Hotspur.us

We found ourselves in Edinburgh at the ridiculously early hour of 9 am. Which was probably why, coupled with the overnight flight and general exhaustion of the previous week, that we carried our filthy heavy suitcase (50 lbs and 38 lbs, plus our backpacks and my purse) up the steepest darn close we could find. Our check in wasn’t until 3-ish, so we left our luggage and headed out to stretch our legs. We thought we’d have a short stroll on the mile and walk by the castle. Which was when we encountered some runners doing the “Seven Hills of Edinburgh” race. Which I cannot even imagine wanting to participate in.

Our first actual stop was the Grey Friars Bobby statue. It was mostly by happenstance; we weren’t looking for it, but while ambling along Chad realized we were near. So we stopped, got Ping’s photo there and then saw the Grey Friars Kirkyard which for some reason was not even on our radar. Since we both LOVE a good, old cemetery we headed in. Absolutely divine! It was full of decaying, creepy, interesting, matter of fact, skulls, skeletons and the like. On the monuments, I mean. At least those were the ones we could see.

no images were found

STEP 1: find old cemetery and enjoy it – CHECK

We headed to Holyrood Park since it was a lovely, overcast (occasionally sunny), dry day. The Park appeared to have been the start of two runs around town. We made the brilliant deduction that those must have been part of a largest festive occasion – mostly because there were large amounts of pipers walking around in full dress. No, no photos of that.

There was a whereigo cache based on Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World and we thought it sounded pretty nifty, so off we headed. It took us on a circuitous tour of the Salisbury Crags, ending pretty close enough to hike up to Arthur’s Seat; which is where we’d intended to head tomorrow. Proximity and all compelled us to head up today. It was insanely windy. Insanely. It was nearly impossible to stand up straight, but oh the view! An unencumbered 360 degree view of the town and the Firth of Forth.

STEP 2: find highest point in area and hike to it, in the most convoluted way possible – CHECK

With those 5 or so miles under our belts, plus the whereigo, plus 2 earthcaches, we headed to check in to the hotel and change. Well, I wanted to change, it was really breezy and I wanted some jeans!

After blowing a fuse in our hotel room – note to self, do not use a power strip with a converter that is nearly 15 years old – we headed out for a food opportunity. We’d spotted a place called Holyrood 9A and it smelled delicious. It was. It also had a pretty big tap list. That meant when all was said and done, we needed another walk. Shockingly we found ourselves at The Jolly Judge, our favorite pub. It was just as we’d remembered and this time I had Ping with me, so he could get his photo taken. Ah, all is right with the world.

From the Judge we went down the Mile to the World’s End pub, because of reasons. It was crowded and there was a guy playing guitar and singing. From there we popped into The Inn, which had been The Bank 11 years ago. It was quite different this time around. A little more clean and modern without ruining the fact that it was in an old Bank. We had the good luck to strike up a conversation with the fellow behind the bar, who happened to be from Inverness. He gave us some recommendations that would pay off later.

By then we were wearing down. No big surprise since we’d had a full day. We walked out of The Inn and….it wasn’t dark. Nope. It was brighter than civil twilight. I cannot explain my giddiness. GIDDY. This won’t bode well for the sleeping.

Take a look at the gallery for the full deal. There are quite a few lovely shots. 

[Show as slideshow]