.: Scottish adventure 1, Cape Town to Edinburgh

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Scottish adventure 1, Cape Town to Edinburgh

This is the first of several quick catch up stories of our 5 week British adventure. Our flight left Cape Town at 1pm, so, after taking an Uber from home, we had a quick sandwich at the airport before boarding; ham cheese and tomato with a Windhoek Draught for John

and smoked salmon for Lynne

The bill

and so, onto an Emirates Boeing 777 en route to our first stop

at Dubai,

where the shopping was still very active at 11.30 pm SA time, which is 1 am Dubai time

Then, the inevitable wait in polyglot Dubai for our connection to Gatwick

on the upper floor of an Airbus A380

huge and with much more space than the Boeing; so much more comfortable

By train from Gatwick to King's Cross

with an anxious wait for the last minute info about from which platform to board the train to Edinburgh - on which only one carriage (H) had empty unbooked seats (we tried to reserve them from SA, but it was impossible), so we had a scramble and were able to bag the last two empty places for the 5 hour ride. Standing after the 24 hours it took to reach the train would have been horrible

English cottonwool clouds

The Yorkshire countryside near Darlington

Serenely bucolic

and then the Tweed estuary at Berwick, marking the approach to the Scottish border

The Royal Border Bridge spans the River Tweed between Berwick-upon-Tweed and Tweedmouth in Northumberland, England. It is a Grade I listed railway viaduct built between 1847 and 1850, when it was opened by Queen Victoria. It was designed by Robert Stephenson for the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway and remains in regular use as part of the East Coast Main Line. Despite its name, the bridge does not span the border between England and Scotland, which is approximately 3 miles (5 km) further north

The Scots flag to welcome us, atop St John's Church on Prince's Street

Lynne had booked a flat in Edinburgh, beautifully central

and just below the Castle

It is a lovely flat, beautifully appointed

with all mod cons - we didn't have time to watch the TV

and a well-equipped kitchen

Next morning, we wandered through Edinburgh

The Walter Scott monument with David Livingstone guarding it. Maybe he should give it a wash

Sir Walter Scott wearing an unaccustomed hat

It started to rain, quite hard, while we were in Prince's Street, so we bought ponchos, expecting to need them at the Tattoo that evening but, as soon as we opened one the rain stopped, never to return

Festival time, so there were many buskers

and all sorts of strange acts in the streets as part of the Fringe

Lovely flowers as decorations everywhere

And so, a pleasant 20 minute walk from our flat to the Castle's Esplanade

for the Tattoo. Wonderful international acts,

brilliant drilling and music

and fireworks to close

a spectacular show

and a mass exit at the end, clogging The Royal Mile

Next day, a walk to Greyfriars Kirk

famous for the story of Greyfriars Bobby, a West Highland terrier who accompanied his master's body to its grave in Greyfriars Churchyard in 1858 and guarded the grave until he died in 1872. Read the full, touching story here. We have a similar story about the Mulderbosch Faithful Hound in Stellenbosch

Thistles in the churchyard

and children touching Bobby's statue's nose for good luck

which keeps it permanently shiny

Then off down Queen Victoria Street

famous for being a scene in the Harry Potter films

and home to the Little Magician shop; a mecca for Harry Potter devotees

A ticket on a "magic" broom

Then a pilgrimage to The Whisky Shop which sells a huge range of whiskies, not only Scotch, and we even saw some bottles of Bain's from Wellington. They sell small bottles, decanted from these casks. Don't ask the price, good single malts are less expensive at home. A 30 year old Macallan in the shop was £3950 per bottle, but that is an extreme. It costs less at the distillery but that is part of a later story