Day 18—Dunfermline Castle/Abbey, Edinburgh Castle.

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We awoke to the thickest fog we had ever seen. No this is not a typo, it was thicker than yesterday.
I had everyone primed up this morning to leave early enough to get to Dunfermline. We got away earlier than planned so made good time. We got to Dunfermline and then followed the signs towards the Castle. One of the signs pointed to almost nowhere in particular and seemed a little bent out of shape. We followed it, and very quickly we were not in Dunfermline anymore. We turned around and figured that a truck must have hit the sign, so went the opposite way. We arrived shortly afterwards.

The kids got to do another October quiz and the displays were not exhaustive, but we weren’t paying, so weren't too worried. The quiz had the same answers as yesterday, so that made things easy. Dunfermline is the burial place of many of the early Kings and Queens of Scotland and includes King Edgar. Unfortunately the burials are within a crypt that is sealed with Tar and none of the tombs are labelled. In the 1800’s when the old chapel was replaced, the tombs were moved to their new locations and at the same time, Robert the Bruce’s skull was removed and a cast of it is on display. The only one that is still intact is that of Robert the Bruce which was relocated under the alter

From Dunfermline we headed south to Edinburgh. We headed over the massive bridge over the Firth of Forth, which caused more anxiety than flying for 23 hours in a plane, but we made it. We drove through town with a little difficulty. Edinburgh is like a miniature version of London. Much hustle and bustle and a large University right in the middle of town on the Western side. The one thing we noticed was there is a lot of younger people in Edinburgh, and there has generally been not nearly as many in the other minor towns we have visited. Obviously there are a lot of people who migrate to the capitals.

We soon discovered that none of the parking was likely to be any good for us, so I offered to drop Tanya and the kids at the Castle and then go to the camp site and catch a bus in. She declined so we all headed off to Morton Hall Camp site. We got checked in and was on a bus and into town shortly after 2.30pm. We headed in and caught the beginning of a tour that was starting at the front gate. Once first the first 3 of the 5 gates, we saw the Red Coat café, so de-toured and headed in for a late lunch. The café sits in a 1800’s built area of the castle that almost hangs over the edge of the cliff.

Edinburgh is unbelievably high and the views are amazing. The castle is built from and on top of a large rocky outcrop from old volcanic activity. The room in which Mary Queen of Scots gave birth to James the 6th of Scotland and 1st of England, is right on the precipice of the rock. There are some great displays, not least of which was the real Stone of Destiny and the Scottish Crown Jewels. Several of the buildings and displays relate to when the British Army built and took over occupation of the castle at the beginning of the 1800’s, when Napoleon threatened to invade. The army did the same thing at many of the other castles we have visited in the UK, particularly Stirling. We skipped the army displays as it was getting late and we were not that interested in those displays. I would have happily stayed till closing at 6pm to see the sun setting over the town.

We walked back through town and grabbed a few groceries, then back on the bus and back to Morton Hall. We cleaned up and then had dinner at the Stable Bar which is on the Caravan Park. Good value meal but I still haven't seen a Guiness Pie on a single menu in the UK. Strange, because very English Themed Pub in Australia seems to have it on the menu.

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