Edinburgh Highs and Lows. A weekend like no other. Part One.

                                                ALL PHOTOS CLICK FULL SCREEN.
The Scottish Parliament Building in Edinburgh with ice covered ponds. I've been going through to Edinburgh fairly frequently over the last year or so as it's cheap and easy for me travelling by bus to get there. Over roughly a dozen trips later I must have saved myself well over £200 pounds in petrol if going through by car. Edinburgh is also a photographer's dream date with thousands of different photo opportunities in every district. It must be one of the most visited and photographed cities in the UK so I like to try and capture stuff off the normal tourist trails to make it a bit different.

A view of my dream islands. You can keep your tropical islands- for me these scattered rocky islands in the Firth of Forth are equally alluring. From 'King' Arthur's Seat looking across at Inchmickery (island) Cow and Calves (islands) Oxcars (navigation/ hazard light on rocks) then, in the distance, the larger island of Inchcolm with its substantial medieval former Augustine Abbey clearly seen here. Beyond that the hidden sea channel of Mortimer's Deep then the coastline of Fife near Dalgety Bay. The smaller islands here are hard to reach without a private boat or kayaks- some are bird reserves now where landing is discouraged during the breeding season. I'm lucky enough to have explored them all in the past but they still remain mysterious and illusive.

It was a cold day for our trip with snow lying over the Ochll range of hills to the north, seen here, and below zero temperatures but I had promised my two bus companions- Anne and Belinda- that it would be a highly memorable one. Most of my Edinburgh trips this year I've been alone but B and A had loved last Christmas through in Edinburgh and wanted to do it again. Last time though they had stayed a week in digs, spent a fortune, toured the shops and tourist traps around Princes Street and The Royal Mile, stayed for the New Year party then returned completely skint. I promised them the same thrills, spills and genuine adventure this time- but on a shoestring budget instead.

They accepted my invitation but could only fit in an overnight stay and two full days- which was fine by me. That was all I would need. You can pack a great deal into two full days. And we did.
A view across Edinburgh to the misty Central Highland peaks.

Of course A and B being A and B as soon as we got off the morning bus they wanted to do some sightseeing and shopping around Princes Street and visit the Christmas Market so I tagged dutifully along biding my time. Eventually we stopped for lunch.... ( Greggs sausage rolls- 90 pence each- they've went up in price like everything else. Wah!) then we finished with the shopping and had a slow wander up Calton Hill. Being so cold the views were fantastic both over the city below and the Firth of Forth.

Shipping on the Firth of Forth and Kingdom of Fife coastline. The east coast and Edinburgh does appear to have more commercial water traffic than the River Clyde and the Firth of Clyde. Most of the Clyde traffic is ferry based taking folk over to the larger community rich islands there, several of which have small island towns. The east coast islands are mostly abandoned or have very few folk living a modern hermit's existence on them. Maybe that's what I find so appealing about them. Close to a major urban hub and seaport yet still remaining very isolated.

On this coast it is container ships, oil tankers and cargo boats mainly, and Edinburgh itself in general has a far livelier feel than Glasgow these days- all tall cranes, endless building projects, crowded pavements and sometimes gridlocked traffic. The downside was it took us ages to get through Edinburgh's busy streets and reach the bus station but that didn't really bother me as it meant less shopping for B and A and more adventure time for me.

A view of Inchkeith, one of the further out islands in the Firth of Forth.

Our final destination was Arthur's Seat, the ancient volcano in the heart of Edinburgh. Unbelievably neither A or B had climbed this small but rugged peak before or during their week long trip so I had agreed to take them up... for the sunset. Not being into hill-walking neither had proper boots but had compromised and were wearing what I'd term to be a women's fashion idea of  what 'comfortable walking boots' should look like... i,e respectable enough to have on your feet for a party or shopping trip as well as being suitable for city walking. Hopefully, that would be enough for what I had planned as they had similar footwear to most other folk ascending Arthur's Seat--- snow and ice, luckily, seemed absent on the slopes. The summit of Arthur's Seat above. Both Arthur and Merlin have a strong connection to this area, and the border's region in general, with numerous place names, some dating back centuries. Whether this is just romantic whimsy and poetic licence or has any basis in fact is anyone's guess after all this time but the advance of the Romans through Britain did push the original ancient tribes who resisted them into some remote corners and hard to reach mountainous regions like Cornwall, Devon, Wales and The Scottish Borders- all of which have Arthur and Merlin place names. In that age and time Arthur's Seat would have looked very different of course, lower slopes pathless and heavily wooded with the surrounding hilly district wild and still largely untamed. .

It was the usual biblical epic crowds on the summit of this very popular hill. Due to its rugged volcanic nature and abrupt vertical cliffs dropping off into the city streets below it always seems far higher than it's 823 feet, 251 metre height would suggest. People have died on Arthur's Seat falling off the cliffs and many others have sustained serious injuries, either slipping or tripping on the highly polished rock, worn smooth and glass-like by generations of feet, or from unplanned slides in winter under snowfall and ice.

 Although slap bang in the middle of a city it's not a mountain to be taken lightly and I've climbed loads of 3000 foot Munros, including many of the 4000 foot Cairngorm summits, that were far easier walking underfoot than this modest little peak- especially the now horrendous descent via the zig- zag steep stone staircase of the Gutted Haddie, traditionally the fastest and steepest tourist route off the summit. These days if it's at all wet or icy its a slippy hell of a route down for novice walkers and if you fall, slip, or trip anywhere on it its a rocky face plant straight onto sloping sharp edged steps covered in slick mud so I wanted to avoid that at all costs and hopefully not put them off for life.

This photo was taken on a recent previous trip- from the Gutted Haddie staircase.... Edinburgh's equivalent of Gollum's back entry route into Mordor. Under snow or ice these stairs are an equal death trap invitation without crampons but hundreds still happily come down this way in street shoes every winter. I've seen people crawling down them on hands and knees with the ground completely invisible under layers of frozen snow and thick ice. Mad stuff.
The previous photo was our sunset arriving on the summit slopes. We had timed it perfectly so we didn't have to wait around too long. On the upper slopes it was bitterly cold with a biting wind.

Sunset hitting Duddingston Loch and historic village below Arthur's Seat.

A wider view of Duddingston Loch. A wild tranquil place despite a city location. The white dots are swans and gulls, depending on size.

Sunset over the Pentland Hills.

Edinburgh Castle view.

Salisbury Crags and Edinburgh.

The sun dipping below the horizon....
We were not really up here for the sunset however as I had promised them thrills and adventure of a completely different magnitude....

Edinburgh is an ancient city holding many dark secrets. I had in my possession the legendary 'Book of the Dead' This is not it however- this is merely a tribute in stone and I was not about to heave that thing up a hillside as he wouldn't let it go... Luckily, I had the modern concise version- a thin paperback.

With the light rapidly fading I asked my companions to take a seat on the hillside for the second act. I then turned to the chapter entitled 'Arc Illuminata- charms to entice the soul'... of skin- fur-feather-bone and scale. A binding spell.  My little commune waited eagerly for something to happen...

And it did. My word....the old guy still has it in him to deliver the goods when it matters...
To be continued....

Oh, and Merry Christmas to everyone... A lovely sailing adventure video around the coast of Scotland.