Fred’n’Sue’s Peregrinations

…… the subject is the light …..

More backfill – 2 days in Edinburgh – 5 and 7 October

Day 1 – Scotrail from Falkirk to Edinburgh Waverley Station – that is when you discover how hilly Edinburgh is . .

First stop – yep, you guessed it – Gladstone’s Lane coffee house, one of the oldest buildings on the Royal Mile, caffeine fix and to stock up for lunch on the go . .

Fleshmarket Close – our first exposure to Edinburgh’s closes and stairs 😊

And then up the hill to Edinburgh Castle – 10.30 booking and don’t even think about getting past the gatekeepers before then . .

The full view of the castle from the forecourt was spoiled somewhat by the machinery being used to knock down the seating stands from the recent Edinburgh Tattoo – sigh!

So once inside and deciding that the downloadable audio guide wouldn’t download we navigated the castle from the visitor map . ..

The 1 o’clock gun – no we didn’t hang around to watch and listen – we left that “novelty” for others.

Hospital Square and Earl Haig mounted on his trusty steed

Foog’s Gate or is it Foggy Gate for this mist that rolls off the North Sea

Above and below – St Margaret’s Chapel probably dating from early 12thC – by King David I for his mother

Crown Court – War Memorial on left and Royal Palace and lots of people

And leaving through the Portcullis Gate . . .

And made the acquaintance of Jura the horned owl

It would not be the Royal Mile without a piper . . .

Bobby at home in the Greyfriars Kirkyard

And Greyfriars Kirk where we learned about the Covenanters – we both knew nothing of them before this visit – from then they kept “popping” up everywhere – a bit like Mary Queen of Scots

That bloody castle – it does dominate the skyline from just about every point in the city – me standing in the middle of the Cowgate roundabout – such bloody useful traffic management intersections – only once did I have to admonish the driver of a blue BMW who failed to give way on a roundabout – but I digress so it is off to the (architectural) jewel in the crown (after the Parliament Building but no photos of that!!)

St Giles Cathedral from the Royal Mile aka High Street or Lawnmarket

Looks old but constructed early 20thC – Thistle Chapel. On the aisles are the coats of arms of the members of the Order of the Thistle and at the head the seat(s) for the reigning monarch and head of the Order

Recumbent Lion of Scotland in St Andrew Square – 20 tonnes of marble and it is for sale. Twelve months of labour and carved/sculpted by hand by Ronald Rae

What a polymath – James Clerk Maxwell – the physicist to end all physicists

Why is Wojtek here – because he saw out his years after the war at Edinburgh Zoo – legend has it that he carried ammunition boxes while serving with Polish servicemen at Monte Cassino.

Long story attached to the baby heffalump – covered in Forget-me-Nots to memorialise “lost” children of the Mortonhall Baby Ashes (scandal)

Even Robbie Burns was not afforded a monument of this scale – Sir Walter Scott – not a tomb or mausoleum. He is buried at Dryburgh Abbey – next to Earl Haig and his wife

What better way to end the day – dinner date at The Guildford Arms

Day 2 – October 7 – Scotrail took us across the engineering marvel that is the 130 year old Forth Rail Bridge, and back to Dalmeny for some photo ops (and coffee, of course)