An Introduction to Gold Panning in Wanlockhead, Scotland

Kai enjoying the sun

As the 2018 season draws to a close and the mining museum shuts its doors for the winter; now is a good time to do a little introduction to gold panning in Wanlockhead, and some of the do's and don't's associated with it.

As some of you know 2018 was my first season "on the water". I'm telling you this first because I don't want anyone to think it has made me rich, or that there is a single thing in my house worth stealing. For a whole season I don't have much to show yet - but I have learned enough in those few short months to know where to find it, how to find it and how to get it out of the dang'd water to boot.

All that being said if you are looking for an old pro to guide you I am not the one. If you are a noob just starting out then pay attention, there are probably a few things you can learn from my (many) mistakes.

So first off there are a few rules to follow when you are gold panning in Scotland. First and foremost you must do no damage to flora and fauna, or to natural habitats. It is OK to dig into things as long as you fill your hole back in - and I can't stress this enough... ALWAYS fill your hole back in. It's the best way to let the reserves replenish and to ensure you don't change the flow of the whole river. as for the flora and fauna thing that means rinse the moss, don't pull it out at the roots. That moss took years to get there. While we are on the subject don't go digging into the banks either, keep it around the water and respect the land.

One of many waterways near Leadhills

Another very important rule is about location. There are rivers in Scotland that harbour a protected species of shellfish called the Freshwater Mussel. I don't have a photo because I have never come across one. You cannot pan in rivers known to home this species under any circumstances. You should also avoid any areas where salmon or other freshwater fish populate. Disturbing the silt in the river bed can upset their eggs, so be thoughtful about where you pan. A good way to get around this is to only work streams, although your chances of finding gold are higher in a river. Hence why the Leadhills area is quite so popular.

When you choose to pan in Wanlockhead you eliminate the problem of permission. You can buy a license from the Lead Mining Museum for as little as £3.50 for a day and you can rent a pan for about a fiver, so one day to have a shot and see if you like it really doesn't cost you much. I should also mention that there are some good maps out there that show where the gold veins run in Scotland. This one from GeoCache goes some way to explaining why Wanlockhead is such a popular mining area.

If you choose to go to other places to pan then this is reasonable. You need to get permission from the landowner - never poach for gold. If you have the landowner's permission and someone complains to you, you are in the right and you do not need to move on. However, the crown has already claimed all of the gold in Scotland - so if you do find a £50K nugget you need to formally ask the Queen if you can keep it. I'm only half kidding.

Exposed Bedrock is a good place to hunt for gold.

So: you have got the license, you have got your gold pan, you brought a shovel... where do you start looking? It's not as simple as picking any spot and digging, rather you need to examine the river for the best places to dig into. The river will have what is called a 'gold stream' which is the path that the gold slides down while it works its way through the water. If you dig down and get no gold you might not be on a gold stream and you may have just wasted two hours digging. Trust the voice of experience and learn how to test pan before you commit to a giant, fruitless, hole. I may do an article on that in the future, for now let's keep going.

Where the stream meets the river is another good place.

So the gold stream will generally build up around bends and it can be fairly easy to work it out when you get the hang of things. Imagine you are going down the river in a boat and riding the current. Which parts of the river would you hit? Look in those places for silt banks and that's where you dig. Another important thing to learn is that an open hole usually means whoever was digging it is coming back to finish it then fill it in. You should never jump into someone else's hole. It's rude. Likewise digging three foot downstream from them is cheeky as hell. Find your own spot so nobody questions you.

So once you have picked a place you want to look for clues. Things like quartz crystals, pyrite, other interesting mineral presences in the first pan you pull out. If the signs are looking good dig deeper. If you still don't find anything dig deeper some more. If you find anything like lead shot, nails or old steel bolts you are on the right track. Wear gloves because there are a lot of ignorant people that camp on the Mennock and leave their rubbish behind. There are smashed up bottles and all sorts, so be careful (and while we're at it don't be one of them).

Like my wellies?

Pyrite will fool you. If you can swirl water in the pan and the fleck of gold moves then it's generally pyrite. If you can't move it then it might be gold. You will find gold where you find fine black sand, which usually means you need to be right down to the bedrock level. The idea of using the pan is to shake it to trap the heavier debris in the bottom, then to wash away the top layers one layer at a time until you are left with only those heavier pieces. Prepare to have a sore neck and an aching back that first few times...

In terms of equipment you will need a garden spade, a gold pan and something to get the gold out with and store it in on your fist attempt. The Lead Mining Museum sells everything you need to get started and have a whole bunch more information than I could ever put here. If you want to increase your knowledge base before you go out and try for yourself then make a customary stop there on your first visit. They do great work and you will learn a lot.

Another way to learn is to stop the car and ask panners themselves. Most of them don't mind a chat, just don't ask them to share good spots with you. They won't. It takes a long time to learn where the good spots are and their locations are closely guarded secrets. The one I used for the pictures is one I found for myself. It isn't great and there is a load of man-made sand in there that makes it difficult to pan. For all my effort once again I got very little flour gold... One of these days though, the elusive nugget will be mine!

So that's all for today. I may return to this topic in the future, I want to gauge the reaction of the community first and make sure I haven't upset anyone with my article. Gold Panners are some of the best secret keepers in the world - but I'm one of them... you won't be getting any good spots from me either... you will just have to find them for yourself!

Writing Edelweiss; Dark Science, part one.

So the time has come for the obligatory "this is how I wrote my first book" blog post. I apologise in advance to those who show up for the funny stuff, I'll try to make sure it isn't a dry read.

The Final Cover Image, courtesy of Craig Anderson Photography

Edelweiss started as a character: Dr Abigail Jones (who was never a real Doctor, just a healer in disguise). This was a character I developed to play in a Live Action Role Play and was probably the first character that I went to bed and dreamed about. She was very real to me. To this day I have other Larpers to thank for some of the characters... Rufus Frank, who you meet in Valerian, Captain Charles Echan, Mister Talphibious and Asa Lupine were all based on real people; Talphibious and Frank only loosely.

The setting is completely different to the LARP world I played, albeit with similarities. The original Abigail Jones was a member of the Temple of Shadows (ironically the good guys) so her path was never going to be easy. The story developed with her as a starting point but, as she was only a girl, I needed a caretaker who was loyal and who could remind her of where she came from when her ideas got too big for her boots. Stephen Lawrence was born as Paul Thomas Damas, a name I changed in later drafts for reasons that won't become clear until you read the second and third books.

My main protagonist was always going to be a dual threat of Catherine and the mystery murderer we meet in the prologue.What I didn't expect was for those two characters to take on their own stories throughout the series. It has been just as interesting for me to find out what they have been up to as it is for the reader. The trouble with writing character-driven stories is that sometimes they change the plot for themselves because of their attitudes and abilities. Abigail is particularly hard to write because she is always off doing her own thing. She needs a big group around her so that she can be constantly reigned back in. Usually for her own good. If she didn't have Stephen she would have marched straight from Beeton to Estora and got herself killed in chapter 2. So.

An alternative image, courtesy of Craig Anderson Photography

People often ask how I go about the process of writing and it is very simple. I sit down at a blank screen and I tell the stories that I would like to read. There isn't enough dark, nearly-horror-but-not-quite fantasy out there. When I have come across it (mentioning no names) I have found it a little flowery and hard to read in places. I think my style is very simple but I believe that simple can be more shocking at times. I guess all writing is subjective and it just comes down to what you like.

As for planning well, I started with the prologue as a back story for Abigail and just couldn't stop telling the story. I had to get her out of there so I did. Then I had to get her to Ronton Bay, so I did. After that things just kind of took care of themselves. I knew at some point Asa would come into play and that later she would get to the root of the problem - but in terms of planning that was about it. What I will say is that I worked on Edelweiss; Dark Science, part one for eight years before I put it into a real format and edited out the parts I didn't like. In the future I will post about some of these, though it will contain spoilers, so not yet...

There's no better feeling than holding the hard copy!

So during that eight years I hand wrote it, re-wrote it, typed it up, lost it to a computer error, typed it up again and then decided to commit myself and publish. Stories constantly evolve and change and even now, two and a half books later, I still have a hazy memory of what went into the final cut and what I left out. I spend a huge amount of editing time checking back on old details to make sure I have people's eye colour just right, or their back stories on point... I did keep a compendium of all the details but it changed so much between drafts it became useless.



Writing a book is time consuming, it is hard, it is confusing and it takes a lot of imagination. Then when you do produce work you imagine it isn't good enough to be read by anyone and that you should probably take it down. Nevertheless we persist, because stories need to be told and that's just how it is.

And now I have Edelweiss. Go check it out. At the very least it will give you a glimpse into my world.

Editing because I realised I didn't put a link to the book in so here we are: you can buy a copy of Edelweiss; Dark Science, part one (in either paperback or E-book) by following this link.

A Scottish Woodland Walk

For those with a Death-Wish only

Weather + Trees = Death

The modern world doesn't leave us a lot of time to get back to nature yet Doctors around the globe tout the health benefits of woodland walks, days in the park and the general well-being boost that comes from being outside.

And then there's us Scots.

First of all: there is a fairly solid chance that the weather might kill you. If it doesn't manage to batter you back indoors from your woodland walk you may end up with a tree falling on you. I wish I was joking...

Elder Berries

Besides the falling trees there are all sorts of dangerous and not-very-exotic plants. Take these lovely looking Elder Berries, for example. They taste fantastic... but they will poison you if you eat too many raw. Put them in a pie and they're great, but rely on them when you are starving and all you will get is a desperate need for the non-existent toilet. That is what we call 'Bad Banter'.

Foxglove, a (deadly) common garden flower

Next we have the gorgeous Foxglove plant... from which we can take Digitalis which will stop your heart. Do not eat it... no matter how pretty it looks. You shouldn't really have these growing in your garden but you would be surprised by how many people do... There were two versions of this photo; one with Kai in the background and one without. I think it is prettier with the dog.

It's not all bad, I suppose, there is plenty of wildllife. One time when I was wild camping a Stag ran out of the woods and barked at me. Then there was the time I got chased by the badger... but mostly it's just bugs. I couldn't catch a midge on film so I got a really cool beetle instead.

It's not all bad, I did meet this little guy.

After a while of walking you start to notice some fairly odd things. The bench below, for example, overlooks the Clyde Walkway by Crossford. It is a beautiful area full of natural habitats and protected waterways... and someone has only gone and fenced off the benches so you can't enjoy it.

You probably wouldn't want to anyway, at this time of year, there is a high chance the cold would get you. Or a tree would fall on you. You see where I'm going with this?

The benches are wild here, we have to cage them.

 Once in a while you will come across some fairly creepy stuff... there might be a half-built shelter that looks like kids did it but you're not sure, because of all the broken Buckfast Tonic Wine bottles tossed around the place.

There are arrows that point to nowhere, and nothing, and might lead to Oz if you followed them...nobody knows and nobody ever returned to tell the tale. People don't follow the arrows anymore. We learned.

Brambles...

...Come with Thor

 And then we come to the things you can eat. This bramble berry bush, for example, probably just known as a blackberry anywhere else in the world. You can eat them, they are sweet and delicious and THEY WILL CUT YOU. Enjoy.

Likewise these nettles will keep you going throughout the winter - but THEY WILL STING YOU. Still, who cares about a little sting when society has devolved enough that you have to forage nettles for your tea... right?

Nettles

Shroooooooms

Clover

Then there are the creepy mushrooms...lots and lots of creepy mushrooms, not enough of them psychedelic and some as big as your head. You can eat them. Probably. I wouldn't though, there's a pretty serious risk of death.


The clover is edible but - this is the important part - white clover is toxic in warmer countries. It's OK to eat it in Scotland, but it does taste like yuck and it is far better cooked. Kids in Scotland spend whole summers looking for a four-leafed one among clusters just like this. Darn it kids have a lot of free time... we should give them all jobs.

This tree is definitely planning to kill you.

So let's have a round up then... Basically, if you're going out for a woodland walk in Scotland you need to go prepared. You take your phone and you tell someone when you are coming home. The chances of your phone working out there are slim to none of course, but at least you will get to snap a few pics of the thing that kills you.

Thanks once again for taking the time to read through my weird little blog. I will be back in a few days with an article on Gold Panning. It sounds like I've been really busy this week but I haven't... just damn these photos take a while to upload.

Until next time: stay safe out there (and don't go picking any Foxglove for your window ledge).

So you want to be a writer?

Let's cover something not-so-horror-focused as last time. Let's talk about what it is actually like to work in the industry. I want to troubleshoot a few common misconceptions about what it is I do all day... but let's start from the very beginning.

The very first thing you need to know is that Writer's pay Sucks (<--- notice the capital 'S').

If you happen to be J K Rowling or Stephen King you might be able to pick and choose your rates - but the rest of us seriously struggle to get the rent paid just like everyone else.

Consider this: one single book takes maybe 200 hours to write... and then we place it on Amazon for £5.99 and hope that those who feel sorry for us will buy it. Times that by five or six and take away all of your free time and you are starting to get an idea of what it takes to do this job. And I do mean All of your free time.

Making it (erm...one day)

You need to keep the day job; something menial that lets you dream up new characters based on angry customers or the robot-people who answer the phone to you on a daily basis. When you come home from your day job you have a 3K minimum word limit to break even at the end of the month - but that's only if you are lucky enough to have an editor or be part of a writing team. You can always freelance for clients but it's hard work and it seriously eats into your writing time.

If you want to write your novel you need to do it at the end of the day or in the morning, on top of all that other work, running a household and anything else you do with your life. FYI writer's don't have many hobbies... we can only really afford one at a time.

Editing in a motorhome, on holiday

If this is the life path you choose then be prepared to forego that social life. You will rarely go out - and when you do you are desperate to get home to see what your characters get up to next; or to finish that article about 'best hotel locations in Dubai' (which you couldn't care less about really but which helps buy the electric). Eventually your friends will forget you. They'll stop inviting you out because they know the only way to see you is to drop by your house.

Let's be honest about this: being a writer pays terribly, takes up all of your time, increases loneliness and isolation and basically has you living inside your head the whole time. Then someone tells you that you need an 'online presence' and you just about explode...

Still want to be a Writer?

So, with all that in mind, if you still want to do it or if, like most of us, you just can't stop, then you should probably hit the subscribe button. I get approached about once a fortnight and asked for help and advice on how to become a writer - which I have no problem giving. But when someone takes up your vital writing time because they are more curious than serious it gets a little annoying after a while. Have pity and don't waste your pet writer's time, they have a crapload of work to get through.

If you want to be serious then keep an eye out. In the future I'll be talking about how you go about building that ridiculous online presence mentioned above, how to find work, how to self publish your own stuff and why certain types of 'exposure' are a con. I hope to help you navigate the pitfalls a little, help you stay motivated and maybe give you a glimpse into an industry that is fast becoming bigger than I can keep up with.

I'll also be doing horror stories because, you know... it's me.

This is how Kai tells me to stop for the night

Starting Out...Again

Hello, my name's Katriona and I am a compulsive writer.

Creepy accidental photo of me

It has taken me many years to admit and accept this fact, but now that I have done so I am in the process of changing my life. Strangely, this blog isn't going to be about changing your life by following steps, or making money online, or any of the other useless stuff you scroll through absently on a Sunday afternoon. I'm not really sure what it's going to be about...but I'm dang sure it's going to be fun to find out.

I write, I work in kitchens, I am based in Scotland, I love dogs. I pan for gold in the summer and in the winter I hide in my house and write high fantasy novels with a hideous horror twist. I love Pratchett, King, Rothfuss and Igulden and grew up with R.L. Stine, Bernard Cromwell and Anne Rice as my chosen favourites. Adversely if I can make it funny then I will, which usually leads to strange and opposing reactions.

I write articles for people in my non-existent free time, guest edit now and again and am in the process of setting up as a freelancer so watch this space for that. I also have a rock collection that has overspilled the windowsill and extended out into the garden; so as well as creepy photo's, creepy stories, dark humour and interesting titbits you can also expect more than a few interesting rock experiments. My next task will be to use vinegar to dissolve away some mineral and see if we have crystals inside... so again, if that interests you watch this space.

Laura found a Fairy looking out from the clouds

I might talk a little about Scottish Gold, Scottish Folk Legends, Freelance Writing and the history and lay of the land I live in. We Scots are nothing if we are not vital. We like to soak up our surroundings and reflect them: which is probably why the rest of the world thinks we are wild and tough. We're not so bad. Your average Scot likes a cuddle as much as the next person, they just don't like to admit it.

I run a "Something Creepy" daily post on Facebook so if you like your photo's freaky - or if you have anything to add to the picture pile - check it out here. If you want to visit the webpage and help a girl out then you can follow this link. I am on Twitter and Instagram too but I am a bit too busy to keep up with them all. If anyone wants to volunteer as an unpaid intern to manage it all for me feel free to message me... If you want a taste of things to come you can visit my old blog, here.

Amanda's abandoned glove under her hotel room bed

I'm often on the lookout for Editors, Beta-Readers, Publishing Companies, Anthology/competition entry news, photographers and artists to help out with my novels. I make a pittance and pay as much as I can but I can't always promise a great fee. What I do promise is that the fee will grow as I do, and that if you do good collaborative work then I am very loyal. If you want to chat collaboration give me a message and let's talk. No time wasters though... I have been stung before.

So I've started the ball rolling by posting a couple of fan pics from the FB page. If you like your tales twisted and your thoughts quirky then click that follow button. I'll be doing weekly updates from now on. I will also leave you with wise words stolen from Maria Sherman, my hat goes off to you for nailing the entire industry in one fell swoop...