Day 14 - Dublin to Edinburgh

The alarm went off after 4 hours of sleep at 4:00am. The taxi had us on the road by 4:45. It was already sunrise. Right now the country only gets 4 hours of darkness. The 1 hour flight from Dublin to Glasgow was easy. Upon landing, we were quickly in our car following Google’s directions to Edinburgh.

  We were able to check into our B&B by 10:45am. The owner, Irene, was more than happy to let us into the room a little earlier that check-in time. She runs the B&B with her husband Dennis. The Sonas B&B is really cute and in a quiet neighborhood about 1 mile from city center. However, there is a bus stop right down the street that comes every 15 minutes and goes to city center. Super convenient!...only 1.50 each. We instantly learned that the bus drivers only accept exact change, so we had to a bag of chips at the quickie mark to break a 20 for change.

First stop, St. Giles Cathedral. Every day at noon there is a free concert. I was determined to make it there on time. You never know who will be playing or what instruments will be used. I was hoping for an organ recital, but it turned out to be a very gifted pianist. St. Giles is the main place of worship for the Church of Scotland. Matt calls it “a very pointy building” because it has so many spires. The inside is very beautiful and the four main pillars date back to 1124. We sat and quietly read our guide book learning about all the facets of the church while listening to some wonderful music and great reverb.

Before we made our way up to the Castle, we stopped at the PieMaker for lunch. They make the most delicious savory and sweet pies. Some ingredient combos I was not up for trying yet, like Hagis Pie. However, my spinach and cheese pie was excellent and Matt thoroughly enjoyed his pepper steak pie. We could not pass up the cherry pie for dessert. We love pies!

Next up was Edinburgh Castle. There is suppose to be a picture perfect view from the castle down to the Royal Mile, but stadium seating was being erected for the upcoming summer festivals that the city hosts. Edinburgh Castle is built high on an impressive 700 million year old extinct volcano called Castle Rock, in the middle of what is now the city of Edinburgh. People have lived on Castle Rock since the Bronze Age, around 850 BC, and there has been a royal castle on the site since at least the 12th century. The castle feels like a little working town within it’s walls. The buildings vary in age. The oldest is St. Margaret’s Chapel dating to 1093. It was heavily fortified and high upon Castle Hill, it has a magnificent 360 view. 

Castle Fun Facts:
1. There is a legend that warns Edinburgh students not to pass through the castle gates or they will fail their final exams. The legend still terrifies undergraduate students.
2. The Castle is one of the most haunted places in Scotland with a ghost named Lone Piper as it’s main resident. You can still hear him playing his ghostly pipes as he eternally walks the dark tunnels beneath the caslte.
3. Matt’s new favorite word is “scone” pronounced “scoon.” A scoon is the large rock kept with the crown jewels. The stone was used in coronation ceremonies. We found the scoon more interesting than the actual jewels.

We left the castle and headed down the Royal Mile making stops along the way. The tarten mill was suppose to be weaving fabrics, but the weavers must have been on break because no one was doing any weaving. There was plaid/tarten everywhere though and we found the bag pipe making room too.

 

We popped into fudge shops and sampled the day’s specials. The small alleys going off the main road opened up into secret courtyards. There were many things to discover along the mile which ended at the Queen’s Palace and Gardens.

 

When we had finished the Royal Mile, there was only one thing left to do…hike Arthur’s seat.

Matt: “Have we finished everything to do here?”
Suzanne: “Nope.” (Points to a mountain in front of them.) We need to hike Arthur’s seat.”
Matt: “All the way up there?”
Suzanne: “Yup. There’s 2 ways up. A gradual switchback through the valley which is a bit longer or go straight up from the other trailhead. We can do the more gradual one.”
Matt: “Ok, I guess.”

Going up, the paths were pretty clear to follow with a good elevation gain. The views up top were stunning. However, on the way down, we somehow went off trail. The “path” we were descending on seemed like it had been made by mountain goats. I was thinking to myself, one wrong step and this could be bad. Not a minute later, I took a wrong step and my feet went right out from under me and I started sliding down the side into a nettle patch. I managed to grab hold of some long vegetation to stop myself from sliding further. However, my knees quickly learned that Scottish nettles not only sting through hiking pants, but they make the stung area go oddly numb. As I was trying to kick my leg up to get out of this predicament, Matt came down to me and grabbed the back of my backpack to try to pull me back up on the trail. “That’s not helping,” I said. Matt responded with, “Don’t do that again.”

We could not find a more man-made path down the mountainside. Matt took the lead, but I was thinking that if I slipped again, I’d take him out too.

Suzanne: “This is really steep! How would Bear Gryllis get down this?”
Matt: “His support crew would make sure Bear magically comes across a rope just lying on the mountain side.”
Suzanne: “I think I need a rope.”

 The walk back to city center felt like it took forever. I’d used up my reserve tank hiking Arthur’s Seat. We found a little falafel shop and were in bed by 8:30.

PS. Forgive the formatting, Google Blog is being cludgier than normal.