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Christopher preparing to enjoy every mouthful of his cooked breakfast. |
Friday 14th March 2008 - A budget day trip to Edinburgh. I'd collected tokens from a local Sunday's paper offering a return rail trip from Durham to Edinburgh for up to 4 people at £12.00 each. A real bargain and a great opportunity to re-visit the lovely city of Edinburgh. Along with me were my son Christopher and my friends Robin and Michael. To make it even better we were armed with vouchers from the pub chain J. D. Wetherspoon which entitled us to reduced prices for food and drink which are already excellent value. I just knew I was going to enjoy the day. It's not a great idea to have a full breakfast meal just before climbing a hill but there was no way I was going to miss out on it, I'd been looking forward to it for weeks. So by 10 am we were in mid scran at 'The Standing Order' pub in George Street. All except Michael that is who knows that full stomachs and hills are not a good combination. Breakfast over we make our way across the city to begin our walk. |
Making our way down the famous Royal Mile, which links Edinburgh Castle to Holyrood Palace. |
There are lots of touristy type shops along here... |
..this one selling 'Kilty towels', classy eh? Don't laugh because I've bought you one and I'll bring it with me when I visit you! |
Deep fried Mars bar anyone? I won't thanks as I've just finished my breakfast but don't let me stop you. Seriously though how anyone could even consider eating one is beyond me. |
There can't be many cities in the world that have a group of hills just off the city cente. The walk up Arthur's Seat is very popular. There seems to be several routes up, it's not too difficult (providing you haven't just eaten a large breakfast or a deep fried Mars bar) and there's panoramic views of the city and surrounding area. |
Robin and Christopher at the trig point on top of the volcanic rock summit of Arthur's Seat. |
A view from the summit - The red arrow points out Holyrood Palace. In the middle distance is Leith docks (where the old Royal Yacht Britannia is moored and open as a tourist attraction). Beyond the docks you can see the Firth of Forth. |
Michael following Christopher down off the summit. |
We'd seen people of different nationalities on the summit and on the way down Michael and I chatted to a couple of girls who were from Helsinki, Finland. They were working over here and liked Edinburgh a lot although they missed the real winters of home. Concerned they may be homesick I dispensed some t.l.c. |
Terry concerned these girls may be homesick for Finland dispenses some t.l.c. Who says chivalry is dead :-) |
The crags on the right is where we're climbing up to next. |
The red arrow points to Edinburgh castle. Not the most flattering view, it is best viewed from below to see it perched on top of volcanic rock. Unfortunately I didn't get around to photographing it from that angle on this visit. |
1 - The Scottish Parliament buildings. More from there next 2 - Holyrood Palace, where Mary Queen of Scots lived. Is there anywhere she didn't live or stay overnight? She seems to pop up all over the place. (See the Leyburn Walk.) 3 - The Firth of Forth. 4 - My shadow. (Well someone might have been interested!) |
We'd really enjoyed our walk and there was much more to see in Edinburgh. As we were so near to it we visited the Scottish Parliament. There was a security check on entry similar to those at an airport. Regrettably a sign of the times but necessary. As the parliament wasn't sitting I was allowed to take photos inside the building. |
The Chamber of the Scottish Parliament. |
The Mace, presented to the parliament by the Queen. It is made of Scottish silver and inlaid with gold panned in Scottish rivers. |
By now I was ready for a sit down and a drink of tea and following a parliament security man's advice 3 of us headed to the public cafe inside the building for the cheapest pots of tea in Edinburgh. Politicians enjoy their subsidised perks so my advice is if you're ever in Edinburgh exercise your democratic right and join them for tea! Robin had previously opted to visit the War Poets Collection at Craiglockhart. So the remaining three of us suitably fortified by pots of tea headed back to the city centre. On the way seeing ... |
A Psychedelic Cooo as they would pronounce it here in Scotland. |
"O.K Cooo, look me in the eye and tell me you've ingested nothing more psychedelic than a deep fried Mars bar. |
The statue of 'Greyfriars Bobby' the Skye terrier whose devotion to his deceased master is well known. I was affected by emotion when I visited Greyfriars Kirk and learned the full story. In fact I hadn't felt so tearful since I'd received my latest council tax bill :-) |
A very interesting visit to the National Gallery followed (free entry) before the Wetherspoon food vouchers reappeared again, this time for a tasty curry. Time was getting on now but still some time left to relax before our return train journey.... |
Edinburgh has some fine traditional pubs and Michael knew some of them which he took us to. Real pubs serving Real Ale and not a giant plasma t.v. in sight - bliss. |
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