Miranda Whall

My seven day adventure..

Mission: to identify and check out the new location for the camp/performance due to take place over 22 hours in May 2019

Grid reference NJ1800006, on the track to Bulig Loch, Invercauld Estate, nearest post town Ballater, Postcode district AB35

Friday night – Glasgow, at the apartment of friend Calum for some lovely spicy vegetable soup, good conversation and a comfy bed. The most memorable thing; his collection of Soviet era/Stalinist small cardboard architectural models of buildings like the Kino International on the Karl- Marx -Allee in Berlin.

Saturday day – The Tramway, Glasgow, at the ‘Into the Mountain – A Meet’ organised by lead artist, dancer and choreographer Simone Kenyon. A range of papers, presentations, speakers, a panel discussion and workshops. I did the movement workshop with Laura Bradshaw. The most memorable thing; curled up and crouching with my right cheek on the wooden palette on the floor of the glass green house in the garden of the gallery, we were asked to find a ‘dwelling’ in which to shape ourselves, part or all of our body, it was a really lovely 15 minutes, I thought about how easily I do things like this, how lonely teaching is and I worried about ruining my new coat.

Saturday night – Glasgow west or west Glasgow, at the apartment of Nick, brother of friend Laura, after a delicious Indian meal with Simone, Laura, Zoe (a dear friend I’d not seen or heard for 15 years), Rebecca and others. The most memorable thing; the green colander lampshade in the bathroom that Nick had made and clamped to the ceiling, very clever and a very nice green dappled light! a beautiful minimal aesthetic apartment, offering much appreciated calm after a very stimulating thought provoking day.

Sunday night – Aviemore, Aberdeenshire, at the empty house of Heather. The most memorable thing; the enormous mass and expanse of cold matter in the sky, a load of white, a load of rock, a load of mountains rising up above the houses as though dumped, outside, beyond the bottom of the garden, my garden, enticing great excitement and a little fear!

Monday day – The Cairngorms Mountain Sports shop in Aviemore for some extra equipment and supplies. The most memorable thing; “I think you should take some crampons and an ice axe with you”… “Those boots aren’t stiff enough, you can hire these”

The rest of Monday day and night – at the house in Aviemore pouring over maps, messaging Alec Finlay (the poet on the project) to try and work out his suggested 3 routes, deciding on one, planning, packing, preparing..The most memorable thing; feeling like I had finally learned how to use a compass (this was not to be the case!)

Tuesday day – Crossing the mountain pass from Aviemore to Braemar, the snowy scenic route, getting out of the car to have a wee and falling over on the ice, Keiloch car park, Invercauld Estate, getting lost on walk one, Braemar Bothy cafe, alone in Braemar Lodge bunk house. Two most memorable things; lightly kicking the hares head in the puddle to find it was soft and in the process of dissolving and watching a team of carriers, design consultants, cultural managers etc unload two large vans of stuff (art, stuffed animals and furniture) in the rain, dark and cold to fill the Fife Arms, Hauser & Wirth’s new creative Scottish venture in Braemar.

Wednesday day – Walk two, the track to Bulig Loch in totally inappropriate footwear i.e. the hired stiff high ankled boots made to fit crampons. The most memorable thing; for about 7 seconds I stood still and watched while a bright white hare streaked through and over the brown and purple heather, it appeared in the corner of my left eye and then disappeared almost in front of me, I just said ‘Wow’ aloud, the only thing I said all day. It wasn’t as Nan Shepherd had said ‘like smoke rising’ it was more solid than that, more of a form than smoke, it was indistinguishable from all the patches of snow that had settled and remained on the tops of the heather except for its motion and speed. It was magical, ethereal, mystical, amazing..

Wednesday night – back at the house in Aviemore after having driven the mountain pass in the dark, gales and rain. The most memorable thing: crawling to the kitchen from the lounge to get something because my legs ached so much…

Thursday day – Driving from Aviemore to Manchester. The most memorable thing; crying into my Neepes and Tatties soup at Tebay Services because driving with loads of trucks on the motorway in the torrential rain when tired was really hard…

Thursday night – Manchester, at the apartment of friend Hannah. The most memorable things; an Ospreys foot, salted fur and a very large bowl like glass of red wine.

Friday day – Driving from Manchester to Aberystwyth. The most memorable thing; another realisation, another 0.1 cm deeper realisation, another months worth of realisation, 7 months worth of realisation that my dad has gone.

Saturday day – Aberystwyth. Football, drumming, Morrisons and the Christmas light ceremony. The most memorable thing; remembering that up there far far away in that immense, wild, desolate and wonderful place I saw one dead road kill hare (grey), one dead with its eyes pecked out hare (grey) three live crossing the road hares (still mostly grey), 2 dissolving dead hares (grey) the fur of a bird of prey killed dead hare (white) and one live running hare (white).