The Perils and Perambulations of a Now Scottish Mountain Goat

In order to expedite this post as well as to put a stopper on the dredging of bad memories, I’m going to start my tale of Edinburgh with the leaving of Jury’s Inn to begin my 8-2 o’clock adventure.

I had my map but not really a sense of where I wanted to go so

I set off to one of the two things I was sure of in Edinburgh – The Royal Mile (the other is that huge castle that sits in the middle on a huge volcanic rock formation).

I found it easily enough (it was just up the close behind the hotel) and began walking one way and decided to turn back around and walk all the way back down at this cathedral thing (that I later discovered was called the Hub and is actually a bar and restaurant. Nifty.).

So, I walked all the way down the Royal Mile looking at the windows of the ridiculous tourist store fronts with Highland Cattle hats and little plush Nessies. Along the way I saw a lot of things…

At one end of the Royal Mile is Edinburgh Castle and the other is Holyrood Palace (and Scottish Parliament) and thus the street gets its nickname. I reached the end with the Palace and, lucky for me, The Salisbury Crags. I can’t remember if they were the reason I went down that way but once I saw them, I HAD to climb them.

I had about four hours left and I was sure that climbing the radical road would take at least an hour then I’d have to turn around and go back. Then I’d head back and get lunch and have plenty of time to check in at 2.

Boy was I wrong.

I began climbing the Crags – excitedly. The scenery is SPECTACULAR.

It was quite a climb. Really steep and rocky. I took a picture at one point that a Scottish couple walked in to. The old man was happy and chatty – he thought he actually managed to not get in the picture. It was a good introduction Scottish friendliness.

I kept climbing and climbing and realized I was making much more progress than I thought I would so I started to determine an alternate route back to Jury’s Inn. I decided that I’d see what this one path looked like that seemed to go back over and through the park. After some climbing, I found it and decided it would be easy and a great way to get back across. It wouldn’t bring me to the top of the crags, but that was ok.

That was when I realized that, although they were not official and thus not marked on my map, there were in fact trails that led up to the top of the crags. I couldn’t resist. I told myself that I’d try one then turn around. But at the end of that one I said “Oh one more, then I’ll turn back.”

You can imagine how that went.

Soon enough, I found myself at the end of the crags where they start to fall back down to ground level and I chose a path that seemed best suited for getting me down. Same as before, I thought “Oh that one was kind of steep. Maybe the next one won’t be so bad.”

Right. The next thing I know, I’m picturing myself as an American mountain goat, scaling the muddy Scottish hills with Scots all around laughing at the silly American.

It was a bit ridiculous, but it was definitely fun! And, best of all, I got down safely.

It was still really early and I decided to walk back up the Royal Mile and take a look around, maybe get some lunch. On the way, not far up from Parliament, I found Clarinda’s Tea Room and I popped in for a blackcurrant bracer and a toffee crispy. Three pound fifty and a full tummy later, I ventured out nice and warm into Edinburgh once again.

I made my way back up to the center of town and wandered fairly aimlessly for a bit and, although it was early, I went to go sit and wait for my room to be available, spent. I got to my room (a double – I’d have a roomie) and, once I figured out you needed to use a key card to turn on the lights (and you needed to leave it in there) I tried to figure out the shower. I couldn’t get it to turn on so I took a bath.

Shortly thereafter, my roommate, Brandy, came in and we talked until we ventured up for Orientation and down for dinner.

Overall, it was a prosperous first day in Scotland.