Edinburgh and celebrating all things Scottish ~ Day two

After our journey to Edinburgh and exploring the city on day one of our visit, today was a whole new day to do it all over again.

Arthur’s Seat on Saturday

On Saturday we made our way back into Edinburgh from the Travel Lodge we were staying at. We hadn’t really decided what we wanted to do and ended up venturing towards Arthur’s Seat. The bus took us right to the top of the hill near Holyrood and we eventually found our way to the start of the walk.

This was the first time my sister had tried a bit of hill walking. She is still building up her fitness and asthma can be a nuisance, but I said take it slowly and just go as far as you can. It’s never a race and with regular breaks you can do anything. I have learned this over a long time. Sometimes your mind keeps saying you can’t, but you really don’t know until you try.

cof — Arthur’s Seat and the Salisbury Crags

cof — Walking to the start of Arthur’s Seat

We broke the walk into three sections. The first stop was the St Anthony’s Chapel ruin. There was a wedding taking place at the chapel. What a lovely place to get married! There are some great views across the city even at this height.

The second part was walking up to the plateau. I could see dots of red coming towards us. Lots of red! Yikes! Was it a redcoats invasion?

We stood aside and waited until the red people passed us. One person looked at our wondering faces and shouted across “Argentina”. At that point I felt like bursting into song “Don’t cry for me Argentina …”.

We reached the plateau and stopped for a wee break.

The third part of the walk was to the summit. Here was another adventure where I saw a lost boot. I wonder whose foot this belonged to?

I’m pleased to say it was a successful climb for my sister! It was really windy at the top, as always, and very busy with people coming and going.

Does anyone know what the metal ring was used for in the photo below? Maybe for a flag or you could attach a kite?

I was so happy for my sister and her achievement getting to the summit. Handbag and walking sandals didn’t stop her either! This will be the start of many more I hope.

Farewell Arthur, till we meet again …

Jump forward in time to 2018

Arthur’s Seat was the start of more hill climbing for my sister. She hiked Goat Fell on the Isle of Arran with me in June 2018! So proud of her, and me lol. I created this wee video:

Back to the city life 2016

When we reached ground level after Arthur’s Seat, we walked back towards the Royal Mile and passed Holyrood Palace. We didn’t go in, but I’d like to visit the next time.

I loved this little door. A magic portal I would imagine…

The World’s End

I really wanted to go to the World’s End pub. A cold bottle of Schiehallion lager was calling me after our walk. It was really busy and a small place but we managed to get a seat and stayed for one drink.

The pub holds this name as after the Battle of Flodden in 1513, a wall was built to protect the people of the burgh. The people of the burgh believed that outside these gates was no longer their world and became the world’s end.

Parts of the wall still exists in the foundations of the building at the bottom of St Mary’s Street.

Brass cobbles in the road show where the ancient gate once stood. How cool is that!

When it started to get dark we headed back down to Princes Street. We’d hoped to climb up the Scott Monument but it was closed. Thunderbirds are go!

I had a real notion for a bag of chips. Proper chip shop ones. Yes, I had an unhealthy moment, but we need that sometimes. Believe it or not we couldn’t find a chip shop anywhere on Princes Street or the streets behind it.

It was pouring with rain, and my sister fancied a coffee so we popped into the Starbucks coffee shop on Princes Street. This coffee shop had the most amazing windows and views across to the castle. I wish now we’d sat in rather than having a coffee to go. We didn’t want to miss our bus though.