Quest for Explorers – Stone and Stories
Join us for a Quest with Professor David Munro to uncover the dramatic landscape of Crichope Linn and Cample that inspired great explorers and writers through time.
This is a Quest for the curious, those who want to find out more about a landscape which inspired famous 19th century Scottish explorer and geologist, Joseph Thomson. Joseph, originally from Penpont, led 6 expeditions into previously uncharted lands mapping huge expanses of Kenya, Morocco and Nigeria and discovered Mount Kilimanjaro. It’s was Dumfries and Galloway’s Crichope linn were he had a chance encounter which inspired him and changed the course of his life.
Crichope Linn is stunningly beautiful but hidden away in a cleuch unless you know it’s there you wouldn’t find it. Steeped in history it was the hiding and meeting place of the Covenanters and many before them. The Linn inspired Sir Walter Scott, who chose it as the lair of John Balfour in “Old Mortality” and was a famous Victorian Beauty spot. Just down the hill from Crichope Linn the small hamlet of Cample sits close to a number of small quarries where the rock was transported via the mineral railway line. We will explore how Cample uses the landscape to support its mills and minerals.
Professor David Munro will share with us his adventures and special way of investigating landscape through mapping, walking, discussions and shared insights. David will be joined by Environmental artist, Jan Hogarth, and director of the CAMPLE LINE, Tina Fiske.
Join us and we will share Crichope Linn and Cample’s secrets.
What: We will uncover the stories hidden in the stone, the maps and the architecture of this incredibly landscape. With stories insights and discussions about stone, time and stories.
We will meet at CAMPLE LINE, a new space for contemporary art and film, where we look at some beautifuls old maps of the area from the archives of Drumlanrig Castle before embarking on our Quest for Explorers and adventurers.
Guides: Professor David Munro, Geographer in residence at Drumlanrig Castle and himself an explorer of landscapes all over the world, has a curious mind and a generosity with his own knowledge and real life stories and insights.
Who: The Quest is for all ages, families and anyone who is curious, interested in beautiful inspirational landscape and its hidden stories. You will need to be sure footed and happy to climb over stone dykes in one place (all part of the adventure!).
When and Where: Sunday 17th June meeting at 11am at Cample Line, Cample Mill, Thornhill, DG3 5HD.
Food, Lunch and Clothing: Please bring wellies or walking boots and weatherproof clothes and a packed lunch for our Quest.
To Book and Fee: Contact jan@wide-open.net or tel.07801232229 to book. £40 with concessions available and under 18s go free
This Quest is delivered in partnership with CAMPLE LINE, a contemporary art and film space, where we will meet and return after our landscape Quest for tea and a preview of a beautiful thought provoking film about stone. Thanks to Professor David Munro for his fascination with this landscape and Tina Fiske for inviting us to work with her at Cample.
