14 Scottish Highlands Lots of beautiful scenery.

Plenty of sheep.

Allen Lawton takes it all in.
Aug. 14 Illegal road photo of Balmoral Castle.
Chain link fence close to both sides of the shoulderless road, big signs saying "DO NOT STOP". But hey, I wasn't driving!
Aug. 15 Edinburgh Finally we danced in Edinburgh, with the Lothians Morris Men
and Jenny Geddes Clog Morris, at Waverley Market.

Phil Wenham is the musician playing for the ladies. He and Barbara Smith hosted the Munros and me.
Aug. 15 Innerleithen Lunch stop at Traquair Arms

Photo of the "Burryman" featured on the
baldricks of the Lothians kit.

Late that night, we were back in Edinburgh to attend the Edinburgh Tatoo on the Edinburgh Castle Esplanade.
Aug.
15 & 16 		Innerleithen Performing at a festival at Traquair House,
Scotland's oldest inhabited house.

Traquair House Ale is made on-site in their brewery. You can
buy it in the U.S., but it is rare, so not cheap. Good though!
Aug. 17 Lindisfarne A Viking raid on Lindisfarne in 793 is taken as the beginning
of the Viking Age.

We were given a choice of visiting Lindisfarne Priory or Lindisfarne Castle.
I chose the Priory. The distance shot is of the Castle.

Lindisfarne is reached by a long causeway (shown) that is submerged at high tide. Attention to tide schedules is a serious matter for visitors.
Aug. 17 Carlisle Castle Entrance with "keep" in background.

Westerly travelers atop the keep.

Roman inscriptions behind glass.
Aug. 17 Carlisle Castle Views from all four sides of the keep.
Aug. 18 Lake District Sightseeing day in the Lake District of northwest England, with some Carlisle folks. These photos are from where we stopped along the Hardknott Pass road. Gotta love the iconic Land Rover, the most appropriate vehicle for one of the most challenging roads in Britain!

For the group shot, I don't have all the names, but R to L, there is Lee Boltz (by the van) and George Utter of the WMM, then Frank Lee (Squire of Carlisle), and Angela Lee.

The distance photos show ruins of the Hardknott Roman Fort.
Aug. 19 Ben Nevis Read the plaque about Ben Nevis [This link is not the plaque.].

George Utter (then-publisher of the Westerly Sun) leading Lee Boltz and Beth Hansen along the trail after just crossing a stream. Kurt Hansen is up the slope.

George Utter and John Green taking a rest to enjoy the view. You can see from the crowds on the trail below that this is a very popular place to go.
Aug. 19 Ben Nevis summit Norm Dudziak beside the highest war memorial in Great Britain, dedicated in 1965 to those who died in World War II.

John Green in front of a summit gully harboring remnant snow. There was dense fog, but it was not snowing. Airborne "snow" in the photo is from the less-than-perfect scanning process.
Aug. 19 Ben Nevis summit Kurt Hansen does a Morris jig atop the highest point in the UK, with Lee Boltz playing the music on his tin whistle. Beside Kurt is the concrete cairn atop which is installed the UK Ordnance Survey trigonometrical point.

I personally was stumbling about, probably somewhat hypothermic in the cold fog, so did not dare climb up to that highest point and attempt a jig. At least I was not so hypothermic that I lost my sense of judgement!
Aug. 21 Edinburgh The residential gardens in Edinburgh were quite amazing. As I walked along the streets, each lot had its own distinctively different garden in the relatively short space between the house and the sidewalk, with usually a fence separating the garden from the sidewalk. So beautiful that I wanted to photograph each one, but it seemed improper to take photos of people's houses without permission, so I did not. This one photo is in front of my hosts' housing block, so it seemed less private.

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