Had breakfast and worked as the traffic swished along the M8 through the city...
Wandered to the station - was intending to wander up Sauchiehall Street and enjoy the city but it was pouring with rain...
Into the Buchanan Galleries for a while, then got on the train to Perth. Arrived to find it was, er... pouring with rain...
Hung around for a while then walked into the city centre, and sat out the rain in a pub....
It finally stopped raining, and I had a wander around Perth, which was once the capital of Scotland. The Tay was high and turbulent under the bridge, which had the levels of previous flooding (some quite recently) marked onto it.
Taxi out to my hotel, and worked through the afternoon, then met up with Val and John Vannet, and down to chat to Iain Stewart, the Caldwells and the Hansoms who are familiar faces from previous trips up to SAGT conference.
We were off for a pre-conference reception at the Royal Scottish Geographical Society.They have headquarters in Perth in a building which is the oldest in the city, and has been renovated wonderfully. It's the sort of base that the GA should have, rather than Solly Street. It's a gem of a building, and has fascinating exhibits which are shown off for the visitors (I remember coming across various wonderful Vaughan Cornish prints in the basement of Solly St which would have been better on the walls...)
We had a few glasses of wine and chatted - good to see another friend Duncan Hawley had come up for the conference too.
Chatted to Mike and Fiona from the RSGS and had the tour of the building.
Up to the rather wonderful Explorers Room, which had some wonderful artefacts from the past, including when Sir Ernest Shackleton was the secretary of the Society, and also a globe marked with the initials of Roald Amundsen. The room is lined with books and quotes and remnants from previous explorations - a fascinating and atmospheric room.
This was followed by a meal in Perth, and back to the hotel for a wee dram of Laphroaig - then bed to prepare for the conference tomorrow...
Image: Alan Parkinson / RSGS
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