Glaciations of the World: A little further north

June 24 2012

When the alarms went off this morning, both Angie and I, didn't seem to have much trouble getting out of our beds. Both of us had been getting excited about our trip. We left the flat at 0830 as arranged and managed to make it around to the Met line without getting wet, even though the morning was quite grey and heavy.

After the speed we walked at we arrived at the station in time for an earlier train. Knowing from previous experience how notoriously bad and unreliable the Met line can be, we figured that running early would be a good thing. Being Sunday morning there weren't to many souls on board.

We arrived at Kings Cross about an hour before our train was due to leave. We found an unobtrusive place to stand, in the entry hall. I collected the tickets and we started watching the departure boards for our platform. I always find it interesting to watch other travelers at train stations or airports or terminals. Some are laid back with minimal luggage - my guess is experience or a short trip - while others look haggard and completely out of their depth. its usually this second group who are perhaps inexperienced because they have multiple large suitcases, which they cannot control and as a result spend a majority of their time hindering the movement of themselves and those around them. If you come across this phenomenon in the wrong mood, they can literally drive you crazy.

After a half hour of watching the boards, and the overly excited teens (and adults) having their photos taken at Platform 9¾, our platform was announced. We had, of course, been standing the far opposite of it. When we had passed the turnstiles and reached the train, we were surprised at how long it was. I'm used to the three or four carriages that make the run past the junction.

Hauling our small cases on board we checked the tickets against our seat numbers. With a shock we found that the seats I had booked online didn't match the seats we were looking at. Our eats now, were at a table, in front of the toilet. The complete opposite to what I had booked. At least we were forward facing and the loud obnoxious family who were originally going to be sitting near us, went off to First Class. We ended up having the seats to ourselves to it wasn't an entirely bad start.

At 1050 the train rolled out and for the next four hours I listened to my iPod.

Once outside London it was amazing how much the landscape changed. I know I've said it before. The way the cloud shapes changed, fine and light in one moment, heavy and low the next. A few times the clouds looked heavy with rain but we only had the one, short, shower.

Our train pulled into Edinburgh around 1600. We were very glad to de-board and get moving again. Also to get away from a lounging young bloke who turned out to be a complete tosser.

My first impression of Edinburgh was of being very small. Because of its location and geography, the city goes up instead of out.

The number of times I have come out of a train station and turned left in a new place, only to find it's the wrong way, went up by one here. The Visitor Centre very kindly gave us a map, turned us in the right direction and off we set.

Coming out onto the street we were met by roadworks. Edinburgh is restoring its tram network. Heading back the way we had come, we walked across the North Bridge, turned left onto the Royal Mile and then second on the right, Blackfriars Street, we arrived at our hostel.

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First impressions. One of surprised relief. The second impression. One of a pervading scent of wee. I had been hopeful it would just be down in reception but it wasn't. Up in the room the same smell was being poorly covered by equally unpleasant "air-fresheners".

The room was tiny and the double bed was a foam mattress on a plank of wood, right in the nook of the wall. I don't think it was even a double bed. My suspicion is they made it to fit.

We dropped our stuff off in the room and headed out to do a reccie of the area so that we knew what and where we wanted to go over the next couple of days.

Having seen Arthur's Seat on the way into Edinburgh we decided to head that way and towards Holyrood Palace and the Scottish Parliament. One of the first shops we came across was a Christmas shop. It looked to be doing good business. The next one we noticed was a little creepy and morbid. On the sign hanging over the door was a picture of Princess Diana and the shop stocked her memorial tartan. It's not that nice either.

A little further down the road we came to Cannongate Kirk. Kirk is the Scottish name for church (I believe). The official website states, until 1856, Cannongate was independent of Edinburgh. By 1970, the lower part of the Royal Mile had become unfashionable and run down. the church itself was founded in 1688 and completed in 1691.

Reaching the end of the Royal Mile we reached the new Parliament and the Palace. From this spot we could see how huge the area of Arthur's Seat is. Given how late in the day it was a lot of stuff was closed or closing.

Another cemetery down that end of the Mile, Calton sparked our interest but we couldn't find an open entrance.

Finding somewhere reasonably priced for dinner, that wasn't a chain, was challenging. Some of the places looked nice but were just incredibly busy. We ended up at a cheap chippy for pizza and chips. It was here I saw my first ever, deep fried Mars Bar but I wasn't game enough to try it.

We headed back to the room around 2100 and read until we fell asleep.

July 08, 2012

A little further north

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