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Scotland, pt. 2

Wandering Edinburgh

By Bob Ransom

March 30^th, 2018

For our last day in Edinburgh, we had no real itinerary except that we needed to end up in Glasgow that night. Our accommodations were there and we were flying out from Glasgow to Iceland the next morning. But, in the meantime, we had the whole day to wander around.

We started by checking out of our Airbnb and dragging our luggage up the hill to Waverley Station's left luggage service. (Note to self: pack even lighter next time, or avoid hills while carrying luggage.) With our bags stored at Waverley, we headed back to the Royal Mile to find breakfast and just soak in the city.

Arthur's Seat

Climbing the Biggest Hill in Edinburgh

Edinburgh's Royal Mile is a basically a street that runs downhill from Edinburgh Castle at the top, to the Palace of Holyroodhouse (i.e. the Queen's official Edinburgh residence) at the bottom. Adjacent to the Palace are the ruins of Holyrood Abbey and, to the south, Holyrood Park. Sitting in the middle of the giant park, Arthur's Seat is a craggy bump with paths leading to the summit. In the picture above, the path points directly to Arthur's Seat. And those little bitty dots on top? Those are people.

For the most part, the climb to the top is up well-marked paths that are occasionally steep but pretty easy, if tiring, to follow. As you approach the summit, though, some actual climbing is involved. At the pinnacle sits a concrete marker with an inscribed stainless steel disc pointing to the various landmarks visible (weather permitting).

Suggestions if you should decide to climb Arthur's Seat:

Give yourself plenty of time. Unless you're super-fit, you'll be stopping occasionally to catch your breath. Then, once you make it to the top, you won't want to leave.
Flip-flops or sandals: No. Just, no. (Yes, we did see people climbing in them.)
Jackets: Yes. It's windy and much colder at the top than at the bottom.

St. Anthony's Chapel

The ruin sits just off one of the paths to Arthur's Seat. We stopped on our way down.

The Palace of Holyroodhouse

Actually, most of these photos are of the Holyrood gardens and abbey ruins as no photography is allowed inside the palace.

After wandering the ruins and gardens, we headed back to Waverley to catch the train to Glasgow. At that point, for some reason I packed away my camera and shot no pictures at all until we landed in Iceland.