A bowl of coins

Published 29 January 2012

A nice pottery bowl full of rusting coins.
A nice pottery bowl full of rusting coins.

All January and February, A Sunday Picture is going Southern Upland Way crazy as we celebrate the publication of extracts from my latest e-book, The Secret Coast to Coast.

And what better way to celebrate than a picture of a bowl of coins?

Now I know what are you thinking. What have some rusty coins in a mosaic bowl got to do with walking?

It’s all part of the Waymerks project. Many years ago a series of 13 sculptures, called kists, were installed on the Southern Upland Way; each one containing a stash of coins, called waymerks. Get all 13 and you had yourself a hoard.

The original waymerks eventually ran out and the kists began to gradually decay (as was, apparently, always the plan) but recently a second hoard was created. The New Hoard, as they’re called, were designed by school children and feature things related to the area.

This is one of the kists I passed on my travels; a kind of mosaic pottery bowl which had a “stone” lid on it, which I think was made out of fibreglass.

The coin itself had a picture of Andy Goldsworthy’s striding arches on it, which was another nearby art installation. Indeed there’s a lot of art on the Southern Upland Way. Even one of the bothies I stayed in had an art exhibition on. If you like walking and you like art, the Southern Upland Way is certainly the walk for you!

Hoard Striding Arches coin
Hoard Striding Arches

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