I did not have a great night. I was up at 2, 4:20, 5, 5:22, 6, 6:30, and about 7. My husband K got up at 6:30 and left, but he'd been awake since 4. I have no idea what the problem was. I got up with the alarm at 7:25.
When our daughter J arrived at 7:58, it was 54°, but felt like 51° and there was some rain. The two of us went off to breakfast at 8:05.
After breakfast, we went off to my cabin to take photos of the Firth of Forth, one of my favorite geographic phrases. We found that we were passing the island of Inchholm with its abbey.
The Firth of Forth itself, was photogenic, too.
J had to head off to the World Stage to await her tour. Today, we'd be going in three different directions. K was doing his own thing later, including a whiskey tasting. J had never been to Edinburgh. So, she was doing a city tour. K and I had been here, so we went for new things.
The next view was Hound Point, which is best known for its offshore tanker berth and oil-handling facility.
Soon, our lifeboats were being lowered and tested out before being used as tenders. We were not at a dock at South Queensferry for some reason. This would eventually cause problems.
By 9:55, the lifeboats were being put into position to take guests. J was off the ship around 10:10.
At 10:23, I was waiting in the World Stage for my tour- Falkirk Wheel and Stirling. It took them a very long time to call my group. In fact, I was in the rest room, when they did and joined the line at 10:58, when I came out.
We got down to Deck 1 and had to stand there waiting for the tender. So dumb. They held us on 1 until after 11 and then sent us down to A.
At 11:18, rather than a tender, we were put on a tour boat from the town. The sun was now out. At 11:22, we were finally sailing. At 11:36, we docked ant at 11:44, I found myself on a very windy concrete pier named Hawes that was rather long. I got a shot of the ship on the other side of the Forth Bridge, as well as of a sculpture of seals by Kenneth Raeburn that celebrates the seals out on Inchcolm.
At 11:50, I was on the bus, in my own pair of seats. Tilman from Germany was the guide and John was the driver. We left at 11:58. Finally.
At 12:58, we drove past the famous statues of the Kelpies. Our guide said that they were not horses, but, rather, mythological creatures. They are shape-shifting.
At 12:40, we had a rainy view of Stirling Castle sitting rather monumentally atop its volcanic crag. Ten minutes later, we had a photo stop. It wasn't raining so much that I didn't get out for photos.
Close to 1:00, we were dropped off on Dumbarton Road near a church. In spite of the rain and now wind, I still intended to climb to the castle. I've been to old English towns and didn't want to waste my time shopping or eating lunch. The guide said it would take 10 minutes to get up there.
I've since found a great website, climbfinder.com. They had info about my climb that might have given me a bit of pause, considering my left knee was just over 4 month old.
The graph shows the hill starting at 28 meters (~92 ft) above sea level and reaching 84 m (275.91 ft). Since I consider any change in elevation a hike, this was one, even if it was only 0.9 km (0.5592 miles) long.
Due to the need for my umbrella and not having it directly overhead most of the time due to wind, I was deprived of the beautiful scenery in the short recap.
I climbed up the steps by the former Allen Park South Church to the next street and crossed over to reach the broad path (the Back Walk) up the hill. I took a photo of the map there, in case I got lost. As I climbed, when I wasn't fighting to get my umbrella back from being inside out, I took a photo of the impressive rock face and one of the pretty red catchfly growing up the face of the crag.
Since I couldn't easily reference the map, I cut over on Academy Road and followed it to Spittal Street. I was no longer protected on one side, but, then again, the wind seemed to be coming from every which way. ( I later found out it was 27 mph, gusting to 42). Spittal soon became St. John Street. At a bend, I passed the Church of the Holy Rude.
St John was now Mar Place and soon Castle Wynd. Somewhere along here, I noticed these lovely roses.
At 1:16, I hit a relatively flat patch, and, looking up, I saw the castle- across a large parking lot. Onward I trudged, really huffing.
When I got across the parking lot, I saw a police officer and asked her how to get to the castle. She pointed to stairs. I really didn't want to know how many I had to climb. So, I held my umbrella tight in front of me and, thus, could not see the misery. I just felt it.
At 1:20, I was at the ticket concession. I'd paid attention in line, and knew to ask for the senior rate. Always nice to save some money. The lady told me a tour would be starting in 10 minutes. I made my way through the arch to the Outer Close and waited. While I did, I took photos of the outside of the Great Hall and the Vaults/Access Gallery building.
There was now some sun, but still wind. When the guide said the tour would last an hour, I bailed. I did not have that kind of time. I did go over to the Grand Battery and looked out to the Wallace Monument and the town and countryside below and the winding River Forth.
I now had to figure out what I had time to look at and where to grab a bite. I started with the Vaults under the Gallery Access. The various ones were full of kids. As I reached the far end, it was getting very windy, like a wind tunnel. At the end, was a closed gate that said it was closed due to weather. I figured that meant wind.
I went up to the Inner Close and took note of what looked like a food stand and tables under a long roof on the Great Hall. I then went in a door that had a sign pointing to royal apartments in the Royal Buildings/Palace.
These were the recreated apartments of James V and Mary of Guise, his second wife from 1538-1542, his first wife having died the year before after only 7 months of marriage. Queen Elizabeth II opened these apartments,when they were finished.
Like Kensington Palace, there were the Queen's apartments and the King's apartments. You start in the Queen's, specifically her Outer Hall, where you hung out until she was good and ready to see you. The place was colorful and I was struck immediately by the windows. The I M bothered me until I figured out that the I was actually a Latin J. So, James and Mary. (Of course, I don't know that these weren't intended for the first wife, who was Madeleine of Valois. Another M.) The crest over the fireplace is the House of Stuart Crest, as James was a Stuart.
Next up was her Inner Hall. This was lush and had reproductions of the long-gone Stirling Tapestries with the History of the Unicorn. The ceilings in this place were great.
It must have been an incredibly bit deal to meet up with the Queen in her bedroom, even if she didn't actually sleep there. Imagine having to get up and climb into another bed and look presentable just so people could saw they saw you there. Oh, and of course I rose to the challenge on the sign.
Then, it was on to the King's Bedchamber, which, logically, was next to hers. They did not make up a bed for him, but rather let you see the ropes that supported the mattress and gave rise to the phrase "sleep tight". The unicorn over the fireplace is holding the coat of arms of Scotland. On the ceiling is the Royal Arms of Scotland, complete with a dangling medal of St. Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland, and his cross. Look carefully and you'll see the thistles for the Order of the Thistle. Note James's name on here is Iacobus Rex or King Jacob. Jacob is Latin for James. And there is that I for J.
The King's chambers mirror the Queen's, so his Inner Hall was next. The ceiling here was quite impressive. The St. Andrew medal was quite prominent under the Scottish coat of arms over the fireplace.
The final room was the King's Outer Hall. There was little in this room. Nice, simple coffered ceiling.
Leaving the Palace, I saw the Regimental Museum was pretty close on the Inner Close. So, I ducked in. I did not stay long, partly due to time and partly to the contents. Maybe it is because I am part Irish or because I'm all Catholic, but I have an affinity for the Jacobite. This regiment was founded by clan chiefs, who stuck with the Government rather than the deposed King James, who was deposed because of his Catholicism. I already didn't like the Earl of Sutherland, having heard bad things about him on our Scotland trip... I did question why I never questioned the origin of the term "Jacobites". I've realized that it is from "Jacobus" or "Jacob", which, of course, is "James".
Leaving there, I found I had to go to the far end of the Close to find the ladies room. It was nice and warm and had a chair for nursing moms.
Coming out of there, I was next to the Chapel Royal. It's a rather stripped down Protestant place now.
Time was getting short. I came out and went to that food stand by the Great Hall, but realized the wait would be too long. I went to the Outer Close and the Palace Gift Shop to look for a pin and postcards. They were having a sale on bags of Walker's Shortbread Scotties, 2 for 1. I thought that some of those could hold me, hopefully, until I got to the ship. I then tried in vain to find the Unicorn Cafe.
Giving up, I headed out, stopping to see the Queen Anne Garden from atop the wall. I recorded a bit of it to demonstrate the wind.
Going out the front, I did not see the steps I'd climbed, but stuck to the wall to go down the drive to the car park. I saw this pretty wall studded with unknown flowers.
This route gave me the opportunity to see the statue of Robert the Bruce, an important figure in Scottish history. It was 2:15, when I officially started down hill after seeing him.
It was still windy, but at least there was no rain. Now, I got to see the road stretching down to the town. It was about here that I saw a girl in a Winter Park sweatshirt. I couldn't resist asking and it was indeed the Florida one, which was where her grandmother, who was with her, lived. We talked for a moment before I went on.
I was pretty sure that I found the same street to cut back over on to reach the Back Walk. To my surprise, going downhill was actually a bit tougher on the knees due to the braking action. However, only the right one complained. They both held up.
At the bottom of the walk, I turned around and took a photo of what I'd climbed. I also noticed a bin of salt by the road. I guess it gets slippery on all these inclines in the winter.
I got to the bus, huffing, at 2:33, with 7 minutes to spare. As I reached the bus, the guide was outside of the bus and I told him to never tell anyone again that that was a 10 minute walk.
When I got on the bus, I got a message from J that the Edinburgh Castle was closed due to the wind. They gave them extra free time. So, she went to the National Museum to see some of the things I'd recommended, if she had time.
2:40 came and went and all but 2 people were back. The guide had no way of contacting them and they had no way of contacting him, since he'd given us no phone number.They finally showed up at 2:48 and we took off.
We passed the Kelpies again. By 3:39, we were parked at the Falkirk Wheel, my reason for signing up for this excursion. The concept of a wheel that could lift a canal boat up to a connector to the higher level Union Canal, while bringing another down to head for the Forth & Clyde Canal, was just too cool to miss.
We made our way down from the car park to the side of the service building. While the guide went in to get our tickets, I took photos. It was cool to see the wheel in action and to notice canal boats on the other side of the large pond area. I hope the movie works.
Unfortunately, I was not one of the first to get a ticket, which meant that by the time I got on at 3:47, seats were slim pickings. I wound up in the second row behind the door, which was more or less in the center of the boat. I was in the aisle seat, which put me far from any of the windows. Even the glass roof was no help, because there was lettering all over it. I did the best I could to look out through the lettering, though, to see the wheel in action. I did know that the boat goes up with water around it. That meant that the bin coming down had to have an equal weight of water to maintain the balance.
Once we were up top, we sailed along a tube high above the ground on our way to a tunnel in the hillside. They put fun colored lights in the tunnel, which kept it from being boring.
On the other side of the tunnel, we were in a small pond leading to the Union Canal locks.
We turned around and headed back to the tunnel.
We retraced our steps until we were in the bay that was still at the top of the wheel. Looking forward, it was just a drop off.
I strained to look out any and all windows. The guy doing commentary and acting as deck hand pointed out where the Kelpies were, but I didn't see them. I did see wind turbines in the distance and I thought I saw port items out on the Firth. As we descended, he pointed out the treeline beyond the pond with the canal boats. Because the police couldn't guarantee that they could keep a sniper out of there, Queen Elizabeth II was not allowed to ride the wheel, when she officially opened it. What a bummer for her!
Back down, they turned the boat back around, so as to be facing the direction they needed to sail, when they went back up.
We were back down at 4:45. I asked the guide if we could have a pit stop. He agreed and gave us 15 minutes. I hurried to be one of the first in, so that I could get souvenirs quickly in the adjacent shop. Before heading for the bus, I got a guy to take a photo of me with the wheel and then I took a photo of it and the tube, too, when I saw it on the way to the bus.
I was on the bus at 5 and we were on the road at 5:03. I was grateful that the bus had outlets to plug in phones, because I could keep in touch with J. She'd talked to the restaurant desk last night about the fact that I knew I wouldn't be back by our 5:00 dinner time (K wasn't going to be back for dinner at all, due to his whiskey tasting time). We'd planned on 6 and the woman at the desk had said that would be fine. But, J was reporting rough seas around the ship and I thought I'd be late even getting to the pier.
I was right. As we drove up, there was a long line of people standing there and then, when we got to the other side of the pier, there was another line. We got off at 5:52 and got in that second line. There was some guy from the ship trying to direct people and he told us to go behind the group getting off the bus we were in front of. We did not budge. We were there first.
I looked out at the dock and the long dry dock was now under water and the water was pretty rough at that, sometimes even crashing against the corner near where the line was. J told me and the line confirmed that it was too rough for our tenders and they were using two tour boats to ferry us.
The guy from the ship said that it would be at least an hour and half before we got on a boat. He suggested we go across the street to the pub and have a cold one. The ladies around me and I all agreed that if we did that, we'd lose our place in line. We stayed put. I told J to eat dinner because I was afraid they'd close even the Lido deck, but she insisted on waiting. She did tell K to stay in town and not bother coming out for a while.
Standing there, I chatted with the ladies some, watched the trains traveling over the train bridge, and took in the scenery.
The ladies and I had been right. Just before 7, our line started moving. Just before I got on the tour boat, I snapped this photo of the dock, which was calmer now.
As we started sailing at 7:09, I texted J that I was underway. I told her I'd let her know, when I was onboard. She was waiting up by the pool.
At 7:45, I was onboard. Five minutes later, I was in my cabin. I quickly changed my sweater and shirt. I opened the soaking umbrella in the shower and hung the sweater in there. I stowed my purse in the safe and hurried up to meet J.
It was about 8, when I got to her at the pool. I thought it would be more comfortable inside. I got desserts, happily scoring another wonderful mousse tulip. She went up to the next deck to get the pizza and also some foccacia. We even got Coke products. While we were eating, K texted that he was on his way back and requested a sandwich and pasta, which we said we'd leave in the cabin for him.
K got on the tender at 8:26 and was in the cabin by 9:05. But, when J and I finished eating, we hurried off to the World Stage for the one show she did want to see- the Music of Scotland show. It was positively SRO. I found a wall to lean on, which helped. There had been an earlier show, but J refused to go to it without me. Based on the line on the dock, it was not surprising that the second show was packed.
They'd brought the performers on for just this night. The bagpipers marched down the center aisle to the stage more than once, which was way cool. Pictures of Scotland were projected behind them. There was a drummer, an accordion player and a pianist, as well as an emcee. Three young women performed Highland flings and other dances. The woman who sang and played violin was marvelous. Some of the songs played, sung, or danced to were The Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond, Amazing Grace (the audience hummed along), and,of course, Auld Lang Syne. Such a great show!
We got back to the cabin at 9:55 and found out that K had made it the show, too.
I waited until I was positive J was settled into her cabin before I quietly went up there to put her birthday cards in her mail slot outside of her door.
We were to sail at 11 pm. K and I went out on the veranda and found we were indeed sailing. It was no longer terribly windy and it was not raining. The land was easier to see than these photos suggest.
I caught up with my games and finally took a shower at midnight. Before I went to bed at 1, I checked the phone- 9,607 steps for 3.6 miles. And it did take note of the height of the hill I climbed and credited me with 25 floors!
