We were rudely awakened this morning by a plane coming in to land at 5am! Luckily this was the only one and they didn’t start again in earnest until around 8, the site is on the flight path to Edinburgh airport, so we got used to the noise by the end of our stay here! Today w
as the day that Phil was booked in for a session of wakeboarding. The Loch where the waterski centre is based is over the Forth Bridge from where the campsite is, so the trip over was when we got our first glimpse of the road bridge and iconic rail bridge. Once we arrived at the centre the instructor gave Phil the option of going straight onto a wakeboard, or going on waterskis first (which are apparently easier), then progressing to a wakeboard. I opted to do this, and had a very brief instruction on dry land (from the young female trainee instructor, woo woo!) before they had me in the boat and out on the Loch. The water was surprisingly warm and first off they started by having me hang on to a fixed pole off the side of the boat (rather than a rope), applying the technique from dry land we were off, and I was stood up on the ski’s before I knew it! Next up it was time for me to 
hang on to the rope, “Ready?” a nervous “Yeah!” was my reply and we were off. The pull from the boat feels like an immense force, and I found myself just hanging on and trying to apply what I had learned, luckily it worked and I managed to get up onto my feet and a huge grin spread on my face as I whizzed along on the two thin planks attached to my toes. We did a few runs up and down without any spills when they asked me to wave at Linda who was taking photos from
the jetty (to try and get me to fall – no, really!), I waved and still didn’t fall (I can be infuriating at times – Yes you can, The Editor). In the end my back and arms were
killing me, so it was time for a break before the wakeboard. Linda came in the boat this time for a bit of moral support (read: laugh). The board was like a shorter version of a snowboard (except it has fins) so I hoped I could master it, but after a good initial start, and even turning the board straight it was time for my first fall. Faceplanting into the water makes you loose all sense of up or down, and I had to trust my lifejacket to bring me back up to the air, while I lay there waiting for the boat to come round I tried to rest as much as I could as I was aching all over by now. I got a bit further on the next run before getting a wobble on and smashing into the water, co
ughing and spluttering for air, the boat came round quicker than I’d hoped and we were off again! This time I stayed up, treating it like a snowboard and even managing to turn the board over the boat’s wake a few times, before I knew it time was up, but given how battered my body felt I was actually quite glad! The instructor was quite pleased and s
aid most people don’t manage to stand up on their first go, let alone turn (cue swollen Sweeney head)!
On the way home we stopped at a hotel where there was a great viewpoint over the Forth Bridges, so before going in for a pint we had a walk round the grounds and onto the road bridge footpath where we took a few photos before heading back for a drink.
After b
reakfast the next day we made the 10 minute walk to the bus stop and headed into central Edinburgh. The dogs were no trouble on the bus, we both took a pair of seats each and the dogs sat/lay on the floor very patiently. Once we arrived in the city centre Prince was in city-dog mode straight away, which means he doesn’t pull on the
lead or try and play, and he doesn’t growl at people (unless they try and tickle his chin or stare at him face to face from a foot away!), in other words he’s surprisingly good. We got off the bus outside Edinburgh’s central train station and from there headed up the hill to High Street which is on the Royal Mile (the bustlin
g street which follows a straight line between the Palace in the East and the Castle in the West.) We walked up the busy street towards the castle until we came to Gladstone’s Land, a furnished 17th century tenement house which is now owned by the National Trust for Scotland, we took it in turns to go inside and explore the lovely rooms from the kitchen to study and bedrooms complete with four poster beds. While each of us was outside with the dogs they drew a lot of attention as they tend to in cities, a Japanese girl came over and gave Prince a hug while her dad took a photo (that’s when he growled at the chin tickle), and a very nice lad rushed over to give him some fuss, amongst others. We continued up the hill until we reached the castle entrance which was obscured by a huge temporary stadium for the Edinburgh Tattoo, at the entrance we discovered dogs weren’t allowed, but at £14 a head nor were we! Prince got some fuss off the security man though, who also has a white German Shepherd. We made do with a walk around the castle walls, heading down the steps
and around the bottom of the huge cliffs which it sits on. This brought us into Princes Street Gardens, an open area of parkland which is overlooked by the castle; we sat on the grass in the sun amongst all the other tourists (and business suits on their lunch hour) and had our picnic. Continuing along the parkland, we passed the Scott monument which is an iconic symbol of Edinburgh (the city council have it in their logo); it is a Victorian gothic monument to Scottish author Sir Walter Scott, an ornate structure which Bill Bryson describes as looking like a gothic rocket ship! We th
en went up the steps to the top of Calton Hill, a 320ft hill in the centre of Edinburgh which has unprecedented views over the city and the surrounding area. The top of the hill has a number of monuments sited there including Nelson’s monument (a tower dedicated to Horatio Nelson) and the unfinished National Monument which wa
s to be a pantheon, but soon ran out of money and work stopped, the grand columns of the front of the building are all that stand. We went down the other side of the hill and into the Holyrood area of the city where we saw the Holyrood Palace and the controversial parliament building, opened in 2004 it was 10 times the original budget and coat a total of £414m to build and is a complicated mishmash of spikes and curves, it is also covered in what we thought looked like rusty sticks! Outside the front there is a fountain, and while the policeman stood there had his back turned Prince jumped in and had a paddle! Luckily the policeman didn’t follow the subsequent footprints around the corner! From Holyrood we headed back up the Royal Mile and over the North Bridge before jumping on our return bus back to the caravan site.
Once up and about we headed out on the bus again today. This time we got off before central Edinburgh and instead headed for the Royal Botanic Gardens. Unfortunately dogs aren’t allowed in so Linda went in on her own. The gardens cover 70 acres and were lovely, with some very informal areas and then more formal areas. I went in the palm house which was very impressive and then saw the Queen Mothers memorial garden. There were some horticultural students ther
e who each have a 6m x 2m plot which they have to grow certain things in and then whatever they like in the remainder, I had a chat with a couple of students who were watering their plots then carried on round the gardens. There were lots of people about having picnics and playing on the grass, the gardens are free to go in (you just have to pay if you go in the glasshouses, I didn’t bother just walked around the outside of them, they are massive!) Phil took the dogs into Inverleith Park, the large grassy park next door. On the way in I bought an ice cream then let the dogs have a run round on the grass, we made our way round to the small lake where there were loads of swans, and there was a great view over the city, after a while we moved round and sat on a bench nearer the entrance where Linda met up with us. We sat on the bench and had our lunch watching park life go by, dog walkers, mums and kids and people with personal trainers were all milling around as we left. We got an ice cream each (again!) and headed towards the centre, and the ‘New Town’ area of Edinburgh. The walk in took us along the Water of Leith, a small river that flows through Edinburgh, and in the area of Dean it has formed a huge gorge. In 1833, in order to span the gorge Thomas Telford was enlisted to design a bridge. The result is the lovely 4 arched Dean Bridge which stands 106 feet above the Dean Gorge. A
fter passing under the bridge we headed onto the top and into the New Town area, this is the Georgian area of the city and has some fantastic Georgian buildings. No 10 Charlotte Square is owned by the Scottish National Trust, so we went in one at a time and had a look around 
the inside of this well preserved Georgian town house. Afterwards we had a bit more of a walk around the new town, looking in some of the shops, then sat outside the Wetherspoons in George Street for a pint in the sun watching the commuters rush by, glad not to be one of them! We headed back home on the bus, and that evening went out in Tonks in search of fish n chips, the chippy we found had a nice guy behind the counter who used to work in Market Drayton, interestingly he said he preferred it in this (rough) area of Edinburgh because his family got less racial abuse than they did in small town Shropshire.
We decided t
o spend our last day here outside of Edinburgh the next day and headed instead for Falkirk. We knew we wanted to go here because we had previously heard about the Falkirk Wheel and wanted to see it for ourselves. It was raining heavily in the morning, so we waited in the van for it to clear before heading out. We parked in the main car park and were soon within view of the massive structure. The wheel is basically a huge canal lock, capable of moving up to 8 boats at a time up or down the 24 meter rise between the Forth & Clyde Canal and the Union Canal. The canals were p
reviously connected by a series of locks but these had fallen into disrepair, so when the canals were regenerated for the tourism trade a new solution was needed. Opened in 2002 the wheel has now won numerous engineering awards.
We had a walk around the site and watched the wheel rotating a few times before heading through the canal tunnel at the top of the wheel, at the other side of the tunnel there is a set of 3 locks which we watched
some novice boaters navigate through before we went back through the tunnel to the Falkirk Wheel visitor centre.
as the day that Phil was booked in for a session of wakeboarding. The Loch where the waterski centre is based is over the Forth Bridge from where the campsite is, so the trip over was when we got our first glimpse of the road bridge and iconic rail bridge. Once we arrived at the centre the instructor gave Phil the option of going straight onto a wakeboard, or going on waterskis first (which are apparently easier), then progressing to a wakeboard. I opted to do this, and had a very brief instruction on dry land (from the young female trainee instructor, woo woo!) before they had me in the boat and out on the Loch. The water was surprisingly warm and first off they started by having me hang on to a fixed pole off the side of the boat (rather than a rope), applying the technique from dry land we were off, and I was stood up on the ski’s before I knew it! Next up it was time for me to 
hang on to the rope, “Ready?” a nervous “Yeah!” was my reply and we were off. The pull from the boat feels like an immense force, and I found myself just hanging on and trying to apply what I had learned, luckily it worked and I managed to get up onto my feet and a huge grin spread on my face as I whizzed along on the two thin planks attached to my toes. We did a few runs up and down without any spills when they asked me to wave at Linda who was taking photos from
the jetty (to try and get me to fall – no, really!), I waved and still didn’t fall (I can be infuriating at times – Yes you can, The Editor). In the end my back and arms were
killing me, so it was time for a break before the wakeboard. Linda came in the boat this time for a bit of moral support (read: laugh). The board was like a shorter version of a snowboard (except it has fins) so I hoped I could master it, but after a good initial start, and even turning the board straight it was time for my first fall. Faceplanting into the water makes you loose all sense of up or down, and I had to trust my lifejacket to bring me back up to the air, while I lay there waiting for the boat to come round I tried to rest as much as I could as I was aching all over by now. I got a bit further on the next run before getting a wobble on and smashing into the water, co
ughing and spluttering for air, the boat came round quicker than I’d hoped and we were off again! This time I stayed up, treating it like a snowboard and even managing to turn the board over the boat’s wake a few times, before I knew it time was up, but given how battered my body felt I was actually quite glad! The instructor was quite pleased and s
aid most people don’t manage to stand up on their first go, let alone turn (cue swollen Sweeney head)!On the way home we stopped at a hotel where there was a great viewpoint over the Forth Bridges, so before going in for a pint we had a walk round the grounds and onto the road bridge footpath where we took a few photos before heading back for a drink.
After b
reakfast the next day we made the 10 minute walk to the bus stop and headed into central Edinburgh. The dogs were no trouble on the bus, we both took a pair of seats each and the dogs sat/lay on the floor very patiently. Once we arrived in the city centre Prince was in city-dog mode straight away, which means he doesn’t pull on the
lead or try and play, and he doesn’t growl at people (unless they try and tickle his chin or stare at him face to face from a foot away!), in other words he’s surprisingly good. We got off the bus outside Edinburgh’s central train station and from there headed up the hill to High Street which is on the Royal Mile (the bustlin
g street which follows a straight line between the Palace in the East and the Castle in the West.) We walked up the busy street towards the castle until we came to Gladstone’s Land, a furnished 17th century tenement house which is now owned by the National Trust for Scotland, we took it in turns to go inside and explore the lovely rooms from the kitchen to study and bedrooms complete with four poster beds. While each of us was outside with the dogs they drew a lot of attention as they tend to in cities, a Japanese girl came over and gave Prince a hug while her dad took a photo (that’s when he growled at the chin tickle), and a very nice lad rushed over to give him some fuss, amongst others. We continued up the hill until we reached the castle entrance which was obscured by a huge temporary stadium for the Edinburgh Tattoo, at the entrance we discovered dogs weren’t allowed, but at £14 a head nor were we! Prince got some fuss off the security man though, who also has a white German Shepherd. We made do with a walk around the castle walls, heading down the steps
and around the bottom of the huge cliffs which it sits on. This brought us into Princes Street Gardens, an open area of parkland which is overlooked by the castle; we sat on the grass in the sun amongst all the other tourists (and business suits on their lunch hour) and had our picnic. Continuing along the parkland, we passed the Scott monument which is an iconic symbol of Edinburgh (the city council have it in their logo); it is a Victorian gothic monument to Scottish author Sir Walter Scott, an ornate structure which Bill Bryson describes as looking like a gothic rocket ship! We th
en went up the steps to the top of Calton Hill, a 320ft hill in the centre of Edinburgh which has unprecedented views over the city and the surrounding area. The top of the hill has a number of monuments sited there including Nelson’s monument (a tower dedicated to Horatio Nelson) and the unfinished National Monument which wa
s to be a pantheon, but soon ran out of money and work stopped, the grand columns of the front of the building are all that stand. We went down the other side of the hill and into the Holyrood area of the city where we saw the Holyrood Palace and the controversial parliament building, opened in 2004 it was 10 times the original budget and coat a total of £414m to build and is a complicated mishmash of spikes and curves, it is also covered in what we thought looked like rusty sticks! Outside the front there is a fountain, and while the policeman stood there had his back turned Prince jumped in and had a paddle! Luckily the policeman didn’t follow the subsequent footprints around the corner! From Holyrood we headed back up the Royal Mile and over the North Bridge before jumping on our return bus back to the caravan site.Once up and about we headed out on the bus again today. This time we got off before central Edinburgh and instead headed for the Royal Botanic Gardens. Unfortunately dogs aren’t allowed in so Linda went in on her own. The gardens cover 70 acres and were lovely, with some very informal areas and then more formal areas. I went in the palm house which was very impressive and then saw the Queen Mothers memorial garden. There were some horticultural students ther
e who each have a 6m x 2m plot which they have to grow certain things in and then whatever they like in the remainder, I had a chat with a couple of students who were watering their plots then carried on round the gardens. There were lots of people about having picnics and playing on the grass, the gardens are free to go in (you just have to pay if you go in the glasshouses, I didn’t bother just walked around the outside of them, they are massive!) Phil took the dogs into Inverleith Park, the large grassy park next door. On the way in I bought an ice cream then let the dogs have a run round on the grass, we made our way round to the small lake where there were loads of swans, and there was a great view over the city, after a while we moved round and sat on a bench nearer the entrance where Linda met up with us. We sat on the bench and had our lunch watching park life go by, dog walkers, mums and kids and people with personal trainers were all milling around as we left. We got an ice cream each (again!) and headed towards the centre, and the ‘New Town’ area of Edinburgh. The walk in took us along the Water of Leith, a small river that flows through Edinburgh, and in the area of Dean it has formed a huge gorge. In 1833, in order to span the gorge Thomas Telford was enlisted to design a bridge. The result is the lovely 4 arched Dean Bridge which stands 106 feet above the Dean Gorge. A
fter passing under the bridge we headed onto the top and into the New Town area, this is the Georgian area of the city and has some fantastic Georgian buildings. No 10 Charlotte Square is owned by the Scottish National Trust, so we went in one at a time and had a look around 
the inside of this well preserved Georgian town house. Afterwards we had a bit more of a walk around the new town, looking in some of the shops, then sat outside the Wetherspoons in George Street for a pint in the sun watching the commuters rush by, glad not to be one of them! We headed back home on the bus, and that evening went out in Tonks in search of fish n chips, the chippy we found had a nice guy behind the counter who used to work in Market Drayton, interestingly he said he preferred it in this (rough) area of Edinburgh because his family got less racial abuse than they did in small town Shropshire.We decided t
o spend our last day here outside of Edinburgh the next day and headed instead for Falkirk. We knew we wanted to go here because we had previously heard about the Falkirk Wheel and wanted to see it for ourselves. It was raining heavily in the morning, so we waited in the van for it to clear before heading out. We parked in the main car park and were soon within view of the massive structure. The wheel is basically a huge canal lock, capable of moving up to 8 boats at a time up or down the 24 meter rise between the Forth & Clyde Canal and the Union Canal. The canals were p
reviously connected by a series of locks but these had fallen into disrepair, so when the canals were regenerated for the tourism trade a new solution was needed. Opened in 2002 the wheel has now won numerous engineering awards.We had a walk around the site and watched the wheel rotating a few times before heading through the canal tunnel at the top of the wheel, at the other side of the tunnel there is a set of 3 locks which we watched
some novice boaters navigate through before we went back through the tunnel to the Falkirk Wheel visitor centre.We have now moved to a Camping and Caravan Club CS on a farm just outside St Andrews, the home of golf.
Hi Linda & Phil, glad to see you're still a rolling on. Scenery is obviously a little different to around here. Best wishes Linda Norfolk Broads
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear that things are sorting themselves out in relation to the van-car incident! Hope its all fine at the end of it.
ReplyDeleteYou're really high up in the old UK now - bet its amazing!!!!! (i'm not jealous one little bit, no i'm not)
Glad to see that Mr Phil has a lovely birthday - what more could you ask for, cake and fizz - spoilt spoilt spoilt!
Hope your both well, love the kids too x
Andy, Kel and Mille xxx