Blogs from Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe - page 6

A good night’s sleep was the benefice of being in a private home. Kay brought a generous continental breakfast of sliced sausage and ham, a warm baguette, a croissant, a choice of cereals, a bowl of fruit, and home-made jams. Blueberries made a novel and refreshing layer on my meat sandwich, and the raspberry jam on the croissant was particularly delicious. More confident of the bus now, I sat up top and took photos out the window as we wended our way to Princes Street. After yesterday, I know that taking North/South Bridge Street is the simplest method of getting to many destinations, avoiding the twists of streets in the medieval city. Also, although crowded, the sidewalks were wider, and walking with some speed was possible. One Giant Leap for June/url... read more

Since Edinburgh was a fairly short drive, we were allowed a slow morning. Ironically, we were so well drilled that everyone was assembled on the street before the buses arrived! As we drove through the rolling landscape filled with sheep and grain farms (hay and barley), our new guide informed us that we were looking at relatively poor agricultural land. As we entered the outskirts of Edinburgh, light industrial land uses took over and then residential areas appeared. We drove all the way into the city, which was heaving with the Fringe Festival. St Giles Cathedral, our distinguished performance venue, was in the heart of the Fringe; our bus could drive only so far, and our guide walked us the rest of the distance, not more than five minutes. Entering the magnificent historic url=https://stgilescathedral.org.uk... read more

Of course the sun is peeping through as we head for our last destination! It was a beautiful morning in Aberdeen and we packed up and got away smartly. Peter did some work downloading offline maps and we plotted our trip with some stops on the way to Edinburgh. I didn’t really mind where we went - just wanted to soak up the rare sunshine and our last drive through the Scottish scenery. The big shock on this trip was the good quality, dual highway that we were on for much of it. We have to say that the roads in Western and Northern Scotland are very narrow and dangerous, often with no lines, nowhere to stop and relax, no services (especially loos!) and require very active driving! The ancient town of Brechin was our first ... read more

A wine before we board ............ just for Duncan :)... read more

Woolly says – I woke to blueish skies, wet pavements and the cold, the very very cold having added several layers, including one of my Christmas jumpers, I escorted the women towards the Ocean Terminal and the place to catch the bus, better known for a famous attraction, but that wasn’t on today’s list. It was warm onboard and having settled down for the ten minute journey into the city centre I thought it a good idea to tell everyone a little bit about the city itself. Zoe and I sat back as his lecturing voice started, there was not point in trying to stop him unless we wanted a sulking mammoth so better to give in and get it over with. Woolly says – I really do need to consider my staffing situation in the ... read more