ALL PHOTOS CLICK FULL SCREEN.
Some more of my solo Edinburgh bus trips from October 2025 when a three week long warm and sunny spell of glorious autumnal weather persuaded me to make about a dozen journeys to Scotland's capital city in one month. Just when I thought I was finished with Edinburgh for the year I read an article about another new mural in the city just off Holyrood Road. As this was directly under Arthur's Seat I could easily combine it with other outdoor attractions in the area that I remembered from previous visits a decade ago so off I went again. A view of Greendykes bing from the bus, above, a massive pile of discarded spent shale from paraffin oil extraction that makes a good high level walk in it's own right.
Found right beside this distinctive red building just up Holyrood Road from The Scottish Parliament and the Dynamic Earth exhibit lies this mural wall.
It's by the same artist that painted The Colinton Tunnel and other city murals, Chris Rutterford. The rest of them featured in my previous Edinburgh posts from a few months ago.
This explains the legend of Holyrood.
The cross of Holyrood above the stag. In those days it was all about signs and wonders and religious messages supposedly seen in nature.
Butterflies and dove.
The King. Looks a bit clueless in this. At least he's not thundering into it with a long lance. The normal sport of kings and princes in past times.
A game of crows.
The horse bolts leaving the king alone to face the mighty stag... and remarkably it doesn't kill him. In nature it's usually humans that attack things without a good reason. Most animals will leave you alone if you don't bother them. But of course he had to see something holy in it.
The proud stag.
The jay. Best photo I've ever taken of this illusive woodland bird. I've heard it plenty of times but they always darts away before I even get the camera out. Need to be either very lucky or have a garden that backs onto jay habitat. Only snapshots of this mural as it's a narrow lane and hard to photograph the full spread in one go.
After visiting the mural I had a wander around Cowgate and Holyrood Road. Not as many tourists here although it is a student hangout. Loads of modern student apartments, University of Edinburgh buildings and old period streets. I liked it here. Quieter than the Princes Street and Royal Mile seething hordes yet still full of interesting architecture.
Same place looking up at Edinburgh's multi level street design where some of the old tenement buildings are 10 to 12 floors high. Early skyscrapers. Streets running above and below.
Contrast that with the modern apartments on Holyrood Road just a short distance away. Like architects everywhere, slightly imitating the older buildings in the same vicinity.
The Dumbiedykes flats on the opposite side of Holyrood Road. And a first glimpse of Holyrood Park on this outing.
Blackfriars Street.
The modern part of Holyrood Road
Local shops. All within a short distance of each other.
Dumbiedykes Flats. Ordinary folk.
The + UN building. Holyrood Road. Students.
St Mary's Street and Holyrood Road.
Same row of shops - different angle.
More new apartments.
With the inclusion of the Scottish Parliament Building and the Dynamic Earth exhibit/white pavilion I cannot think of another road I've ever been in, of comparatively short distance as this one, with such a different range of building styles. I give you Holyrood Road.
Scottish Parliament building. Also Holyrood Road.
Calton Hill from the Dynamic Earth Exhibit.
Dynamic Earth walkway.
As it was a lovely day outside and plenty more to see in the surrounding area I didn't bother going inside as I knew it was £18:50 concession and £21 adult each admission ticket. I was also very puzzled as it looked an empty large hall apart from a busy cafe and this big hanging ball. Nothing else. I was so puzzled by this view today doing the post I looked it up online. Surely that can't be it? Like many parts of Edinburgh the real attraction here lies deep underground in tunnels and basement level. Worth another Edinburgh trip just to to see it for myself.
I also had a wander down Edinburgh's famous tight lanes running between the various period streets.
There is graffiti in Edinburgh's city centre district but mostly it's confined to dark back lanes or stairways.
Unsightly but only in odd corners.
Glasgow. City Centre Waterfront. The tiger mural. Around ten years ago. No other graffiti here then.
As I've mentioned in previous posts visitors to Glasgow might enjoy staying in the Finnieston hotel district/ West End/Partick area just west of Glasgow city centre. Botanic Gardens, World Class museums and art galleries, vibrant shops, nightlife, public parks, Byres Road and its trendy lanes, Glasgow University and good walks all exist in this compact area and Glasgow city centre is just 5 mins away by public transport on subway, bus, or train. If I was visiting Glasgow currently that's where I'd stay nowadays.
Meanwhile, back in Edinburgh, I had a walk around the bottom of Holyrood Park, just as the mist was burning off. Although Arthur's Seat is the main draw here some of the quieter corners of this park are well worth exploring.
Walkers on the cliff edge seen from Holyrood Road. Dumbiedykes district.
It was studying the various rocks of this ancient volcano in the middle of the city and at other Scottish locations in the 1700s that Scot James Hutton ( the father of modern geology) formulated his radical idea that the earth was far older than previously thought. And had been twisted, melted, eroded then reformed many times in its long history. The subject of the Dynamic Earth exhibit next door to these same cliffs.
I met a student walking along under Arthur's Seat and we both remarked how this view above could easily be from the Pyrenees in France/ Spain, where she came from. Even though there was 7000 to 9000 feet of a height difference between them.
At the junction of Holyrood Park Road and Dalkeith Road this Scottish Widows building gained awards when it was completed in the 1970s consisting of 12 interlocked black glass hexagons. Thousands of workers were gradually transferred elsewhere when it closed in 2020. The last time I was here pre- covid I was fascinated by the large colourful goldfish swimming in these outdoor pools. Never seen that before outside of a protected glasshouse fish pool setting. In Glasgow they'd soon be stolen and eaten so quite sad to see this building and it's impressive pools lying half drained and abandoned now. Apparently some of it will be getting demolished soon with something else taking over this corner site. Cities are always changing. And only older folk remember the past.... as it was then.
12 comments:
Like the Holyrood story murals - very good and very colourful. Shame all those out hunting don't get gored by something though (I know it was just their way in those days but there's no excuse nowadays when we're supposed to have civilised).
I've never seen a Jay at all - a very elusive bird indeed. In fact, it wasn't until I moved to Cumbria that I ever met jackdaws either.
Shame to hear Glasgow City Centre has taken such a dive - I always used to quite like it - but it's many years since I've been there now...
Hi Carol, I've not seen many either. As soon as they see a human they are off and are very good at disappearing into the woods. Many times I've tracked one, spotted exactly which tree branch it flew onto, watched that tree carefully every step as I approached closer... and nothing there. Even goldcrests and tree-creepers are easier to photograph and they are tiny fast moving acrobats.
If you want to see the reality of Glasgow city centre today. You Tube. Then type in search box ..........Glasgow City Madness by T explore TV.
I think he's an English vlogger from Blackpool. Well worth a look.
Even as a Glasgow guy myself, growing up in one of the big four rough council estates in the 1960s on the outskirts and then worked in every half abandoned estate in Glasgow during the 1980s and 1990s I was shocked by the decayed state of Bridge Street and Eglinton Street From St Andrews Cross down to Central Station last year. A bomb would only improve it. Couple that with potholes across the city going three years without being filled in and essential public services being stripped out everywhere that folk used to take for granted and "Broken Britain" is a complete understatement.
I love to know about James Hutton studying the local rock. Richard and I have done the same thing on our monadnocks here. We recognized that Stone Mountain, Panola Mountain and Arabia Mountain had vast differences in the color of the rock, all due to the age of each one, we learned later. Observe and study! I got the observation down pretty good. LOL. Love those narrow lanes that you show us, Richard's grandfather lived in a small narrow lane like that in London, in about 1901.
Hi Kay, Yes, I'm interested in that and also the micro levels. Reading a book just now about electron microscope discoveries. It doesn't seem to matter how small you go life still exists there . In a teaspoon of seawater, a entire rainforest of tiny creatures, completely invisible to the naked eye still exists, and even more beyond that level. Although I'm not religious that does make me think something has planned it all out. It cant be all just pure mathematics and fractals... and nothing else.
You would love the vernal pools on top of Arabia Mountain. I wonder if anyone has ever discovered all the life that they support. I think there is even a tiny shrimp that lives there! (Although I can't swear to this, my mind is getting mixed up these days, I will have to look it up!) And I think that if you are out in nature long enough, you will recognize the great design of it all. I can't begin to understand it all but surely it is a marvel.
I was surprised when studying for my science degree that there are even lifeforms inside rock!
Another thing in Edinburgh that I didn’t know about! looks a great mural. I confess I have never been to Dynamic Earth either.
Hi Kay, I'm sure I would love your isolated rock mountains and the views from them. The bings that I climbed years ago in Scotland are something similar as they all stick out over flat surroundings as isolated high escarpments.
Evening Carol, maybe you will know about the Mandelbrot set then.... You Tube. Could our universe be fractal? 6mins:30 seconds long which helps explain part of it.
Hi Anabel, I discovered something else about Edinburgh that really surprised me but I'll keep that for a future post. To do with students. If you are going to an Edinburgh mural anytime the Colinton tunnel one is the best as it's so immersive and long, easy to park next to it, and you are just 5 mins walk across to the Colinton village mural as well. Plus a nice park and gorge walk there. I must admit I do prefer to be outside in good weather. Museums and exhibits best suited for bad weather days in my case.
Nope - never heard of that and, when I googled it quickly, looks well beyond me! I did all the basic science branches in the first year as a foundation and then went onto Environmental Science for the rest of my degree. It was all very interesting...
Oh yes, forgot to say, we had slag heaps (as we call bings) behind our village and spent a lot of our childhood playing on them. Great fun!
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