19/7/26 Forth Bridges

 

    Today we head into Edinburgh briefly , to get a bus out to Queensferry - on the River Forth Estuary . The Edinburgh Castle is visible from most places here .

A pleasant ride in the bus , we arrive in Queensferry and make our way down the High St and find some access to the beach??? and a few chairs to sit and take in the view . The rail bridge looks impressive so far .

The town clock rises above the High St .

The High St has an older village feel about it , with cobblestone streets , older buildings and hotels of course .

One alleyway leads us down to the boat harbour .

The rail bridge in all its glory , it's a huge structure and has a definite metallic sound whenever a train crosses it . it's 1.5 miles long and opened in 1890 - quite an engineering feat I would say back then .

This is the boat harbour - low tide of course , we sat at the end of the wall with our lunch .

Looking back at the High St shops etc from the harbour wall - great picture for a car ad .

Just to give you some scale to the bridge , that's a tour boat coming back to the pier . Inchgarvie Island and castle are in the background .

    Some more scale for the bridge , if you look below the bridge , just to the right of the concrete base there is a small runabout - just above the runabout are several kayakers !! This bridge is enormous !!

    Further to the west are 2 road bridges , both in use . The closer one is Forth Rd bridge and opened in 1964 and is 1.5miles long , the 2nd more modern is the Queensferry Crossing bridge , opening in 2017 - it is 1.7 miles long .

   We headed back to Edinburgh and back to the apartment , after a nice morning/ afternoon . Here's a map link :- https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1x9XRJeKnPbzkhIz0VHg8LSnkzVz7cAQ&usp=sharing

18/7/26 Waters of Leith

 

  After the Royal Mile yesterday , we decided to have a quiet day , opting for a walk around the local area . There's some interesting stuff out here at Slateford , starting with the Aqueduct . It's a cast iron trough 500ft long designed to carry the Edinburgh & Glasgow Union Canal over the Water of Leith ( the creek below ) .

Beside it , there's another bridge for the railway lines .

To top it off , there's a walkway that runs alongside the canal that allows for a peaceful walk away from the road traffic . It's well used , we met probably 20 people , dogs & bikes on our short trip along it .

And what a great place for photos .

   There's also a variety of flowers growing beside the canal , here's a couple of them .

  We left the canal to visit a shop to replace our leaking cold pack , then continued our walk down some quiet streets . There were some impressive gardens and flowers . The residents here certainly love their yards .

Here's just some of the flowers out at the moment .

A small black flower , no bigger than a 20cent coin .

Roses are everywhere .

This small tree was magnificent , covered in pink blooms .

A smaller variety .

And another rose .

Back for lunch before we headed out again in the afternoon , this time to walk alongside the Water of Leith , flowing through some lovely forested areas beside all the houses .

We are probably at our most relaxed out in the bush , so this was a pleasant walk . Moss covered trees & rocks indicate how damp & cool this area normally is - we have struck it lucky with the weather so far dodging the heat waves further south of us , although everything is very dry here at the moment as well .

There's still water flowing down the creek ( they'll hate it being called a creek ) 

   The track took us up to a bridge over the creek and then we turned to follow it back down the other side . There is a walled garden further down that we couldn't access , but we walked around most of it , thanks to  a minor navigation error and a locked gate . The gate being open would've saved us another 1klm or so as we had to back track and get back to a street before returning down the main road . Another day done nicely , here's a map link :-  https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1hggBjUp4n59ryI8Gpxnu9UyqalEqfMY&usp=sharing

17/7/26 Edinburgh Royal Mile

   Today we headed into Edinburgh for a look at the Royal Mile - a stretch of road link inking Edinburgh Castle on the hill to Hollywood Castle at the lower end of the street . We caught the bus in and got off still in the city and walked down to our start point , Hollyrood Castle .  The next photo is of the Waters of Leith , which is beside and behind our apartment . A small weir catches the water and sends it cascading down further under the road , then the canal viaduct and the railway line bridge .

This is Arthurs Seat , as you can see , it's popular with walkers clambering up the sides to get an elevated view of Edinburgh . You can see dozens of people there . A bushfire broke out here the next morning !

 

This is Queen Mary's bath house , a curiuos shaped building on the edges of the Palace of Holyrood . 

These are the side gates into the Palace .

This is the front of the Palace , with it's manicured gardens , lawns etc etc .

Across the road from the Palace Precinct is the Scottish Parliament Building . On the side of the building are interesting patterns and some rocks jutting out of the walls , just above street level . There's a imprinted design of some of the older buildings of the city .

Here's some of the buildings / shops at the lower end of the Mile .

The road kept slowly rising , crowds of people also increasing , but the different architecture was very interesting .

Many different buildings and designs kept popping up, as well as small laneways leading behind all these buildings , we checked out a few on our walk .

The crowds have increased , making us question our reason for being here !!

One of the cathedrals .

  Looking up at the Edinburgh Castle , all we could see were thousands of people , but we persevered .

     Getting nearer the castle , we decided to take a side street down parallel to the Royal Mile , then took the stairs back up near the entrance to the castle grounds . The seating is for the Military Tattoo , which is held here . 

Getting back up on the Mile ,we looked back down where we had come from , people everywhere . Checking at the Visitor Info Centre didn't give us much joy - you need to have booked tickets to do a tour of the Castle . As it was Friday and late , there were no tickets available till Monday - guess we won't be doing that tour then .

I settled for the Scotch Whiskey Experience instead , that gives you a rundown on how it's produced and what with , and what gives it its authentic flavours . This was the first room we went into .

The process continued and we learnt about different aspects of whiskey production . These barrels show some of the scotch that is yet to be bottled .

    After the education we move into the tasting room , where you are served a dram of your choice - not from any of these bottles on display though !! There's over 3,400 bottles in the collection to drool over . You even get to take home your tasting glass , to enjoy your next scotch whiskey of course .

This isn't the best photo , but there's a scotch for sale in a deer shaped bottle .

 Nearby was another small laneway , named Fleshmarket Close - not sure how it got that name .

We decided to beat a tactical retreat when we were walking back down the Mile , and take a side street . It gave us views of the city and some of the buildings .

                                                    This is the National Gallery of Scotland 

 Further down this very steep cobblestoned street , we found the University of Edinburgh , with an impressive entrance .

We entered and found ourselves in a courtyard section with views to the Cathedral behind it .

Our walk continued down past the National Gallery and to the bus stop for our trip back out to the apartment . Edinburgh is certainly buzzing with people , and is only going to get worse as the Edinburgh Festival is happening soon . Here's a map link :- https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1rwLtihhE7igBd1GDV0rMVw3AuMpx4T4&usp=sharing