Fourth
Great Britain , United Kingdom
Trip Around the World, DAY 9~16
DAY 9. Liverpool ~ Hawick
Leaving Liverpool in the early morning, with the smell of Mersey Beat and the afterglow of gold in the air, I and my black Mercedes, loaded with our growing luggage, headed north, the steam from our milk tea fogging up the windows. The scenery along the route through the Lake District was dotted with sheep in pastureland. It is boring once you get used to it.
Before evening, I crossed the Scottish border and arrived in Hawick, the "Home of Cashmere. The town is dotted with knit factories of Glenmac and John Lane, which have been very kind to us, including those that have produced special-order items for Sunkakke, as well as those of Pringle, Scott & Charter, and Lovat, famous for their hunting tweeds. However, all the factories were closed on Saturday evening, and the next day was Sunday. Since there was nothing to see during my stay, I decided to take a vacation once in a while. I took a walk along the beautiful Tweed River, drank a local beer at a pub full of old men, and went to bed at the hotel.
Home of Cashmere city. Next time I want to visit the factory tour.
. Every country town in Scotland is very beautiful.
. and the local beer is good in every city.
DAY 10.
Hawick ~ Kelso ~ Edinburgh
The next morning, I went to the market in the town of Kelso, which I found on a website, and found it to be more of a "junk bazaar" than an antique fair. I honestly thought, "I missed it. ......," but that's where I come in, as a long-time waste-buying hunter. I was determined not to go home for free, so I bought a handmade purse made by a kind-hearted grandmother, and that was a good enough result. When I told her I didn't want a bag, she said, "I'll wrap it in beautiful yellow paper, so don't say you don't want it . You will be happy," she said, and wrapped it up in a soggy yellow paper and put it in a bag of newspaper, also handmade by her. . No matter where you are from, grandmothers' love is always deep and touching.
Here is a handmade newspaper bag. Surprisingly well made.
Edinburgh is the city where Harry Potter was born , a big city famous for its beautiful medieval-like scenery. But having never seen Harry Potter, I was still looking for things here. I hit the charity stores (stores that sell donated items, like thrift stores in the U.S.) scattered around the city, but without any success. I guess there are no more old things in the city after all. After admiring Edinburgh Castle from a distance and forcing myself to eat a huge hamburger, I went outside, only to be greeted by a sudden rain shower. Grinning at the fact that my Rain Mac is still useful in Scotland, I walk to my hotel in the rain. In the hotel room is local native Sean Connery. I realize that I am in Scotland.
In the far center is Edinburgh Castle. It is plain , but cool when seen up close.
This one also has a considerable amount of meat compressed into it, although it is hard to tell from the picture. Full stomach.
. "Operation Thunderball" and "Dr. No." . you'll want to watch them again.
DAY 11.
Edinburgh ~ Innerleithen ~ Aberdeen
On a clear Monday morning, we are heading back south from Edinburgh . . My destination was Innerleithen, a town I really wanted to visit. I had assumed that my favorite cashmere factory, Ballantyne, was located in Hawick, but I had learned that it was in a town a little closer to Edinburgh than Hawick, so I waited for Monday to arrive.
We arrive in town, but Google Maps does not show the location of the factory, so we decide to ask someone in town. I find a lovely, kind old lady and talk to her.
Do you know where the Ballantine's factory is supposed to be?"
There was a short pause,
What are you doing here?"
I was hoping you could see the factory."
The old lady makes the "do it" hand gesture that foreigners often make.
. too bad. We have a factory , but we don't knit anymore.
What? What do you mean?"
According to the grandmother, the factory has been closed for 7-8 years now .
I had no idea. ......
As I stood there with an Oh My God expression on my face, the old lady pointed to the pink knit she was wearing,
I used to knit Ballantine's knitwear in that factory . . and I used to design them. Now that the factory is gone , I have a personal collection of knits that I could give to you."
What a surprise. The grandmother had a huge amount of Ballantyne knitwear. Test samples from the factory, dead stock, and a lot of technically valuable knitwear that she bought from former workers....
'That's great. ....... Here... give me all of it (intimidating)."
Yeah. ......."
Thus, I loaded up my black Mercedes with a large number of more new sidekicks. As I was about to say goodbye, the old lady interrupted me.
If you want.
The factory site is right behind here, so if you have time, why don't we take a look?"
The factory building was still standing a couple of minutes' walk from there, but a fence had been erected around it by a construction company , and demolition was about to begin at any moment.
'It's like they're about to break it...'
. an old lady with her hands in her jacket pockets , mumbling in dismay.
The modern world is a merciless age, and those things that cannot keep up with the latest global economy are being weeded out and disappearing. Clothing manufacturing is naturally no exception.
Behind the lines of people queuing up to buy cheap, convenient, and iconic goods, carefully crafted simple but beautiful objects are quietly disappearing.
The sky beyond the chimneys sticking high out of the factory was somehow covered by thick, black clouds that obscured the sun. I returned to my car and promised my grandmother that I would see her again before it rained, and left town. . It looks like we won't see the sun again for a while.
The ruins of the Ballantine's factory. Sad to see it before it collapsed .
, a black cloud began to form, symbolizing the grandmother's feelings.
In the midst of heavy rain, we headed north along the eastern seashore and reached the city of Aberdeen. . The pitch-black sea and the white-skinned people. . Scotland was finally starting to look like the outback.
DAY 12.
Aberdeen ~ Elgin ~ Inverness
Scotland is divided into the Highland and Lowland regions, and as the word suggests, the Highlands, where the land varies in elevation, has more rain, while the Lowlands has a rolling terrain and relatively mild weather.
From Aberdeen, the easternmost town of Rowland, we traveled along the "Whiskey Trail" in the Spey River basin, and our destination today is Elgan, a town on the frontier of the Highlands region.
This is the home of the cashmere brand "Johnston's of Elgan," which has been a great source of materials for "Sankakke's" collection, including special orders.
As I drove along under a cloudy but calm sky, smelling the whisky distillery, I noticed a pair of jeans from "Evis Jeans" swaying in the wind in the eaves of an old town church. I guessed it was a second-hand clothing store. . I pull over to the side of the road, remembering that when I lived in London in 1999, the city was in the midst of an unprecedented "Evisu boom.
The store is housed in the "oldest church in town" and is called "The Old Curiosity Shop. The owner proudly explained to me that the name was taken from a Dickens novel. In Japanese, it is an "antique shop.
His pride and joy is in the very chaos of his store, with all sorts of strange things, old and new, cluttered and arranged in such a way that you don't feel like looking at them at all.
Nice worn-in Evis jeans. I never thought I would come across something Japanese in a place like this.
Old Curiosity Shop. Antique shops in country towns are interesting at their own pace.
However, there was a surprising amount of vintage clothing, and I managed to get a good haul, including a shirt from the 40s or so from "Liberty" and a pair of tweed pants that looked equally old, making it a "good road trip". Weird stores are not to be underestimated.
. We arrived in Elgan in the evening. The tour of the Johnston's of Elgan factory was over, but I bought a scarf and socks at the store next to the factory.
A beautiful factory and store. The most famous place in town .
Scarves are great, but the cashmere socks here are really the best.
Since I was able to leave the store earlier than expected, I decided to go as far as I could today, so I continued on to the town of Inverness, at the entrance to the Highlands, and took lodgings. Tomorrow, we plan to continue southward, and this will be the geographical turnaround point of our round-the-island trip.
DAY 13.
Inverness ~ Glasgow
Loch Ness . There are still some theories about the sighting of Nessie, but recently the giant eel theory has become definitive.
It is about 300 km (= 3-4 hours) from Inverness to Glasgow, today's destination, in a straight line, but since we are taking a mountain route through the Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park, which sounds like the name of a band, to enjoy the Highlands, it is a 4-5 hour long drive. It is a long drive of 4 to 5 hours.
After two hours of tedious driving on boring roads, we enter the national park, and a landscape of high, mossy-looking rocky mountains appears before us. This is the Highlands! Beautiful. The scenery of my dreams..." I thought to myself! As we proceeded deeper into the park, the weather turned out to be as bad as they said it would be, with heavy rain, and we had to scramble for our lives on the undulating mountain roads with no visibility to see anything but the scenery.
. It is difficult to get a sense of size from a view like this, but it is a very large mountain.
. can you give us a little idea of the size of the car once it is in?
Although it was still evening when I arrived in Glasgow, I fell asleep as soon as I got to the hotel , probably because I was tired from the long drive and relieved from the strain of the mountain roads.
Traveling companions. A very successful rain mac, an old Hermes shoulder and a canvas hat by James Lock.
DAY 14.
Glasgow ~ Lake District National Park
The hometown of the Glasgow Sound, which I have longed to visit since I was a small child, is actually a boring city that could be described as a "rural city" when you actually come here. . But it is a "rock town" in the best sense of the word, with a vibrant young population and the smell of music being born.
Another Glasgow landmark in my mind is the architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh. I walked to the neighborhood to see his masterpiece, the Glasgow School of Art, but could not find the main building of the university at all. When I asked Dr. Google for help, word on the street was that the building had burned down in a fire last year.... The historical building was right in front of us, but the entire school building was covered. . no wonder they couldn't find it.
Glasgow School of Art. The pattern on the cover looks somewhat like a Mackintosh-like pattern.
A "?" above the FIRE DOOR KEEP SHUT sign. mark graffiti above the "FIRE DOOR KEEP SHUT" sign. . It is probably an ironic reference to the mysterious fire.
Boring as it was, we got back in the car and headed for Manchester. On the way, we stopped at the Lake District, famous for Peter Rabbit, and decided to take a look at Buttermere Lake, which is said to be one of the most beautiful lakes in the country. Following the signs at the turnoff, the road gets narrower and narrower as we get closer to Buttermere Lake. Finally, after driving more than 10 kilometers along a mountain road that was barely wide enough for one car to pass, we finally arrived at the lake, which was a magical place with sheep migrating along its beautifully clear, misty, drizzly shores.
In the mist, sheep play . It is as if we have wandered into a dream world.
It was a fantastic place to all intents and purposes.
While we were chasing sheep and playing by the too-beautiful lakeside, the rain became heavier and heavier, and the water started to soak through my Rain Mac, as expected, so I rushed back to the car. We took the same route back along the same narrow road, but it took longer because we couldn't go as fast, and by the time we reached the larger road, it was around 19:00. It would be a couple of hours before we reached Manchester, and driving at night was a bit scary. In addition, I would be returning the car in London tomorrow, so I needed to organize my luggage tonight.... . We decided to give up the trip to Manchester today and stay at a hotel in the Lake District to prepare for tomorrow. Things don't always go as planned.
DAY 15.
Lake District National Park ~ Cotswolds ~ London
From Peter Rabbit's Lake District to Banksy's London , it takes about 5 hours by car. The car rental agency closes at 5 p.m. .
Leaving early, we stopped for lunch at Byberry Village in the Cotswolds, which William Morris called "the most beautiful village in England.
After watching the trout swimming in the Colne River in a wonderfully quiet and beautiful setting, we ate trout and chips at the Swan Hotel by the river. The trout was fresh, not smelly, but fragrant, and the flesh was very firm and tasty!
A small , too beautiful village. Trout swim gracefully in the clear river water.
The trout is immediately cooked and eaten. In England, potato is called "chips" rather than anything else.
. it felt as if we were gradually returning to the real world as we got closer and closer to London. The farm landscape turned into a city, and we drove through a city full of dangerously driven cars, and when we drove safely to the car rental store after 4 pm, it was as if the dream had completely awakened.
On this dreamlike journey, he actually traveled 3,000 km and bought about 100 kg of goods, a volume that would cause problems at the airport on the way back home.
Massive, bulging, massive sidekicks. It was a struggle to carry these alone.
The North Face's Rolling Thunder is my personal masterpiece and my partner for this trip. . As much luggage as I could fit into it, I ended up in this state. Too much convenience is also a bad thing....
. I was exhausted just carrying my partners from the cab parked at the entrance to our hotel room. . It's a night of accomplishment, and the beer is delicious.
DAY 16.
London
. it is indeed a sunny mid-summer London. In Scotland, the temperature was less than 10 degrees Celsius in some places, but here it was almost 30 degrees Celsius. . It is hot in the city no matter where you go.
Still, I persevered, tied on a one-piece jacket and tie , and headed down St. James Street.
At John Robb London, Mr. Leppanen, who is younger than Neil, was waiting for us. . a good name, I thought. . I put my feet into my shoes, thinking, "That's a good name," etc.
The little finger hit that had been bothering me was gone, and the vamp area seemed to fit better than the last time. I am perfectly satisfied with the adjustment, which was like magic.
According to Mr. Furuhanen, "We will receive your opinions and make adjustments little by little to create the perfect fit together" No matter what, the road is long and hard.
A facade that I have admired since I was young. The boy Ozaki used to stand here.
I left the store with my shoes in a nice wine-colored box and bag, and headed to a nearby park in a good mood.
I sat down on a bench, took out my shoes, and replaced them with my all-weather partner, J.M. Weston's "Yacht," which had accompanied me on my long journey. Although somewhat over-romantic and embarrassing, I had decided that the first time I would wear these shoes would be on the soil of London, my favorite city.
When the dark blue calf shimmered in the dazzling summer sun, it looked like my favorite indigo color. The sun in London is always more dazzling than in Tokyo. Perhaps it is because my eyes are accustomed to cloudy skies. With these thoughts in mind, I strolled through the park.
My shoes in dark blue. High-low shoes, a John Robb London classic.
With this new partner, we will continue our journey.
The end of the trip around the island of Great Britain, Great Britain, England .
PROFILE
. Born in 1980. After working as a store buyer, he launched "Filmerange" and became independent as "Sankakke" in 2012. He spends his days working and traveling while pursuing good Japanese products.
