On the road?

A long-time ambition to be achieved in 2025?

For a while now I have harboured a dream to go on some kind of ‘road trip’. To be honest, thus far it has been a nebulous idea but I find it now emerging from the mist and encouraging me to give it shape.

There are three things driving this increase in enthusiasm. The first is my book, Grimsby Docks, my first collection of poetry based on photographs of place (à la Ted Hughes’ Remains of Elmet). The second is the inspiration provided by an artist friend who works a great deal en pleine air, capturing an image and essence of a place and committing it to a work of art (which is what I would aspire to do, only with words). And to be brutally honest, the third incentive comes when addressing the question “if not soon, then when?”

So what kind of shape is this ‘road trip’ taking?

Two weeks going solo, a driving tour staying in B&Bs or small hotels, visiting new places, taking photographs, evenings spent drafting poetry and short prose which - alongside the photographs - would at some point come together in a cohesive whole.

The mechanics of the trip - in terms of camera, laptop, accommodation etc. - are all easy enough to put in place. And when to go is only marginally harder: I’ve already identified four possible slots next year which seem to fit in with everything else, and right now the second-half of April is looking favourite. The hardest element to resolve is the where, not just in general terms but specifically where will I plan to be on the first Thursday, the second Monday? Questions I need to resolve well in advance in order to book accommodation.

Right now I think my first choice is Scotland.

Putting together an itinerary is difficult when you don’t know a place that well. I’ve been to Edinburgh and Glasgow, and want to avoid those. The goal would be not too much driving each day and to allow a couple of nights in certain places. First thoughts:

Berwick (1 night) - St Andrews (1) - Dundee (2) - Ballater or Aberdeen (1 or 2) - Inverness (2) - Portree (2) - Oban (1 or 2) - Stirling (2)

[Berwick is 4 hours from home; Stirling, 5]

If any of you know Scotland well, how does this look? Any tips gratefully received!

From Grimsby Docks:

skylights

shouts cascade down the concrete steps
pinballing between rafters like
the boom of a foreman
the shrill laughter from nylon-clad gutters
the white-coated shouting the odds
as they barter prices for the day

stairs are thronged like escalators
bodies following ant-like trails
up and down
laden and unladen
compulsively addicted to the hive

through skylights
narrow shafts of light spear down
on puddles and fish scales
then ricochet around the hall
like a shoal of bullets

hours later
the rhythms of stiff brushes
sweeping away a day’s waste
the wash-down in readiness for tomorrow’s catch

years later
nothing but silence
beams from broken skylights
dying on the floor

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