I loved my time in Dundee as a student and try to get up to the City of Discovery at least a couple of times a year. I'm a long-term member of CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) and when I found out the annual Members Weekend was taking in place in Dundee, I vowed to attend. A closer inspection of the dates revealed the event was opening on the first day of my Easter holidays - even better!
Naturally, I planned to make a day of it. There is a direct bus from Cairneyhill to Dundee which gets in around 10.30. My itinerary was along the lines of museum visit, buffet lunch, hill climb, drink beer. Stagecoach Buses offer a Fife Dayrider for £9.30. This represents excellent value for exploring the Kingdom. An extended ticket - which includes Dundee - can be purchased for £11.50. My first port of call was the McManus Galleries, a superb museum focussing on the history of Dundee and the surrounding area. There is an interesting natural history collection with an ancient log boat taking pride of place. Entry is free and the artefacts are hosted within a grand Victorian building. The upper floors are largely dedicated to paintings and while that's not really my passion, it's often the case that something grabs your attention. For some reason, this moody depiction of Highland cattle (pictured below) has always leapt out at me. Moorland and Mist was painted by Peter Graham in 1893 but all is not quite as it seems. While the artwork ostensibly conveys a Highland landscape, the cattle models actually lived on Graham's country estate in Buckinghamshire. But I like it regardless.
The new V&A Museum has attracted huge amounts of media coverage but anyone with a couple of hours to spare in Dundee ought to check out the McManus. It was getting close to noon - the traditional opening time for buffet restaurants. Off I headed to Whitehall Street where Jimmy Chung's is located. Chinese eat-all-you-can places don't always get the best reviews but you can fill up for a reasonable price and I just love the spare ribs in these joints. Less than a tenner for a lunch with a large coke doesn't break the bank. Of course, the daytime selection is curtailed and many of the dishes are chicken based with duck and prawns scarcely to be found. The key is always to stay on the right side of sensibility and leave enough space for dessert - especially those mango puddings! A spanner was thrown into the works when I noticed an Indian buffet had opened right next door to JC's. I must admit I swithered but ultimately I'm a great believer in sticking with your original choice. Out I waddled almost an hour later and headed towards Perth Road, passing another great Dundee Institution - Groucho's second-hand music store. Many an afternoon was spent browsing there as a student in the 90s. I dropped into DCA (Dundee Contemporary Arts) for a nose around but the exhibitions weren't my cup of tea. I was making my way towards Balgay Hill, the lesser known of the city's two peaks. There was time for a pit stop in the Speedwell Bar which has a historic interior and dispenses real ales. Instantly the barmaid asked if I was in town for the CAMRA event (the beard must have been a giveaway). Clearly several other members had located the pub and a wide variety of accents could be heard. All good business for the Dundee cask scene which has somewhat lagged behind Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Onward to Victoria Park - the starting point for Balgay Hill. It's an easy climb and I took the shortest route up the wooden staircase. An access road also leads to the observatory at the summit. I had been up here a couple of times previously but had never done both Dundee hills in one day. The observatory was closed - probably due to the presence of daylight (no shit Sherlock!) - and views of the city were restricted to glances through gaps in the trees. I descended on a grassy path known as the Coo Road which leads towards the Law - an extinct volcano that towers over the city. Suddenly the vista opened up with Cox's stack - a tall chimney from industrial times - standing proudly to my left. I worked my way towards the top of the Law, sometimes referred to tautologically as Law Hill. From here you can see across Dundee in all directions. Truly a magical place! Twice a kestrel hovered at eye level not far from me but by the time I'd scrambled for the camera it was gone. I spent an academic year in a shared house on the lower slopes of the Law and often hiked up to the summit for some quiet time. A large war memorial stands at the top and a long forgotten (and sealed) railway tunnel runs below.
It was time to return to the city centre and visit the CAMRA members bar at the Caird Hall. Approaching City Square - 15 minutes before opening time - I noticed a queue building up. Early birds, I assumed. Best to let it die down. I ducked into the Keiller Shopping Centre - a warren of outlets selling all manner of wares. At least that's what it used to be. It is now depressingly bare and many units are boarded up. Sign of the times I suppose. Back at the Caird Hall, the queue seemed to have grown and I had no other option than to stand in line. Trouble was, we didn't seem to be moving forward. Word filtered back about troubles with the electronic signing-in process, which had been touted as seamless, requiring attendees simply to enter their postcode and touch a button - or so the theory went. Things gradually sped up and I was in! Now, where was the bar? Better purchase some tokens first. I was handed a beer card instead, divided into 10p units. This was due to the ales having differing prices and your card was marked accordingly upon purchase. It seemed to work smoothly enough. I ended up sitting with a group of visitors from Bromley, Kent, who were up for the whole weekend. I sampled a few ales, glad that I'd finally got myself along to a large-scale CAMRA gathering and given something back to the noble cause.
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