Flanders Moss Nature Reserve

Situated between Stirling and Aberfoyle in a far corner of historic Perthshire, Flanders Moss is a vast expanse of ancient landscape. It is the largest lowland raised bog in Britain and the surface is a mosaic of sphagnum and other rare plants. Lying upon the Carse of Stirling, a natural floodplain of the Forth estuary, Flanders was declared a National Nature Reserve in 1982. An active management programme keeps the water table high and aims to reverse the negative effects of drainage and peat extraction in decades gone by.

We have visited the reserve several times and today we found the car park full of alpaca trekkers, ready to wander around the moss for a couple of hours. The animals are based at a nearby farm and this activity takes place every Saturday and Sunday. It's not exactly our scene and we swiftly decamped to the Tir na nOg holistic centre further along the A811. On the way we passed the surviving signal box at the site of Kippen Station on the old Stirling to Balloch railway. Tír na nÓg is a Gaelic term meaning land of eternal youth and the wellness centre is set within an attractive courtyard. There are two shops on site and a range of therapies and courses are offered. The Soup Dragon Café serves freshly baked produce along with daily specials. We enjoyed a relaxing lunch, followed by a look around the complex. Thankfully the Peruvian goats were gone by the time we arrived back at Flanders. The path from the car park passes through a small patch of woodland and brings you to a wooden observation tower, which offers panoramic views across the flat reserve. The fringes of the Trossachs are prominent in the distance. A circular wooden boardwalk runs for half a mile through the bog and passes several pools, where newts, lizards and dragonflies can be spotted. Scottish Natural Heritage finally managed to buy out the commercial peat cutting rights in 1995 and the landscape is now fully protected. Water levels have risen (the desired effect) and the removal of trees has allowed natural bog vegetation to thrive. Peat has once again started to develop, even in the most damaged parts of the ground. Flanders basically acts a giant sponge within the Carse of Stirling and is a vital carbon store. Much of Central Scotland was once marshland which made it difficult for invading armies to advance. Centuries of drainage improved the agricultural and residential prospects, but at what cost to the environment? No dragonflies were around today in early spring but these insects play a vital role in wetland ecosystems. Flanders provides the perfect habitat and is regarded as a hotspot for this winged species. Several colourful examples frequent the sphagnum-rich pools.

A raised bog forms over millennia and a shallow domed profile is created as the plants pile on top of each other. From the boardwalk, traces of long straight ditches can be seen. They were dug in the 1980s to aid peat removal and 40km of these channels have been dammed since the nature authority took control. Flora and fauna thrive during the summer and lizards can be seen basking on the wooden platforms. Peatland restoration works normally take place over the winter months, when pink-footed geese make the moss their home. The current extent of the bog is around 60% of what is was before 1750. Some parts have been lost to farming and forestry forever, but the ultimate aim is to recover as much territory as is practically possible. We did our usual circuit and found a healthy amount of frog spawn in the ponds. Around 8000 people visit the reserve each year. It is a place for quiet and peaceful reflection and gives us a glimpse into the way our country looked thousands of years ago. Tir na nOg, as they say.

St Vigeans

It was the first day of my Easter holidays and I headed up to Dundee with Nicole, where she had to attend university. After dropping her off, I drove further up the coast to Arbroath, where I had a railway walk planned, with a bit of ancient Scottish history thrown in. At least that was the intention. For the past few days I had been struggling with a heavy cough and my energy levels were low. No doubt I had picked up a virus.

I parked in an industrial area by the main East Coast railway line, near a point where a local route to Forfar once diverged. Inland traffic ceased completely in 1967 and three miles of the old line now function as a public footpath. This was an ideal distance for an out and back walk, passing through the historic settlement of St Vigeans. The first 700 yards followed the banks of the Brothock Water, which formerly powered several mills. The river then passed below the adjacent main railway and I followed suit a little further upstream, finding myself on the trackbed of the Forfar branch. A path ran back towards the site of the old junction and I walked a short distance along this to the place where the dismantled line crossed the Brothock Water on a low bridge. This would be a great place to spot trains at close quarters on the main line but I had no wish to dally and turned around to follow the walkway as it curved into the distance. The tiny village of St Vigeans was just a quarter of a mile away and I reached the red-sandstone church that sits atop a conical grassy mound. The building remains virtually unchanged since a major restoration project in 1872, when 38 Pictish carvings were uncovered, some of which were embedded within the medieval walls. The oldest parts of the church date back to the 12th century but the majority of the construction is from the 15th. A Pictish monastery was probably built in this location around AD700. The prominent position of the hilltop, standing between two burns, was ideal for a place of worship. A replica carved stone can be found on the village green and it was erected in 2020 to commemorate the 700th anniversary of the Declaration of Arbroath - a document sent to the pope that asserted Scotland's independence. King William I (William the Lion) had gifted St Vigeans Church to Arbroath Abbey in 1178. The ancient stones are cared for by Historic Scotland and displayed inside a sandstone cottage museum across the street from the church. Unfortunately it was closed today (March 29th) and I surmised the opening times were restricted to the warmer months. The most famous exhibit is the Drosten Stone - a tall cross slab (1.84m) featuring an ornate cross and fantastic beasts. I picked up the route of the old railway and after a hundred yards decided to turn around. I simply didn't have the stamina to walk two and a half miles each way, even though the footpath was level. Instead, I ambled back to the car, drove the short distance to Morrisons supermarket and grabbed some lunch. I whiled away a couple of hours listening to the radio until it was time to think about heading back down the road to Dundee.

Suddenly the sun came out and I took the car up to St Vigeans in search of a few nice photos. The snaps I had taken on my short walk were rather dull and uninspiring. I scanned an information board and learned there had been a flax mill in the village back in Victorian times. I vowed to return on a future date to visit the museum and complete the railway walk. For today, I was completely spent.

Rutherglen Ladies FC

Women's football is now widely broadcast on mainstream TV channels. Extensive coverage is given to major international tournaments such as the European Championship and World Cup. Several nations have established a professional domestic league and the sport continues to grow around the globe. The roots of the game in Scotland stretch back over 100 years but it hasn't been a story of steady progress. Far from it. Women's football had to endure long spells of an unsupportive Scottish Football Association (SFA), who even resorted to proscription from 1948 onwards, denying the ladies permission to use stadia owned by men's clubs, or to engage the services of registered referees. This state of affairs wasn't altered until 1974, when token acceptance was granted by the men in suits. Just three years beforehand, following the staging of two "rebel" world cups, the European Association (UEFA) had proposed bringing the ladies game under the umbrella of each national body. Only one country - shamefully, Scotland - voted against the motion.

During WW1, women's football caught the public's attention and became a popular spectator sport. Teams often developed around industrial centres and factories, where females had taken over the bulk of production duties, while huge numbers of men were overseas on the battle front. It was a major shift in society but the old order was re-established shortly after the hostilities ended and many of the women's football clubs faded away. In 1921 the Football Association (FA), who govern the English game, refused to recognise fixtures involving female players. The effects of this move rippled across the United Kingdom and few sides were left competing on a regular basis. The Scottish football authorities (for now) stopped short of prohibition but actively discouraged promotion of the ladies game. It was remarkable that a new outfit - Rutherglen Ladies FC - emerged around this time and attracted significant media coverage. My sister Linda told me that Kirkcaldy Museum was hosting a touring exhibition on this trailblazing team and I popped down after work one day to have a look. Comprising mainly storyboards and photographs, the exhibition first opened at the Scottish Football Museum, Hampden Park, Glasgow in 2021 - the 100th anniversary of the original ban. There was an element of showbiz surrounding the staging of Rutherglen's matches and the team was the brainchild of professional entertainer James Kelly, who led a troupe called Kelly's Celtic Combination - featuring dancers, singers, comedians and mime artists. Kelly was a skilled publicist and organised fixtures with a selling point, such as having a well-known former professional footballer as the referee. Local dignitaries were invited to perform the ceremonial coin-toss. The new club was able to hoover up talented players who had been cast adrift when their old sides had folded. A couple of Fifers starred for Rutherglen: Chrissie Stevenson (Cowdenbeath) and May Watson (Auchterderran, pictured below). This added some local interest to the display. When Rutherglen defeated the successful Lancashire side Dick Kerr Ladies at Shawfield Stadium, Glasgow in 1923, Kelly dubbed his charges "world champions" - whipping out this epithet at every available opportunity.

Kelly faced the continual problem of finding suitable opponents, which he cunningly solved by simply running two teams and rebranding one (or sometimes both) as Edinburgh, Glasgow, Scotland or Ireland - depending on where an exhibition match was taking place. This model ensured the crowd was guaranteed a competitive spectacle. The strategy enabled Rutherglen (and their reserve players) to tour all over the British Isles and an "Ireland v Scotland" fixture in Dublin attracted 12000 spectators. The star woman in the line-up was Sadie Smith, whose granddaughter is Eddi Reader, the famous pop/folk singer. By the mid-1930s, the squad was beginning to age and several players dropped out after getting married. Kelly was unable to continue financing major tours and Rutherglen played their last recorded fixture in 1939. Women's football across the UK entered the doldrums after the war and didn't really pick up again until the early 70s. It is impossible to discuss the modern age without mentioning the towering figure of Rose Reilly. A native of Ayrshire, the teenage Rose was part of the Stewarton side that lifted the inaugural Scottish Cup in 1971 and reached the WFA Cup final the same year. She was capped 10 times for Scotland before moving to France (and later Italy) to pursue a professional career. Reilly and two other Scotland players were barred for life by the SFA in 1975 after criticising the poor organisation of the domestic game. During her 22-year spell in Italian football with a number of clubs, Reilly won eight league titles and four cup medals. She turned out for the Italian national side and the crowing glory in 1984 was lifting the Mundialito - the precursor to the modern FIFA Women's World Cup. Thankfully the sport is now fully embraced by the SFA and Rose Reilly is honoured within the Hall of Fame at the Scottish Football Museum, where she is pictured in her Azzurri shirt holding the coveted silverware aloft.