New Tyres and Controversy in Elgin

. 21/10/24

When I think of Elgin I automatically think of marbles. Not the rolling kind, but the magnificent marble friezes from the Parthenon which were taken to Britain with the usual colonial entitlement (and possibly with the best of intentions), under the orders of the7th  Earl of Elgin. There is still controversy today. The Marbles are in the collection of the British Museum, but the Greek authorities would really like to see them repatriated.

Elgin Cathedral

Although the town of Elgin is associated with the Earls of Elgin, their family seat is miles away in Dunfermline. The town was once a favourite spot for Scottish royalty however, and even claimed to be a city at one point. A claim that was backed up by the presence of a cathedral.

The two almost intact west towers of Elgin Cathedral

We visited the cathedral which is now in ruins, another victim of the reformation. The west towers of the cathedral are still intact and we could climb them, although the forecast strong winds meant that the rooftop viewing tower was closed. The towers housed an exhibition of some of the carved masonry from the cathedral. Protected from the elements you can see the detail and artistry that was lavished on the stone. One of the towers had choral music playing as you ascended the stairs, gradually increasing in volume as we got closer to the heavens. Very atmospheric.

Elgin Museum

After the cathedral we visited Elgin museum. It’s in a purpose built building from the early Victorian era and provides a beautiful setting for a diverse range of exhibits relating to the local area.

Bright and airy Elgin Museum

This includes the  sketches of the Elgin Marbles commissioned by the Earl of Elgin and miniatures of the sculptures. More locally there are Pictish stones and a treasure trove of silver Roman coins. The coins must have been a status symbol given that the area didn’t use coins at the time, they were probably buried as an offering. Food producers Walkers and Baxters feature in the Victorian section, once small local businesses and now national household names. Upstairs is a Peruvian mummy and associated artifacts, donated by a local family who historically traded with Peru for alpaca fleeces to use in the cashmere trade which was very important to the area. Similar to the Elgin Marbles there has been some concern about the display of the mummy. Significant effort has been put into working with indigenous peoples of Peru to ensure that the display is handled with respect and in context. 

This was a really beautifully curated local museum with something to interest everyone. An unexpected treasure in Elgin.

Overnight in Elgin

Our main purpose for being in Elgin was to get new tyres for Bertie. We were booked in for the following morning, so we needed to find somewhere to stay. There was also a forecast of gale force winds to consider so we wanted to be somewhere pretty sheltered.

We ended up opting for the Lossie Green long stay car park. It was close to Tesco and Halfords so ticked off a couple of other things on our to-do list. We needed to restock the cupboards and we needed to buy a new headlight bulb to replace our spare which we’d had to use a few days previously.

We did a little research on the rules for the car park as it wasn’t clear from the signs whether we were allowed to park, where we should park and whether overnighting was permitted. It turned out that Motorhomes could park in the HGV and Coach bays, but that sleeping overnight was not allowed. We chose to turn a blind eye to the overnight sleeping restriction and nestled ourselves between two logging trucks for some shelter from the wind. As it was a Sunday out of season we didn’t expect anyone to check up on us and we ended up having a peaceful night.

The Quirky ‘Dandy Lion’ in Elgin, installed in 2016 it is meant to represent various aspects of Elgin’s industrial past. The quality of the sculpture has generated it’s own controversy high art it may not be, but it’s certainly eye catching.

New Tyres

We knew we’d be looking for new tyres at some point on this journey and we’d finally got to the point where we wanted to get them fitted. When we turned up at the tyre fitters on the Monday morning we found their signs had been blown over by the gales the night before. Thank goodness we’d had some shelter.

Luckily the absence of signage didn’t have an impact on the ability to fit our new tyres. We left Bertie with them while we walked up the road for a cuppa and to discuss our plans for the next week.

In terms of our tyre choice, we really need the three peak mountain and snowflake marked tyres. More and more European countries are insisting on them. Our current tyres were M+S (Mud and Snow) marked, but that doesn’t mean much as there is no set standard for M+S tyres. Historically we’ve gone for Michelin tyres, but their all season tyre is ridiculously expensive. In the end we opted for the Falken All Season Van11 tyres. So far so good. They’ll get their real workout in 2025 when we go away for our annual ski trip.