Irvine, North Ayrshire

It's that time of year again when people think about where they're going for summer holidays or weekend breaks. I usually have a week off work in May for just me and the camera exploring unusual or unique places either new or nostalgic. You may remember my series from Oban that included planes, boats, bikes, seals and puffins. I was hoping to replicate some of this a bit further north in Mallaig but accommodation was impossible at such short notice, one guest house owner offered me a week later in the year which I accepted.

River Irvine sunset

Finding something interesting to do this week was difficult without having to repeatedly cover the same motorway stretch to Manchester and beyond to Wales for other reasons. The Nostalgic strings of my youth kept pulling at me with some Firth of Clyde boat trips. The plan in my head of how the week was going to shape up seemed quite easy in reality as there would be three boat trips, maybe a train trip if it was wet and a day tying up some other loose ends on the mainland. The worst thing about this week was trying to find central accommodation as the main hotel and guest house town (Ayr) was in the south, meaning I would have to travel north every day. In fact the accommodation was so difficult to find that I ended up using Booking.com and the chosen destination was Kidron House on the outskirts and in a suburb of Irvine. Just to highlight what kind of clientele stayed here, I had an interesting, awkward and yet funny conversation with one of the friendly indian waiters. He didn't understand why I was staying there as I wasn't on business, didn't have my golf clubs and I wasn't American ! I would be quite prepared to stay there again even if it was to break his stereotypical attitude. One thing he and his colleagues didn't like about me was that I was never in the hotel bar to tip them because as this post shows, I was always out at night, getting back late. Kidron House Hotel did me well though and here is the trip advisor link of the Hotel and the best place for local food for my budget was The_Ship_Inn. Unfortunately I was only in Irvine for two of the five evening meals and this occasion was later in the week.

Harbourside and Scottish Maritime Museum cafe.

In what I thought was going to be an introductory filler post of a few photos of boats, an old street and some sunsets has turned into a major post as I've had to constantly add photographic material to support the text.

Irvine is 26 miles south west of Glasgow and probably developed as a result of the adjacent River Irvine that meanders near the entrance to the Firth of Clyde. The history seems to date back to 1140 when it received Burgh status and development later with coal mining and the subsequent export from the great river links. Given it's history, there was a strange move to give Irvine a New Town status but employment was dealt a great blow in the 1980's with the closure of the coal mines. A short time later the area saw growth in the the construction of industrial, coaching and commercial vehicles to utilise some of the redundant workforce, with Irvine sharing these opportunities until further closure in 1999. The UK's largest paper mill was opened nearby in 1989 by a Finnish company.

I sometimes surprise myself with the locations I post from but I do like a challenge of finding a set of images from a unheard of town. Irvine is usually a place that people, including myself, bypass on the A78 road and the Ayr to Glasgow railway line, although I did once call in to see its most famous attraction late in an afternoon back in 1992.

Scottish Maritime Museum gate

Unfortunately The Scottish Maritime Museum had already closed for the day.

On this current visit, the weather on my first day was miserable and this seemed like the best indoor option and introduction to all that shipping in The Firth of Clyde could offer me this week. Hoping to find some interest and colour !!

Scottish Maritime museum architecture

 In addition to the main building, the museum also owns other exhibits in the vicinity nearby ...

The Shipyard worker's Flat,  Irvine

M.V Kyles (rear) boat,  Irvine Harbourside

Irvine Harbourside Sunset

Both sites were accessed by means of a very good guided walking tour from the museum at no extra charge.

Dinghy Challenge,  Scottish Maritime Museum, Irvine

By far the best entertainment of the day was the Dinghy challenge. As you can see from an earlier image, the museum was a bit desolate on a cold rainy day in May so there were no prying eyes of children watching an adult have some fun !! With the exception of the green and red emergency buttons, there were only two controls of the yacht rigging for the sail on the left and the steering wheel.. The slalom course that appeared on the screen consisted of a harbour and a series of posts to manoeuvre around roughly in a circle and back into port. On my first go I just steered the wheel, realised that there was a time limit 2/3 the way through and subsequently ran out of time. I discovered the rigging wheel to the left and how it worked during my second experimental experience. On the third attempt I managed to beat the clock, but not before becoming exhausted in my efforts ... almost like the real thing without the wind and rain outside !!

Linthouse Vennel,  Irvine Harbour

The surrounding streets of the museum in the Harbourside area were a mixture of historic and photogenic residential housing.

Gottries Road,  , Irvine

Gottries Road,  Irvine

Gottries Road, Irvine

Gottries Road, Irvine

Buildings no doubt with some maritime history although I'll have to leave you guessing with their former use or authenticity !!

The Big Idea, Irvine

Despite the main attraction of Irvine being the Scottish Maritime Museum, the town tried to push the tourism boat out a little further with a Millennium Project called The Big Idea. Scottish inventors were celebrated attracting 120,000 people in the first year 2000. Unfortunately interest was not sustained and visitor numbers fell by less than half the following year before finally closing the door and walkway in 2003.
This most unusual and difficult to understand location was explained to me by a local man out for an evening walk with his dog. As the grass covered roofed building seemed partially hidden from public view, it seemed natural that it was left to sit for 11 years with no final decision on it's future. In a sense The Big Idea seemed like a good idea at the time but remained just a big idea, Shame.

Carter and his Horse by David Annand

Just across the road from The Ship Inn and Marina Inn on the Harbourside is the sculpture of Carter and his Horse representing the transporting of ships cargo. It was difficult to get a decent shot of this during the course of the week as it was raining on the first day and always dark when I arrived later at the scene following a day out.

The Rivergate Shopping Centre, Irvine

It might seem unusual to insert an image of a modern shopping centre here but I saw this building as a key to keeping the town alive. Not that I'm suggesting it's through retail sales alone but somehow linking sections of the town together as a result of topography and transport routes.
My first late night exploration of the town involved  the thought process and a journey of discovery in how I could walk from the main street bus stop to the railway station for a potential car free day out. Irvine wasn't the easiest place to negotiate around by car thanks to a bus only main street and curving roads that easily lost my normally good sense of direction. Thankfully the shopping Mall although very long and eerie stayed open to act as a useful bridge to cross over a main road, river and then descend to ground level nearer the coast and the railway station.

Too often in Cities and Towns, the retail chain stores are attracted to move premises into a newly created shopping centre leaving the High Street to struggle on with second rate shops, businesses that can't relocate and those that suffer lack of investment. I'm not saying the above image has anything to do with that as they might be in the process of renovation, but hey, I couldn't resist as it makes a great comedy shot !

Trinity Mirror

In my mind and having confirmed it with a bit of research, it seems that Trinity Church and Trinity Mirror are at the centre and fulcrum of the the town. After falling into a severe state of disrepair, the church was refurbished over a 42 week period from November 2012 for some community use to regenerate the town and link the main street with The Rivergate Shopping Centre. The foreground polished stainless steel monument grabbed my attention with reversed deep thinking words and phrases on the base relating to the geography, history and poetic thoughts of the River Irvine. The text can only be read using the vertical columned reflection and the £90,000 structure that is proportional sizing to the church steeple divides opinion of the local residents.

Hill Street, Irvine

With a mixture of getting my bearings and looking for somewhere to eat later in the day, I stumbled on a couple of historical streets,

Glasgow Vennel,  Irvine

the second of which was where the local Robert Burns the poet lodged for a year in 1781.

Despite staying here for a week, I was disappointed that I didn't get better lit or car free images of The Town House on the High Street.

After my trip to the west coast of Scotland the previous year to Oban I was hoping to re-create some magical sunsets this time across the Firth of Clyde to The Isle of Arran. Unfortunately it didn't quite work on this occasion but inserted it to give you a reason why I found accommodation near the coast. Used wide angle to give more foreground and cloud perspective on this occasion. I'll re-visit the sunset theme from a different evening location later in the series.

Irvine Bay sign

Irvine Bay Regeneration company has a symbol that seems to represent drops or splashes of water, it certainly has potential as a great silhouette.

On the afternoon of my first day, the weather turned grey and rainy LOL, so I decided head south for the afternoon into some sunshine (next post)

... always best to escape being eaten by a crocodile crowd, poor boat !! ...

Crocodile Cloud !!