Outdoor Discoveries

Retracing old steps and making some new ones

A weekend promising mixed weather saw me head north to Edinburgh. There is a quote somewhere about the place never truly leaving you and that seems to be the way with me after living there for a few years before coming south to earn my crust.  The Festival Fringe was coming to its annual close but an old habit of mine is not to get too involved with it and that seems to have been continued this turn. Saturday started with a mixture of sunshine and clouds and I got to wandering about Holyrood Park until I passed through the heart of the city to catch a bus to the Pentland Hills, where I spent the afternoon before returning to reprise more old steps across Bruntsfield Links and the Meadows. There were showers around but also plenty of the sort of light that showed things at their finest, all thanks to the sun coming out between any wettings and the brisk breezy freshness of the day. The walking had been a mixture of urban landmark spotting, even reprising a few photographic opportunities in the spirit of that Cheshire project that I have going, and hill country savouring.

The previous day’s exertions certainly led to some fatigue so Sunday ended up being an easy Edinburgh day, the sort that I used to enjoy when I still lived there. Admittedly, the idea of popping down to Melrose to admire and ascend the nearby Eildon Hills cam to mind but the weather forecast wasn’t so inspiring and I prefer to see things in the weather that best shows their charms. So, the Melrose option makes its way onto the ideas shelf for future reference. In fairness, yesterday started well and stayed dry until a spell of light rain turned up around 18:00 only to move away to leave a dry night and a bright cheery start to today. Saying that, the rain didn’t take long to come either with it having arrived by the time of my early departure from Waverly station.

The reason for that early departure was that there were things that needed doing and I would have wanted to get going before the southbound bank holiday rush really got going in earnest after an experience that I had last year. Speaking of things to do, I realise that I promised to say more about my Aviemore trip and I also want to expand on my Pentlands escapade too. For now, the real world to do list will be taking precedence but I hope to get things moving again on the trip report front in the not too distant future.