Wick – Moss Variation: Weeks 1-4, 17 August

I’m back from my travels, and have also recovered from the adventure, returning home a week ago Sunday.  Both segments of the trip – the bamboo pipe course and the handbell shindig – were tiring in their own way.

The journey to and from the pipe course was the bulk of the travel.  This started with a bus to Inverness and a train to Inverness airport. Unfortunately, the airport train stops three-quarters of a mile from the terminal, and the suitcase had to be cajoled to the terminal.  But then I was free of it until arriving in France. From Inverness, I flew to Heathrow and met two friends at an airport hotel who were also going to the course. Our flight was early the next morning at 7:15.

Viviers sunset

From Heathrow, we flew to Lyon, where my suitcase almost made it to baggage reclaim.  The conveyor belt that drops bags onto the carousel stopped as my suitcase was on the cusp of being spit out.  It was unreachable, so I explained my predicament to an airport employee, who contacted the baggage handlers.  The bag was eventually ejected when the next flight’s luggage arrived.

We had a long wait at the airport before taking the TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse) for the next leg, so we parked ourselves in a café in the terminal.  The station was handily next to the airport, and it didn’t take long to orient ourselves and find the platform.  The train was a double-decker, and our seats were on the lower deck.  We found places to stow our bags, and in doing so, encountered piping friends also on the way to the course – they’d boarded in Paris. The TGV was wonderful – smooth, quiet, fast.

Lyon Airport

For the final leg, the course organisers had arranged for transport from the station closest to the course.  We piled into a variety of private vehicles and were taken to our home for the next week, a former seminary in the cathedral town of Viviers.  The week was full of catching up with old friends, playing and learning, and making pipes if you’d chosen to do so.  One of my classes was learning the ‘ney’, an end-blown flute from the Middle East.  It was very difficult – it has to be held just so, and blown just so, to get a sound.  By the end of the week, I could get a sound, but not reliably, and some workshop participants never managed it. 

Velos in Viviers

In the middle of the week, there was a day of excursions.  The choices were caves, a lavender farm, a scenic village & beach, or kayaking (for the younger set).   I had chosen the caves, thinking there would be cave paintings.  However, they didn’t, but the caves were cool, with enormous stalactites and stalagmites. 

All too soon, the week was over.  This time we took the local, air conditioned bus to the train station where we waited, sitting in the shade and thankful for the breeze on a very hot day.  Then the TGV to Lyon and another long wait until our flight to Heathrow.  We finally arrived in Blighty around 10 pm, where we parted ways – one to head home, and two of us to an airport hotel.  The next day, I flew north to Aberdeen for the handbell symposium, which I’ll cover next week.

In the caves of Aven d’Orgnac

Finally, the head is healing well.  I wore the bandage every day while away and am easy to spot in the events’ photos.  I saw the practice nurse on my return, and we’ve agreed I needn’t wear it at home, and the wound will only need checking once a week.

The gansey did not go on holiday with me.  Instead, I took a pair of socks and a spare ball of sock yarn ‘just in case’.  I didn’t need it – it was too hot in France to knit.  The organisers had scheduled for this and most activities were in the morning or late afternoon, with the early afternoon free. Both my roommate and I took full advantage of this because the heat was very tiring. But back to the gansey.  It was started before I left, and the hem welts and a few inches of the body were completed.  Garter welts tend to spread width-wise, and to counteract that I cast on 90% of the stitches, then increased to 100% for the body. The colour is Frangipani ‘Dark Navy’ and the pattern is again from one of the Johnston photos.  It’s one of the earlier photographs and shows two ganseys with moss stitch variations on the yokes.  This gansey will be a re-creation of the right hand garment.