Dundee: the road home

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Seabraes Park, Dundee

Our plan was to leave Dundee after breakfast on Monday morning and stop at Bannockburn on the way home. We’d parked the car on Friday afternoon and, although we’d walked past it several times on our way in and out of the hotel, we hadn’t paid it close attention since. We were dismayed to discover that one of the front tyres was completely flat. John pumped it up, but we didn’t want to drive home without getting it checked out, so I Googled the nearest branch of Kwik Fit which turned out to be just beyond the University of Dundee’s campus.

The place was busy so we were sent off for a coffee until the mechanic could look at the car. Bad news came back: there was a small bolt embedded in the tyre which would therefore need to be replaced. A big marquee had been erected in part of the hotel car park for all their Christmas functions, so presumably we had driven over a discarded bolt when we arrived. The result was that we had an unscheduled hour for a final walk in Dundee. And what a lot of interesting history and culture we found!

First we passed this pretty little park, Seabraes, with a mini bandstand and three strange critters climbing a stone pillar. I had no idea what they were till I looked them up at home – they represent the video game Lemmings which was produced in a nearby studio in 1991 and was apparently a runaway hit. The bronze version was created by local artist Alyson Conway in 2013.

Lemmings statue
Lemmings statue

I visited Dundee with some friends one day last summer to walk part of the Women’s History Trail, and we came across a few of the plaques again. Miss Mary Ann Baxter (1801-1884) used her wealth to support missionary work abroad and good works in Dundee. At the age of 80 she founded University College, now the University of Dundee, to promote the education of both sexes. Frances (Fanny) Wright (1795-1852) was well ahead of her time. Daughter of an ardent republican,  she went to the USA where she became famous as a writer and lecturer. Controversially, she scorned religion and campaigned for women’s rights, free love and the emancipation of slaves.

Mary Ann Baxter
Fanny Wright

Mary Lily Walker (1863-1913) was born in the house below and was one of the first female entrants to University College. As a young woman she became conscious of the appalling living conditions of the poor and went on to transform Dundee with baby clinics, health visitors, school dinners, children’s convalescent holidays and more.

Mary Lily Walker’s home
Mary Lily Walker

Something I didn’t know about was the Tree of Liberty. After the French Revolution, civil unrest spread across Scotland, often symbolised by the planting of a Tree of Liberty. The original Dundee tree was planted in 1792 but was chopped down in 1930 as part of a road-widening scheme. The current Tree of Liberty resides in a rather sad-looking corner of the university. The plaque beside it relates to the original tree and dates from 1912.

Tree of Liberty
1912 plaque

Finally, on the way to collect the car, I admired the extremely distressed looking George Orwell pub with its pseudo-Penguin Books signage.

George Orwell pub
George Orwell pub

So – back on the road! And back to our original plan of visiting Bannockburn, site of a famous battle in 1314 when King of Scots Robert the Bruce was victorious against the army of King Edward II of England. It’s years, maybe decades, since I’ve been there, certainly long before the current visitor centre was built. Sadly, this proved to be our second set back of the day.

First stop was what the website described as the ‘award winning’ café. We were latish for lunch because of the holdup with the car, but it was still only 1.30pm. Nevertheless, it was quicker to list what was left on the menu (not much) than what was not available, but we managed to find something to eat. I won’t be giving it any awards though.

Next stop the Visitor Experience. I have checked the website again before writing this and it is now made quite clear several times that entry is by pre-booked time-slots. The day we visited it merely stated ‘During our busy holiday periods, entry is by pre-booked time slots’ – I know that’s an exact quote because John put it in his (rather scathing) Trip Advisor review. We didn’t think a cold Monday in mid-November was a busy holiday period, so were dismayed to find we’d have over an hour to wait. We passed, and went to look at the outdoor site.

This has an impressive bronze statue of Robert the Bruce on horseback, and a rather less inspiring concrete rotunda. Both of these date from the 1960s and both have been restored relatively recently. They would be much more interesting if there were more information boards to tell you about the battle and how it related to the landscape in front of you. Still, we enjoyed a quick, cold walk round before heading for the car and then home for a warm-up.

Battle of Bannockburn site
Robert the Bruce
Robert the Bruce
Battlefield memorial

Our Bannockburn experience was decidedly underwhelming, although I give the visitor centre one star for updating their website to make it much clearer what to expect. Perhaps they read John’s review – and several other similar ones. I’m glad we didn’t make it the main focus of our day: the unplanned walk in Dundee was much more interesting, so the flat tyre did us a favour, albeit an expensive one. Overall, Dundee was a great place for a long weekend and not somewhere I would have thought about a few years ago. I’m so glad we went.

Scotland, UK , ,

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  3. I’m late here but It seems your car wanted you to check out the town some more. I love the first lady mentioned, Mary Ann Baxter-Love her controversial way of thinking. The other site…you’re right, they should have more information out there to read about.

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  4. How a misfortune (the first one anyway) can turn out “fortunous”. I’m glad you managed to explore Dundee a bit more, albeit unexpectedly. Often, the places we expect most from turn out to be a bit of a disappointment. Our (travel) motto is: be flexible, open-minded, and don’t plan too much. 🙂

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  5. Thank goodness for you, the car and your day that you got the tyre checked out before travelling on!

    Thoroughly enjoyed your unexpected walk 🙂

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  6. Sometimes the best surprises are found when you’re inconvenienced or in a fix of some sort. It sounds like the Dundee walk was very nice, but how infuriating about the Visitor Experience at Bannockburn. It’s so frustrating to be misinformed online; that’s the whole point of having an online presence – to keep people updated and properly informed! Sorry too about the menu being so limited and the food not good. At least it is possible to write scathing TripAdvisor reviews, and thus have the ability to have a say. Did Robert the Bruce also have some involvement in Spain? I seem to remember something about him….

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  7. Bannockburn does look disappointing. Kind of like my experience in Battle (site of the Battle of Hastings) which was also basically just a field – all the information was in the small museum, and the battlefield was just a field with some sheep in it. Actually, I think that was also supposed to have a good cafe, and it looked so disappointing we didn’t even get anything! I’m pretty sure Battle is run by English Heritage, so it can’t be the same people running Bannockburn, but definitely a similar experience!

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  10. What a day! But you made the best of it. I used to play Lemmings a lot back in the day, it was such a fun game and made you use your brain to solve puzzles. Sadly I often killed a lot of them as they fell off a cliff or something 🙂

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  11. Sometimes things work out exactly as they should, don’t they? I’m sorry for the flat tire, but so glad that it meant you got extra time in Dundee. Especially since your original plans for the day wouldn’t have resulted in such an interesting walk!

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  12. I have always believed that everything happens for a reason even the annoying like a flat tyre. Something positive to remember your expensive day!

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  13. Enjoyed the tour. Dundee has a sizable input in the games market with a worldwide audience and loads of awards collected over the years. Probably the Outlander effect for tourist places now, even in the off season.

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  15. What a shame the historic value of the Tree of Liberty wasn’t recognised before they decided to chop it down, although if there are lots of them I suppose it wasn’t thought to be important. Mary must have been a wonderful woman. I see she died aged 50. Imagine what she would have achieved had she lived to a ripe old age.

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  16. Shame about your tyre, but it looks like you turned inconvenience into a thoroughly enjoyable wee side trip. Lovely to learn about fabulous strong women I was unaware of.

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  17. I like the look of the George Orwell Pub. You always find the coolest places to photograph! I finally got round to watching the film Suffragette recently. I will definitely remember to always use my vote from now on. It was a very inspiring film. X

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  19. Hi Anabel – these things happen don’t they … but you gave us some extra info on Dundee and on women in particular … the Tree of Liberty seems to have quite a lot of history behind it – so worth knowing about. Bannockburn sounds remarkably unexciting … sad – perhaps it’ll get sorted out sometime, or perhaps best avoided with the plague of coaches en route – who knows … but obviously one to avoid. Glad you got home safely and that tyre was fixed – cheers Hilary

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  20. I have been nothing but underwhelmed by visits to Bannockburn. Maybe next time they turn their attention to improvements they will really reinvigorate it and make it much more engaging for visitors. I am glad your flat tire was a) replaced quickly and b) led you to explore some nearby history. We had a flat tire while driving the already terrifying road of the Amalfi Coast. That was the single worst driving experience of my life. My nerves were utterly shredded.

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  21. That’s not so good about Bannockburn. I remember being there before the new centre was there and being distinctly underwhelmed.

    I think I know that park in Dundee. If it’s the same one, there’s a graffiti wall nearby too.

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  22. There was a good programme on TV recently about Bannockburn, I think it was Neil Oliver and he was trying to identify the exact battle site.

    If you ever go to Agincourt in France there is a really good museum there.

    Bad news about the tyre, last year I hit a pothole and wrecked a tyre, shame was that it was the newest one on the car!

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  26. I do love your positive approach to your visit to Bannockburn when things didn’t turn out exactly as they should, and I’m glad that Dundee made up for it. Loved the critturs climbing the plinth and glad you were able to find out what they were. I was in Belfast last weekend for the Noireland Crime Book Festival where Scotland’s Stuart MacBride was a great hit swapping Scots words with N.I. writer Andrian McKinty for N.Irish words. I was pleased that I knew most of them, thanks to your former posts.

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    • That’s good, I’m glad my Scottish Words have been of use! I heard Stuart McBride once at Aye Write (Glasgow book festivals) – not that I have read any of his books. I was a volunteer for a couple of years, checking tickets and taking the mic round for questions, so I got to hear an interesting variety of speakers. Still never been to Belfast … great title for their festival!

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  28. The Dundee trip seems to have been very worthwhile and enjoyable, but I am very puzzled about Bannockburn. I would have thought that it would have been the highlight of a journey. Last time I was there was many moons ago and that story began in Maryhill – Craigmont Street :o)

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