Mark and Tilda on 'a pilgrimage' to Nairn

Yesterday evening the Screen Machine arrived in Nairn after having wended its way through the Highlands on an odyssey/pilgrimage which began on 1st August at Bridge of Orchy, led by Mark Cousins and Oscar-winner and Nairn resident Tlda Swinton.

After a stroll up to town before lunch to pick up a newspaper, as it was such a lovely sunny and warm morning (it has clouded over and become a little cooler since then), I took a walk down the High Street and the first part of Harbour Street before cutting down onto the river and across the Merryton Bridge (for those who know Nairn well, I was obviously coming from the other side in the photograph) so I could walk down the east side of the river to The Maggot area, where the Screen Machine had been set-up in the car-parking area. Then back across the Bailey Bridge and along the shore (I walked, as I often do, in the path down amongst the dunes because few ever go there so it is peaceful and it is sheltered from any sea-breezes that may be wafting in from the beach - not that there were then as it was lovely and warm) toward the beach café and home.

Below are a few photographs I took of the Screen Machine and the Red Bus. I am sure the cinema is wonderful and the programme looks interesting. Candidly, though, I think the multi-coloured ribbons with which the Screen Machine is decorated look really weird and quite tacky, although I imagine the aim is to make what is effectively a modified truck look colourful and 'funky'. However it reminded me, I'm afraid to say, of the Clootie Well near Munlochy in the Black Isle, an area I have known since childhood, as it's where my father came from and where I have spent many holidays, and although it is considered by some to have beneficial properties I have always considered it an eyesore.

Anyway, here are the photos:

Ramshackle Rolls - www.a-pilgrimage.org The 'Screen Machine' comes to Nairn 6 - 9 August 2009 Click here to see enlargements of all these photographs, where you will also find detailed descriptions of each photograph. Click here to see enlargements of all these photographs, where you will also find detailed descriptions of each photograph.