Hiking Around Edinburgh

I've been staying with Amanda (who I met on the bus in Cornwall) and Niamh in their flat in Edinburgh since last Tuesday. On the weekend Amanda's friend Susie arrived as well, on the last leg of her euro-trek before going back to Canada. So the past couple days while Amanda and Niamh were at work, Susie and I walked around checking out the sights of Edinburgh.

20 June 2005

EDINBURGH CASTLE
I got in for half price with my English Heritage membership. :D
We got in just in time for a very entertaining and humorous guided tour up around the castle. That finished in the royal courtyard, and we got into the Great Hall just in time to see a staff member in costume as Lord William Crichton, an influential noble of King James II of Scotland. He gave us a good talk on that particular period of history, in character as Lord Crichton.
We also got to see the Honours and Crown Jewels of Scotland, including the 152-kilogram Stone of Destiny. Now back in its rightful home of Scotland, it will continue to be taken down to Westminster Abbey for any future coronations.

After the Castle, we walked down the Royal Mile all the way to the bottom of the hill, near the Scottish Parliament. Outside the Parliament I saw a guy walking along with a few friends, explaining something to them about a couple of the quotations etched in the walls. It was Brian Cox. Some of you are right about now going "Who?" (Am I right?) Well then, you can click here. He was in Braveheart, Rob Roy, X-Men 2, and Troy, among many other films.

Then we had a late lunch (around 4.30 in the arvo) at a great pub called The Advocate, just off the Royal Mile. All the tables had different styles of seating available - some padded, some wooden, some leather, etc. Our dining table was a Singer table without the sewing machine (but the foot-pedal and wheel still worked!). There were ironing boards, milk buckets and other 19th-Century homely things suspended upside down from the ceiling. Odd... but interesting.

21 June 2005

Today we walked into town, and visited St Giles Cathedral on the Royal Mile. A visiting boys' choir from South Carolina were performing a concert. Amazing sounds, sitting in a cathedral, under a high vaulted ceilings, scenes from the stories of Joseph and Moses in the stained glass windows nearby.

We met Amanda on her lunch break and ate sausage rolls in Princes St Gardens while a concert band played in the amphitheatre.

Then Susie and I walked to Holyrood Palace, walked past that, and up around the Salisbury Crags (some cliffs overlooking the city). Once we'd done that, then we started the trek up to Arthur's Seat. Arthur's Seat is 250.5 metres above sea level, with fantastic views in all directions around Edinburgh and Lothian. But talk about windy! It was freezing cold even in the bright sunshine. I tried sketching a postcard, but the wind blew my metal pencilcase out of my hands. Luckily myself and a couple other hikers were able to rescue all my equipment. I'll do the colouring in when I get back to the flat this evening. Fantastic views - but I had to pay with sore legs.

I have to pack tonight, because tomorrow I'm off on two buses and a ferry to reach the island of Colonsay, in the Western Isles.

Edinburgh Zoo

Today I took a bus over to Edinburgh Zoo, on Corstorphine Road. I learnt on my bus tour the other day that Corstorphine means "Cross of Torphine", but I haven't found out who this "Torphine" (or perhaps Norse "Thorfinn") was...

Anyway, the zoo is cool. Lots of exhibits, especially of endangered species they're trying to breed and conserve. I saw scimitar-horned oryx (believed extinct in the wild in Tunisia), Amur tigers (from Russia), three Asian lions, and a small pack of Cape Hunting Dogs.

The walk-through red lemur enclosure was cool. One of the lemurs was sprawled out on a platform on their wood-and-rope playground above me. He hung his head over the edge for a quick look but was obviously too bored or tired to take an interest in me.

The penguin parade was cool, but only five penguins wanted to come out for a walk. One of the Gentoos came out of the gate early, and waddled around for a bit before the others decided to join him. Then when the parade started (two Gentoos and three Kings), a couple of the Gentoo penguins inside the enclosure followed alongside on the other side of the bars. Once again I put my pencils and brush to work and painted a Gentoo penguin.

They have one polar bear, who was swimming doggy-paddle up to one end, pushing off and flipping over to do backstroke the other direction.

Edinburgh Zoo is the only zoo in the UK to have koalas... coming later this summer. I saw the exhibit under construction.

I also saw "nature red in tooth and claw" as Tennyson put it. The muntjac enclosure also contained a pond, with a few ducks and other waterfowl. A seagull was inside hopping on the grass, flapping its wings as an angry moorhen tried to get at it. I thought this was a bit odd, till I saw the tiny moorhen chick held tightly in the seagull's now red-tinged beak. The moorhen mother attacked the gull a bit more, and I couldn't see the chick anymore. I think the gull dropped it. :(

But all in all a good zoo experience. I also got to see a zebra rolling in the mud. :D

Dinner with rellies

Last night I caught a bus over to the south side of Edinburgh and had dinner with my grandfather's cousin, her husband, and one of my dad's cousins up from London. It was strange at first - they all knew who I was, and even though I'd met them before, I still had to figure out the exact family connection. :)

There were two of Pop's paintings in their dining room, ones that he'd painted in Scotland before emigrating. One was dated 1955, the other 1957, and they were both signed with a scrawled signature "PSDavies" not unlike my "MGDavies" scrawl. One of his later watercolours in their living room was signed with the more familiar printed capitals "Philip Davies". Just an interesting thing I thought I'd mention.

Joke

A tough old cowboy once counseled his grandson that if he wanted to live a long life, the secret was to sprinkle a little gunpowder on his oatmeal every morning.

The grandson did this religiously and he lived to the very old age of 93.

When he died, he left 14 children, 28 grandchildren, 35 great grandchildren, and a fifteen foot hole in the wall of the crematorium.

:D

Loch Ness

I went to Loch Ness today on a bus trip... got to go on a cruise up the loch and see Urquhart Castle. The water of Loch Ness is black. Really black, and as the boat moves along it churns up a brownish-gold wake, instead of the usual white. The bottom of the loch is filled with lots of silt and lots and lots of peat.

I also saw a highland cow, or "heeland coo", and painted a picture of it. Haven't decided who'll get that postcard yet. I also painted a picture of the Urquhart Castle ruins as seen from the boat.

Now in a different hostel, on in the same chain as the one I stayed at in London. It's much closer to town, just across Market Street from the train station. The last one I stayed in was 15 minutes away by bus, near the shore at Cramond.

More later.

Glennjamin.

10 June - Funeral & trip to Edinburgh

For those that don't know, a family friend, Norman McLeod (or "Uncle Norrie") passed away not long after I arrived in the UK. The funeral was on the day I'd booked a bus ticket to Edinburgh. So after coming back from Cornwall, I had to rearrange my plans on how to get to Scotland.

Tom drove me in to High Wycombe in the morning, and I caught the 7.39 in to London, arriving in Marylebone at about 20 past 8. I then hopped on a Bakerloo tube one stop to Baker Street, where I could get the Metropolitan Line to Farringdon. Signal failure at Farringdon - they cancelled the eastbound Metropolitans, and huge delays on the Circle and Hammersmith & City lines. There were so many people on the Circle line platform I had to catch the 2nd train that came through. I left Baker Street station at 9 am. Got to Farringon, crossed over the walkway, down to the Thameslink
(National Railways) platform where a train was waiting - the 9:10 terminating in St Albans. Arrived in St Albans at 10 to 10, and caught a cab to the church. When I gave the address to the cabbie, he looked at my black suit and black tie and asked if it was a funeral. I said yes, but that I was travelling on - hence the guitar, camera bag, coat, and 20kg backpack ensemble.

The service was lovely, and there were some great tributes from Norrie's brother Angus, his granddaughter Rachel and son-in-law Rod. Some of the grandchildren memories were of being slipped the odd pound here or there (behind parents'/Lottie's backs) to supplement their pocket money. That certainly rang a few bells... :)

After the service the family went off to the cemetery, while everyone else was invited back to a community centre (across the street from the Cricketer's Arms, which isn't called the Cricketer's Arms anymore, it's opening soon as an Indian bar/restaurant. they kept the cricketer's painting but not the name) for lunch. I collected my bags from the church's community centre and walked (very slowly) down the street, following the usher's fairly simple directions. I found the place and started talking to a few others already there. I got quite a few laughs when explaining my connection to the family... Norrie once went out with my grandmother, and I think she met my grandfather while on a date with Norrie... Dad's parents and Norrie & Lottie remained friends for 60+ years...

I met the MacLeod daughters at various stages during lunch (approx 1pm), and when I introduced myself to Sheila as Glenn Davies she said "nice to meet you."... punchline coming soon...

After lunch, I finally got to see Lottie. She'd just finished talking to someone, and I walked up and said hello (that's it - just hello). She shook my hand, and said "Now who are you?... I know the face... not Glenn!" (Lottie introduced me to people in two ways - she would tell people that knew the Davies' that I was Pip & Jess' grandson, whereas a couple others she said I was the grandson of "one of Norman's old flames")... :D

After helping clean up the place (and glad-wrapping a few sandwiches etc for a doggy-bag for my train trip), Sheila, Lottie and I walked back over to Cricketer's Close (about 3pm by now) to put our feet up, have a cuppa, catch up, etc. A few other rellies were already there, including Angus MacLeod, who told me he stayed with Gran & Pop in Australia.

I was in the living room showing Lottie my photo albums from Kyoto when suddenly Sheila burst in from the kitchen and came over to me. "You're Pip & Jess's grandson!" she said. "Someone just told me. Now I know who you are!"... the name hadn't rung a bell before, obviously... :)

When talking about being slipped the odd pound, Lottie told the story of how Alastair and I chose to spend our pounds on carrots in Tesco's. She has memories of Alastair and I as "wee little boys, never worn shoes before, with itchy new jumpers" :D :D The garden looks much as I remember it.

At about 4.30, Lorna dropped me at the train station, and I caught the 4.39 to Kings Cross. Arriving at about a quarter past 5, I was in plenty of time to queue and find my train to Edinburgh. There were a couple delays but I got in at about 10.40, and got the shuttle bus to my hostel.

And when I checked my email at the hostel I found out that Alastair and Saara were now engaged. :D

What I did today...

Today I caught the hostel shuttle bus into the city. Then I walked up Princes Street towards Waverley (the bus didn't go all the way in to the station because of the Edinburgh Marathon closing off streets this morning). Looked at a lot of shops.

Scored a £2 voucher from Boots by taking part in a Market Research thing where I got asked a lot of questions about food packaging and health information.

Bought a paintbrush and a set of watercolour pencils. Bought a Clan MacFie tartan tie.

Walked up the Royal Mile towards the castle, and checked out the Spirit Of The Tattoo free display. The Tattoo is in August and I might just book myself a cheap ticket if possible...

I didn't go in to the castle today. Instead I walked down the winding path through the West Princes Street Gardens, to a bench on the other side which luckily was undercover, protected from the rain which kept stopping and starting all day (but never very hard). While sitting there I painted my first postcard on my set of make-your-own postcards I'd got at the National Gallery in London. It was a view of Edinburgh Castle on top of the hill over the treetops.

Frenzy Festival - 11 June 2005

OK, this wasn't the reason I came to Scotland, but it was the reason I timed it as I did.

Headlining this one-day festival on the outskirts of Edinburgh were Third Day, who most of you know is my all-time favourite band. Also appearing were Deliriou5?, Rock And Roll Worship Circus, Dave Crowder Band, and others. Unfortunately, R&RWC had to cancel (I was looking forward to finally hearing them), and so the organisers flew in a replacement band, literally hours after playing in a festival in Amsterdam, to finish off the night. Luckily the event was in the Royal Highland Centre, next door to Edinburgh airport. Who did they bring in? The Newsboys!

I had to leave a couple songs into the Newsboys so I could make all my bus connections back to my hostel in time, but I did see all of Third Day's set. And it went OFF! It ROCKED! I was right up near the front, in the second row from the barrier, right by the stack of speakers. (Sorry? Did you say something? :P)

This was Third Day's first time ever in Scotland, and they played us two new songs from the album they're working on in the studio at the moment. I saw Third Day at Sonfest in Queensland in January, and this concert was just as good if not better! The new songs were very powerful, and I can't wait to hear the rest of the stuff they've been writing.

The MC of the festival had been wearing a kilt all day, but told us he'd try and convince one of Third Day to wear it onstage. In the evening he appeared wearing jeans. And when Third Day came on stage, Tai (bass player) was wearing a dark blue kilt with the St Andrews cross on it! He wore it proudly all concert. :D

My Gomer shirt hadn't arrived in the post from Australia, but to my surprise they were selling them at the concert (usually only available online) and they were rather cheap, so I... bought another one. :) And wrote "Glennjamin" in the space provided.

In the end I didn't manage to make contact with the Gomers I've met on the boards, but I did meet another Gomer, Graham, aka "Bungle Gomer" according to his shirt, in the queue. And got some great photos of Third Day in action. Well, from my side of the stage, most of the photos were of Mark.

Now I'm off to explore cold and cloudy Edinburgh. :D

Comments

Feel free to comment on anything I write here... lets me know people are reading :)

Last night I went out with a couple other backpackers from my dorm room to the Shakespeare Globe - a replica of the Elizabethan theatre, only ten minutes' walk from my hostel. Standing tickets were only 5 pounds. Luckily it didn't rain, even thought it was quite overcast at times - the standing area in front of the stage was open to the air. A great experience. We saw "The Winter's Tale", a play none of us had really heard much, or anything, about. It was very funny, and very well done. I'll have to read the play now...

Glennjamin

Church today

Today being Sunday, I decided to go to Church. So I did.

At Westminster Abbey. :D

It's closed to tourists on Sundays, but for all their services during the week and on Sundays, entry is free. I attended the 10am Matins service, and listened to the choir singing. I couldn't see the choir, as they were in the long central part of the abbey, and I was sitting just in front of Poets' Corner. After the service I went into Chapter House (amazing stained-glass windows, and some remaining original paintwork and statues from the 13th Century) and into the little Museum in the Abbey. They're currently celebrating the 1000th anniversary of the birth of St Edward The Confessor (King of England 1042-1066), who started the building of the abbey on the site of an older Saxon church. The building was finished by William the Conqueror just in time for him to start the tradition of coronations being held there.

My London sights...

Here are a few of the things I've seen in London in the last couple days.

NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM
There was a new dinosaur exhibit here, the highlight of which was a life-size animatronic, motion-sensitive, roaring, moving, T-Rex. Pity about it being school holidays... the exhibit was one long queue through the displays. And the replica diplodocus skeleton in the main hall was celebrating its 100th birthday. I saw a stuffed platypus in the mammal hall that looked suspiciously too big to be a real stuffed specimen... it was at least 40cm long. And fat.

SCIENCE MUSEUM
At the moment they have a Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy exhibition, and you can get exhibition + IMAX tickets for a combined fairly cheap price. You could choose what movie you could see, so instead of seeing something short and mind-bogglingly amazing like a 3D IMAX movie, I chose to see HHGTTG cause I haven't seen it, and it's about space, which is big. Really big. So amazingly, mind-bogglingly big that... you get the idea. It was a fun movie, even if it wasn't stretched to fill the whole screen.

The exhibition contained mock-ups of sets (you enter through the front door of a facade of Arthur Dent's house), original costumes as worn in the movie, as well as props, behind-the-scenes info and panels explaining the "science" behind Douglas Adams' ideas.

HYDE PARK
A very big park, with its own lake. It was cold and windy, but the sun did come out for a little bit. I saw a squirrel. It ran around for a bit, ate a nut, then ran up a tree.

KENSINGTON GARDENS
Right next to Hyde Park, here I saw a statue of Peter Pan, and a monument to John Speke. It was called Speke Monument, and looked kind of obelisk-like, so I thought of it as the Speke Spike. Speke was the first European to see Lake Victoria, and died in 1864, just so you know.

CAMDEN MARKET
This place is crazy. Packed with cheap amusing t-shirts, wild fashions, stalls of "goth" clothing including black corsets...

BIG BEN
I took a tube to Westminster Station at midnight one night to get a few photos of the clock tower lit up at night. Very cool.

HARRODS
This is one BIG department store.

THE SCOOP
An outdoor auditorium near Tower Bridge, where some organisation is screening free movies every Wed, Thurs and Fri night. I saw Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid, which was even funnier than I remembered.

THE TOWER OF LONDON
I spent a whole day here, to make up for the expensive entry fee. But it was packed full of interesting things, so I guess it was worth it.

THE LONDON UNDERGROUND, OR "TUBE"
And many days of buying daypasses and hopping on and off different tube stops to make sure I get my money's worth each day. Fun. Sometimes I wait for the second train, 1 minute behind the other, so as not to get crammed in with everyone else waiting on the platform. Once I took a crowded train to the next stop, then got off, then got on the next train approaching on the same line - which was almost empty.

More later,
Glennjamin

My Bank Holiday weekend

I'll try and keep this post from being TOO long, but bear with me if I ramble. There's a lot to fit in.

Saturday 28 May

Woke up, finished packing. Had breakfast. Tom drove me down to the A40, where the Oxford Tube (a coach, not a train) bus stop was. As we got the last bag out of his boot, the bus pulled up - good timing. About 9.20am by this stage. I got on with my e-ticket purchased online the day before, and off to London!

Arrived in London under 2 hours later. Had a long wait in Victoria Coach Station, waiting for my 1pm coach to Cornwall. But I did have an interesting and entertaining chat with Phil, a guy who sat on the floor beside me. He had gotten through half his bottle of Jack since earlier that morning. He wasn't drunk. Yet. Well not much. OK a bit. But he had some interesting thoughts about Oasis and Manchester - he was a City fan, and an ex-Oasis fan, with the tattoo to prove it.

At 1pm I got the news that my bus had a puncture, and they'd find us a replacement coach, just wait, wouldn't be long. At 2pm I was boarding the replacement coach. That took me as far as Bristol, which we reached at about 5pm. At Bristol we had to unload all our bags off the bus, and put them all on a new double-decker coach which would take us as far as Plymouth. We got to Plymouth by about 7pm. At Plymouth, I had to take my bags and get on yet ANOTHER coach, which would take me to Wadebridge, the village I had chosen as my destination. I knew nothing about it, it just looked fairly central according to the maps and info in my North Cornwall Guide 2005.

Arrived in Wadebridge at around 9pm, and headed up into town to find somewhere to stay. Yes, a Bank Holiday weekend, in a village, in Britain's surfing capital county, and I hadn't booked ahead. Well, I'd emailed one B&B, but they'd said they were full, so I was leaving everything in the hope I'd find something when I got there.

The Molesworth Arms pub was full, so they sent me down the street to the Swan Hotel. That pub was full, and sent me across the bridge to a B&B. No answer at the doorbell, so I checked the Ship Inn next door. The guy at the bar told me they were a food and drink only, not accommodation, inn. But he gave me directions to another B&B, called Keresen, just up the road and round the corner. So I went there, and they saw me coming from their living room window, and opened the door to me with this look on their faces. I said "You're full, aren't you?" and they told me that they were - as of 5 minutes previous, thanks to another referral from the Ship Inn. If I'd been 6 minutes earlier...

The very kind lady, Ann Braithwaite, told me to wait, and called a friend of hers, Derek Champion, who had a B&B. He had a room free, so she drove me over there ("You'll never find it," she told me), and told me I could come back to her B&B for the rest of my stay - and to drop my bags off in the morning so I didn't have to lug them all over Cornwall. I stayed there one night, and the next morning after breakfast Derek drove me back over to Keresen, and I left my bags in the room that was ready for me.

Recommended B&B:
Derek Champion
Goosey Cottage
Wadebridge
Cornwall

Sunday 29 May

Having left my bags in the room, I walked down into Wadebridge and rented a mountain bike. I rode it along the Camel Trail (an old unused 17-mile railway line converted to cycle/walking track) to Padstow (about 5 and a half miles). Then I took a ferry across the inlet to the town of Rock, which is apparently a favourite summer haunt of Hugh Grant and Prince William, among others. From Rock I cycled back to Wadebridge on the main roads, a journey of about 7 miles. Then back on the Camel Trail, eastward this time, for the almost 6 mile journey to Bodmin. Having reached Bodmin, I turned around and cycled back to Wadebridge. Total elapsed time: about 4 or 5 hours. Total elapsed distance: Somewhere around 25 miles. Total elapsed sunburn: arms and hands. Then I sat in the park and read for an hour. Then I went back to the B&B for a 2-hour nap. Then to the Ship Inn for a pint and some food. Then back to the B&B to have a shower, relax and watch a video in my room. There was a number of videos under the TV cabinet in my room, so I watched Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels: Director's Cut. And then SLEEP!

Monday 30 May

Woke up, had breakfast, and walked down into town. I just missed the first bus (it was a bank holiday, so there weren't many buses), so bought a newspaper to see what was going on, as well as a logic problems book to keep my mind entertained. I lay in the park enjoying the sunshine, and then at 11am walked over to the Tourist Information Centre to pick up a few brochures. Having grabbed a few things of interest, I walked back to the bus station (a covered bus stop and a parking lot) to wait for the 12.25 bus to take me to Tintagel. While waiting, a Canadian traveller struck up a conversation with me. She lived and worked in Edinburgh, but was hiking and bussing around Cornwall for the weekend. We talked about a few places in Europe, and then got on the bus. I got off at Tintagel, and she continued on to Boscastle.

Tintagel, for those of you who don't know, is the legendary birthplace of a certain Welsh warlord called Arthur. You know, he kicked the Saxons out of Britain in about AD 500 before they came back a few centuries later to stay. Apparently they have found remains of Roman and Dark Ages buildings at the site, but the main castle ruins today date from the 12th or 13th Century. Some Norman duke wanted to associate himself with the legend of Arthur, to get more loyalty from his local subjects. Or something like that. Anyway, it's a fantastic site. I joined English Heritage, so got in for free. And will continue to get into EH-owned sites for free... and discounts in Wales and Scotland. Yay! There are great views across the cliffs of the coast at Tintagel. And wildflowers everywhere. Seagulls nesting halfway down between the ruins and the sea. I was at the castle for about 2 hours, and took a lot of photos here.

I caught the bus back, and once again met up with the Canadian. This time we introduced ourselves. Her name was Amanda. We talked about all the things we'd seen and learned. She'd been to a Museum of Witchcraft in Boscastle, which apparently suffered from too much text in the displays. Back in Wadebridge, we went to the pub for a couple pints and some food. And the Darts semi-finals were on Sky Sports! :) Anyway, I now have the offer of a place to stay in Edinburgh, which is good.

I went back to the hostel and enjoyed "The Living Daylights" from the video collection, followed by the funny mockumentary "Drop Dead Gorgeous" on BBC1. Then sleep...

Tuesday 31 May

Went into town, posted the postcards at the Post Office (funny place to go, really). Then caught the bus to Plymouth, and changed onto a coach back to London.