Edinburgh

I have just returned from 6 days in Bonnie Scotland, home of my ancestors and hairy coos. After taking the night bus up after work, I had one day in Edinburgh to explore the city before heading off on a 5 day bus trip.

I stayed in a really lovely hostel, wonderfully decorated with funky scottish symbology, and above is the view from the hostel entrance - Edinburgh Castle. Nice!

After checking in, it was off for some exploring and geocaching. Here we see the castle from the other side.

Nice lion!

While caching, I bumped into this lass, who was on the same bus as me, so I asked her if she wanted to come stroll up Arthur's Seat with me, which she was foolish enough to agree to! (Arthur's seat is a large ex-volcanic mountain in the middle of the city.)
While she enjoyed the walk in the sun and lovely views, after about half way up she decided the top was too high for her, so I walked her down and had to head back up again!
It was sure good to get some uphill going, although a tad painful on my legs not used to such slopes anymore!
I was interested to see a weird critter springing rapidly around the grass with something in its mouth. Looked like a tiny white sausage dog. Later inquiries revealed it was a stoat. Too fast to photo though!

On top of Arthur's seat. As you can see, such a lovely day I even got a minor sunburn on my forehead!

A super hand made cache container found on the mountain. Good work!

Another super cache container. Instead of signing the log book, you just signed or carved on to the box itself. It was an art theme cache, requiring that you leave a drawing of your own inside, so I left a masterpiece of Table Mountain.

Random statue, with some random faces below.



I had always known of Greyfriars Bobby, but never knew the details. Greyfriars Bobby is the cute little doggie above. His master died, and after the funeral, Bobby was found sitting on the grave. He was turfed out, but found on the grave the next day. After a third day, this time sitting on the grave in the rain, the caretaker did not have the heart to keep kicking him out, and so let him stay. For 14 years, Bobby lived in the cemetary until he died, spending most of his time on the grave. In terrible weather, the caretaker would take him inside, but Bobby would howl and cry until he was let out to go and sit on the grave. Poor little fellow!

Broken church behind Hollyrood palace.

The start of Arthur's Seat in the background.

Edinburgh is known as the Athens of the North. This above is modelled on the Parthenon, but funds ran out simetime at end of 19th century (or soemthing like that) so it was never finished. The area was full of weirdos, or artistes practising for a festival. Hard to tell the difference really! Was nice to sit in the sun and watch them in action, including drumming circles, what looked like old Scottish warfare practise, rolling around in weird shapes, and walking hither and thither doing stupid things to silly to mention!

The iconic Scott monument ready for lift-off!!

A more traditional angle!

Church in the town centre.

At the end of the day, it was time for a night tour of the underground city of the dead. Edinburgh used to be a small 1 mile sqaure walled city. When the population grew it could not spread out, so Edinburgh became the first city in the world with high rise living, up to 14 stories high. The poorer people also had to start living beneth the city in tiny tunnels and such. These were later walled in and forgotten about, and recently discovered.
Some sections are reputedly haunted by a nasty spirit, stuck down here for centries, and the story goes that some people have been attacked on the tours, and come out with scratches on their bodies! Dangerous! No ghosts to been seen hanging out behind me in the photo though! Unlucky!