Graeme Clark, founding member and bassist of Wet Wet Wet, shares his 'best bits' of Scotland
Best Beach
I have such brilliant memories of going on holiday as a kid to a caravan park in Nairn, which backed on to the beach. You know what memories of childhood holidays are like anyway, you always remember white sands and the summers always seemed to be sunny, but it’s a stunning beach.
It’s such a significant place that we actually took my mum’s ashes to be scattered there even though you’re not really supposed to do that.
Coming from the west, I also have to mention Inchcailloch in the middle of Loch Lomond. We used to go there as teenagers to camp and there are some beautiful sandy beaches there.
Best Building
Even just thinking about Glasgow, there are so many beautiful terraces and buildings that you could choose from, For me the most impressive building is Templeton’s Carpet Factory on Glasgow Green.
I honestly think that if you took a photograph of that and showed it to someone, they would never think it was in Glasgow. It has this almost Moorish feel about it. It has great memories for me too because when Wet Wet Wet played Glasgow Green, we did our press conference there.
Best Street
There are so many streets in Clydebank that have great memories of childhood, but I have to choose Byres Road in Glasgow. I think when you get to the city, you’ll always head for the most bohemian part and Byres Road is certainly it.
It’s such a distinct area, particularly with the really interesting lanes that run off it. It had such a big effect on me all those years ago.
Best Childhood Memory
This one is obviously in Clydebank. We had music and we had football and quite rightly at the ages of 12 or 13, our mums and dads wouldn’t allow us to go up to Glasgow to Rangers or Celtic games. So I ended up at Kilbowie Park.
And in many ways those memories have got nothing to do with the football, although they had guys like Davie Cooper at that time. It was about being with your buddies and being part of something. There was a feeling in the air especially on the summer evenings – that low glow in the sky. Even now it feels quite magical to me.
Best Walk or Cycle
Before I got pneumonia last year, I was really keen on getting on my bike. I was even convinced into the Lycra!
I would cycle a lot where I live now, south of London, but when I was back at my mum’s I was staying in my teenage bedroom and I would take the bike out around Clydebank.
Places like the Nolly – the canal that goes through Clydebank and on to the West Highland Way. The other way takes you down to the Maryhill locks. That was always a favourite place for me.
Best View
I went up to Islay at the end of last year. My friend and I sometimes go up there to write. There’s a place called Ardnahoe, where you look over Jura and Islay – they’re so close to one another and you see the two mountains on Jura.
The great thing for me is it “right sizes” me. It shows that there’s something bigger than us – and that’s what makes it such a breathtaking view for me.
Best Shop
I’ve always been obsessed with music and my fondest memories are of going up to Listen Records. There were a couple of them but I would go to Renfield Street because my brother worked in there.
I think I must have bought most of my records in there. It was an absolute rite of passage – that kind of interest forms your social circle and almost forms your opinions on life.
Best Scottish Delicacy
There are so many now but living in England you do miss vegetable pakora, which I now see as a Scottish delicacy. But I have to say there’s also nothing like a well-fired roll. I would always get them when I was at my mother’s and I take them back down south because my son loves them.
And, of course, you have to put a packet of crisps in them – I do like to try to keep that connection with Scotland going!
Best Place for Alone Time
There’s a place in Clydebank called Cochno. I grew up around the Cochno Road and, if you go right up to the top, there’s a view where you look over Glasgow Airport and you can see the planes coming in.
I did a lot of that when I was younger, and I did a lot of that when I was back staying at my mother’s a few years back. I would go up to the top of Cochno Road. There are a few farms and sporadic houses but mainly it’s that view across Glasgow that clears my head.
Wet Wet Wet and Go West play Edinburgh Usher Hall on Tuesday, February 6, and Glasgow Royal Concert Hall on Wednesday, February 7.
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