Follow the travel diary of Val and Rosney (The Man) as they travel to the UK via Vancouver one way and San Francisco on the return trip. The self-drive ‘innocents abroad’ expedition was planned in celebration of The Man’s 70th birthday to walk in the footsteps of their ancestors.
Off to Edinburgh this morning for a three-night stay, which is just over an hour drive from where we were staying in Glasgow. The weather is fine after overnight showers, a good omen.
We found the motorway easily and congratulated ourselves on a job well done, however the highway was really busy with big trucks travelling much faster than cars, we decided to stick to the ‘happy’ motoring lane on the left, but that was a bit scary at times when being overtaken by the huge rigs wavering about all, with manic truckers with their bloody foot down to the floor.
All was okay until we found we’d missed the turnoff (‘not again’ she cried!) into Edinburgh and were heading to where we did not want to go! However, this time the fates were on our side, for we spotted a EUROPCAR sign, and while it was not the depot we had intended to leave the car at (going by rail back to London) they happily accepted the merc/gave us a receipt and called for a taxi to take us into the city. Bye-bye, little merc – thanks for taking us for such a memorable ride!
I must admit, after handing her over, the sun shone brighter and the world felt lighter!
The taxi driver was a charming woman who gave us a conducted tour all the way to our accommodation Hotel@Ten Hill. With each turn of the wheel I was thanking my goodnesses we never attempted to drive the merc in, as Edinburgh City is on more than one level and it was truly a maze of one-way-roads to get where we needed to be. Our hotel room looked small after the Ambassador, but it’s fine and dandy, the bed passed the bounce test and there’s a big bathroom with a walk-in shower – this was not a bed and breakfast deal, so had brought along some muesli cookies to gobble for breakfast with a cup of tea.
Our hotel room looked small after the Ambassador, but it’s fine and dandy, the bed passed the bounce test and there’s a big bathroom with a walk-in shower – this was not a bed and breakfast deal, so had brought along some muesli cookies to gobble for breakfast with a cup of tea.
First up we headed off for a tour bus trip around Edinburgh to help us get our bearings… and I have to say I’m in LOVE again. The hotel we are staying at is run by the medical training hospital, mainly patronised by medical gurus who are staying-over/dining out at conventions which are held across the road at headquarters with all profits going to the hospital itself… we had our evening meal there, and it was delightful. While out and about we purchased train tickets to London for a Thursday 9.30am departure.
After a slowish start the next morning we headed off to Edinburgh Castle (3 thousand visitors a day). To get there we wandered along the Royal Mile and I was in my own little heaven, with history poking out of each cobble stone, and the icing on the cake was that even though I had been well cathedralised and castleised, Edinburgh castle was even more than I could have wished for. A slice of history around every corner and was defiantly was on a par with the Tower of London as my favourite place to be.
The next day we walked the Royal Mile again this time stopping to inspect the never-ending-tourist-shop-internals (too many of them) – we noticed beggars on the streets in quite large numbers, we hadn’t seen this before in the UK, and as most of them were young, healthy looking/and looked like university students. I did wonder if they could have been doing something better with their time – I noticed the ‘bagpipers’ were more likely to be given money by the tourists than the ‘sit-still’ beggars.
Next, we went to the Dutch Art exhibition, then on to Holyrood Palace and once again I suspected that most inhabitants of palaces were owls, as they are so dark inside, one must have been practised at navigating at night especially as the King’s bedroom and the Queens were some distance apart.
On arrival back at our hotel we found our bath towels had been removed and not replaced, leaving one towel and one bathmat for the two of us.
Breakfast the next day was muesli biscuits again, but at 10 pounds each for a continental breakfast, we shall chomp onwards. We wandered downtown and had a look at the retail shops, very expensive and I wasn’t tempted to splurge. While wandering we came across a tourist bus ready to depart to the Firth of Forth (The estuary of several Scottish rivers including the River Forth) for a boat trip, so I grabbed The Man and flung him on board. I’m so pleased we did this ‘on an inspiration’ trip, (the bus driver had spent time in NZ) it was both soothing, interesting and entertaining – The Man was intrigued with the two huge bridges which span the Firth, one road and one rail, while the seals bobbing in the water won my heart.
After arriving back in the city we popped into the flashest-departmental-store with a coffee lounge on the top floor and splurged on a late yum afternoon tea, then I was let loose in the ladies wear department only to find all the gear was far too expensive. Next up it was off to find a loo, which proved difficult even though one was signposted, so we walked across the road, but as The Man didn’t have the right change and had to use the ‘change’ machine it charged him one pound for a pee. Geeze! Then it was back to the hotel to pack for travelling tomorrow – I am the expert packer, and anyone who dares to intervene gets a hand whacked, so The Man happily did crosswords and left me to it…
For an evening meal we strolled down the block and had a meal at the Southern Arms, a sweet pub with no blaring student music – not that I don’t love music, but I prefer the volume so the speakers at not crackling while they are jumping up and down in the air. Back in the hotel we put in a wakeup call for 6.45am – as much as I love this Edinburgh place, it feels like it’s time to head home…
To be continued….
By Val Bird
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