About three months ago we discovered The Broonfords. Really just a great Edinburgh YouTube vlogger named Tony Broonford. Since then he has become a huge part of our Edinburgh planning. If you ever come to Edinburgh, watch his videos. We have followed his directions for places to go all around the city. For instance, he has a series of videos following every Close that branches off from the Royal Mile. We keep going down all the ones he suggested and have found some pretty neat stuff (like a proper British garden).
About two months ago he did a video about climbing Arthur’s Seat. I will pause while you click the Wikipedia link and see what that is. As you may know, I love to walk and at home I try and walk at least 15 miles a week. But most of my walking is flat. I don’t do many hills. At least I didn’t until I saw that video and decided I had to climb Arthur’s Seat myself and I had to do it at dawn to get some great photos. To do that I have been training on our Power Line Trail which is a lot of ups and downs. Arthur’s Seat is all up and then all down.
Then this morning, with the weather cooperating, I set out to do it. And I did! What a great experience. One I won’t soon forget. The photos say it all (There will be more on Flickr as soon as they are back online). Just know that it wasn’t as tough a climb as I had thought it would be, that it was freezing cold and that the wind howls up there. I mean really blows. As the sun came up, my guess is that it hit about 30 mph and the temp was in the lower 40s. And I was in shorts with a knee brace. And I loved it. The kind of thing that really makes you feel alive.
After I climbed up, I climbed down (which was tougher than going up), came back and after a shower and some breakfast we did the lower Canonsgate section of the Royal Mile. As I mentioned yesterday, Holyrood Palace was closed due the the Lord High Commissioner of Whatever being “in-residence.” But the attached Queen’s Gallery was open so we toured an exhibit about Charles II which was moderately interesting, followed by a visit to the Scottish Parliament which is a beautiful piece of architecture and then a visit to the free Edinburgh Museum which chronicles the history of the city. Also moderately interesting. Then lunch at another great pub.
After a short nap (still somewhat jet-lagged) we headed up the Royal Mile again to check out the St. Giles Cathedral and a few other great places. Then back to home (we love this AirBnB) so I could process photos and another short nap (still jet-lagged), then dinner at a great little Italian place and back here and I am writing this.
Tomorrow we do a tour outside the city to visit Stirling Castle, Loch Lomond and the Kelpies so stay tuned. Might not get that done until we are taking the train on Saturday to meet up with our Martini Mates, Paul and Gail in York.
There’s no glory in climbing a mountain if all you want to do is to get to the top. It’s experiencing the climb itself – in all its moments of revelation, heartbreak, and fatigue – that has to be the goal. —Karyn Kusama