This morning, I thought it might be nice to head off to somewhere else for a day excursion, so I packed my backpack and headed to the train station. Once there, I asked the GNER chap for suggestions for a day excursion that would be along a scenic route. He suggested Pitlochry, which is a few stops past Sterling, another place I was considering. The route he suggested would pass over the Forth Bridge, a massive rail bridge built in the 1800’s over the Firth of Forth.

The weather in Edinburgh was kind of grey and wet so I thought a train trip would be great. However, the next train wasn’t for over an hour, and I didn’t feel like waiting around that long in the train station.

So, I decided to climb Arthur’s Seat, a massive volcanic structure overlooking Holyrood Palace and much of Edinburgh.

Arthur’s Seat is inside Holyrood Park and has several paths leading to the top. I walked with three Canadians from Kamloops, BC, for a while, but the decided to walk around it, rather than continue to the top.

The weather was starting to look threatening again, but there was nothing in the TAF (Terminal Area Forecast) for Edinburgh airport when I checked. So, I continued to the top.

On the way up, I took a lot of pictures (see my gallery) and saw a small rabbit part ways up.

At the top, I found two cairns, one with a metal disk on the top with a compass rose and arrows pointing to many of the landmarks visible from the top of Arthur’s Seat. The other cairn was an Ordnance Survey Benchmark.

The wind at the top was incredible as was the scenary. In the distance could be seen rain falling on other parts of Scotland, but none over Edinburgh. That changed, soon enough as a wall of rain proceeded along the Firth of Forth out over the ocean. The rain was blowing almost horizontally, meaning that my whole left side was soaked. I sought shelter in the lee of some bushes along with a couple of ther people.

Once the wind and rain had died down, I continued exploring the other peaks and eventually worked my way back down. The trip down was rather exciting because I was basically making my own path, rather than following some of the more established paths. At one point, I slipped on the wet grass and slip for a few feet. That was rather exciting.

When I finally reached the bottom, my shoes were squishing with every step and my jeans were soaked at the bottoms the legs and along the left side.

I walked around the perimeter of Holyrood Palace and headed up the Royal Mile, pausing only for an ice cream cone along the way.

Back at the hotel, I hung my wet clothes up, dried my shoes with the hair drier and then found something dry to wear and headed to the World Famous Maggie Dicksons Pub in Grassmarket.

Maggie Dickson had a rather grim life, up to the day she was hanged for breaking the 1690 law against concealing a pregnancy.

After being hanged, her friends took her coffin on its way to the graveyard and stopped for a meal while en route. They heard noises coming from the coffin and upon opening it, they discovered that she was in fact still alive.

Having been declared dead, The Powers That Be at the time decided that this must have been the result of an Act of God and who were they to second guess him? So, she spent another forty years living in Edinburgh and ran a pub.

I had a great steak and a fine pint of McEwan’s 80/- Ale, which is locally made.

The picture will be available when I can get them uploaded. The Internet cafe I’m using seems to be having problems uploading my pictures tonight.

Update: The pictures are now finally online.

Today I toured around Edinburgh. I bought a ticket for a hop on-hop off bus tour. It was
very interesting, though at one point the sky got quite dark and there were a few rain drops.
The tour guide yelled at the rain and it went away, though.

I hopped off once along the Royal Mile and prowled around there for a bit. I hopped on the
next bus that came along and rejoined the tour.

The buses are open-top double decker buses, so the view is quite impressive.

Among the sights we saw was a statue to commemorate the visit of George IV to Scotland in 1822.
It flatters him, though, because in real life he was close to 400 pounds, while in bronze form
he’s much more svelt looking.

We also saw the Scott Monument, which is just a couple of minutes away from my hotel. Scott
re-found the Scottish Honours (the crown, sceptre and sword) after they’d been locked away
for over one hundred years.

After finishing the tour, I walked along the Royal Mile towards Edinburgh Castle. Along the way,
I visited the Edinburgh Old Town Weaving Company. This is one of the few places where they still
weave tartans. The process to go from sheep to tartan is quite involved. Some of the looms
being used are over a hundred years old.

Next stop was Edinburgh Castle.

The castle is quite large and quite old. Perched on an old volcanic plug of rock, parts of the
castle date back to the 1200’s. There’s evidence that shows the site was used as far back as
850 BC by pre-historic hunters.

I rented an audio commentary widget. This is a nifty device about the size of a cell phone. You
can use either the built-in speaker or headphones. Scattered around the castle were signs with
a number on them. Punch in the number and you get a detailed narrative, including music, about
whatever you’re looking at. Neat.

Shortly after arriving at the castle, it started to rain. Fortunately, I had an umbrella in my
backpack so I was able to continue wandering around looking at things until it finished raining.
You can see the rain and the umbrella in some of the pictures.

Stored at the Edinburgh Castle are the Scottish Honours. These are the crown, sceptre and sword
that have been used since the 1200’s or so. They haven’t left the castle except on extremely
rare occasions over the years. They have, however, been broken in two and smuggled away to safety,
buried two or three times and locked in a chest that was walled in a room for over a century.

During World War II, they were hidden in the ruins underneath one of the buildings at the
castle. Only four people were entrusted with maps: the king, two other people and the Governor
General of Canada. It was thought that if the first three people were lost before the Honours
were retrieved, chances are that the Governor General of Canada would still be around.

I explored the castle some more, in fact until closing time, and then walked around the base
of the castle, crossing through Princes Street Gardens before making my way back to the hotel.

I may write some more later on this evening, but you can click here to see the pictures I took today.

I woke up in the morning and decided that I would head to Edinburgh on an early train, rather than stay in Bristol for another day. Another option was to spend the day in/around Bristol and then catch a sleeper to Edinburgh, but I decided against that option.

So, off I headed to the train station and I arrived at about 11:53. The train was scheduled to leave at 11:58, but due to a broken rail somewhere the train was running about half an hour late.

The train was the Virgin service to Edinburgh, stopping at about eight stations between Bristol and Edinburgh. The landscape was quite nice, but due to battery problems, I couldn’t take any pictures. The train lost an additional twenty minutes or so due to signalling problems, meaning we didn’t arrive until about 18:30.

Upon arrival at the station, I immediately headed to the accommodations booth since I had only been able to secure a hotel for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights. They were able to get me a room within walking distance of the train station. It’s not bad, but a little pricy at 70 pounds/night. The other hotel is 50 pounds/night, but they warned me about the street noise.
I’m going to check it out this evening and see what the sources could be. If it looks like it’ll be too noisy, I’ll stay where I am now. If not, I’ll probably change hotels tomorrow.

So, I’m out and about exploring Edinburgh. Within two blocks is The Castle, as it’s identified on my map, overlooking everything. This is a seriously defensible spot with nearly vertical slopes and high walls on top of the slopes.

At the base are the Princes Street Gardens. There is an amphitheatre with outdoor seating and there was a demonstration of highland dancing taking place when I walked by. Unfortunately, it was almost over, so I only saw a couple of dances.

As soon as I’ve uploaded the pictures from yesterday, I’m going to continue my roaming while there’s still light and get a bite to eat, too.

Click here to view the pictures from Day 12.

Well, I’m in Bristol.

After arriving at the hotel, I unpacked some of my stuff and then headed out to see what there is to see in Bristol. I think I have mixed feelings about the town, at least based on what I’ve seen so far.

There are some very old buildings and some even older gates in downtown Bristol. I wandered down to Harbourside because that’s not too far from the hotel and there are a number of things there. But when I arrived at about 1830, it was a bit of a ghost town. I don’t know if that’s just because it’s a Monday, or if it’s like that all the time.

After grabbing a bite to eat, I wandered back towards the hotel. On the way, I heard the peal of a bell tower and followed the sound. It turned out to be an old church. I stood and listened for about 10 or 12 minutes before the melange of notes organized themselves into a descending run of notes. Very impressive!

From there I walked a couple of more blocks and found myself in front of the hotel.

I had planned on staying here two nights before heading to Edinburgh, but I may change my mind tomorrow morning and head to Scotland in the afternoon. Time will tell.

I’ll put pictures online when I have access to a faster connection. Right now I’m using my cellphone and it’s not fast enough to upload pictures.

Click here to view the pictures from Day 11.

Well, I’m in Bristol.

After arriving at the hotel, I unpacked some of my stuff and then headed out to see what there is to see in Bristol. I think I have mixed feelings about the town, at least based on what I’ve seen so far.

There are some very old buildings and some even older gates in downtown Bristol. I wandered down to Harbourside because that’s not too far from the hotel and there are a number of things there. But when I arrived at about 1830, it was a bit of a ghost town. I don’t know if that’s just because it’s a Monday, or if it’s like that all the time.

After grabbing a bite to eat, I wandered back towards the hotel. On the way, I heard the peal of a bell tower and followed the sound. It turned out to be an old church. I stood and listened for about 10 or 12 minutes before the melange of notes organized themselves into a descending run of notes. Very impressive!

From there I walked a couple of more blocks and found myself in front of the hotel.

I had planned on staying here two nights before heading to Edinburgh, but I may change my mind tomorrow morning and head to Scotland in the afternoon. Time will tell.

I’ll put pictures online when I have access to a faster connection. Right now I’m using my cellphone and it’s not fast enough to upload pictures.

Click here to view the pictures from Day 11.

Today, I travelled from London to Bristol on the 1445 train out of London Paddington operated
by First Great Western. (I had hoped to be on a slightly earlier train, but there was a
broken down train at Victoria Station. It delayed the trains from Wandsworth Common by about
twenty minutes or so.)

Making my way from Victoria Station to Paddington by bus, I arrived at the cavernous station,
found a ticket agent and had my railpass validated. I then boarded the first class coach
where I’m typing this entry from.

I’m going to spend a day or two in Bristol and then head up to Scotland for most of the rest
of the week. This is going to be the most expensive part of the trip, not because of the
train tickets, but because of the hotel accommodations. I could probably have found a hotel
upon arrival at Bristol Temple Meads station, but I decided to book something over the Internet.
So, I’m going to be staying at the Bistol Thistle.

Right now, I’m at Bath Spa.

More to follow…

Today was our first excursion out of London. A couple of days ago, Rob said “Hey, would you
like to go to Bletchley House?” to which I responded “Of course!”. He ordered tickets on the
Internet and we took the train from Wandsworth Common to Clapham Junction (the busiest train
station in Britain) to Watford Junction to Bletchley. It took about 1:45 to get to Bletchley.

For those of you not up on your cryto-history, Bletchley House is where the German Enigma code
was broken during World War II. Breaking the code required at its peak about ten thousand
people working at Bletchley House. Bletchley is located at the junction of two rail lines,
one running out of London and the other between Oxford and Cambridge.

For much more information about the history of Bletchley House, visit the website.

While we were there, we saw some of the actual buildings used by the code-breakers during
the war. Some of the buildings have been destroyed, but a number still exist to this day,
rescued from the wreckers ball by the hastily-formed Bletchley Trust.

There are museums in most of the buildings, with exhibits about the code-breaking activities
themselves or about life at Bletchley House back then. Included among the exhibits were
mock ups of the Bombes used to recover the daily Enigma rotor settings and even a working
Enigma machine. There are only a handful of Engima machines in existence today and most fetch
a price of GBP 30000 or more at auction. I’ve been fortunate in that I’ve seen and played
with two of the very small handful in collections available to the general public: the one
at Bletchley House and the one at the NSA museum in the US.

Also on display was a Bombe that’s being built from scratch based on the original plans and
another machine called Colossus. When Bletchley Park was decommissioned after the war, all
of the machinery was dismantled or destroyed (except, of course, for one or two examples
“just in case” — but these were destroyed years later) so no examples remain. Building these
machines from scratch is a tremendous undertaking. The amount of wire in them is incredible!

Anyways, there are always activities going on at Bletchley House. When we were there, there was a gathering of
old and/or fancy cars and more impressively a fly over by a Spitfire. The Spitfire did two
low-level fly-bys at a few hundred feet. On board was a small packet of special-issue covers
from the Bletchley House Post Office. (Yes, there’s a real post office there.) They arranged
to have forty covers specially flown in the Spitfire. I ordered one and it should arrive in
two or three weeks.

I mentioned that it took us 1:45 to get to Bletchley from Wandsworth Common. Well, our return
trip took a little longer. Somewhere between Sudbury Junction and Clapham Junction, the train
came to a stop. This would not have been unusual, except for the fact that the train never
moved again! We learned from the announcements and from the conductor when he walked through
our car, that the pantograph (the bit that touches the overhead lines for power) had damaged
the overhead line equipment (OLE) from around Sudbury Junction to where we stopped. And, because
of engineering works on the tracks behind us, it wasn’t possible to deploy an engine to rescue
us.

After spending about three hours on-board in an increasingly stuffy car, they finally decided
to detrain everybody. So, we exited the train with the aid of the local fire brigade and walked
back along the tracks to the nearest bridge where there was yet more confusion.

Eventually, a bus showed up and took us to Clapham Junction after stopping at one or two
other stations in between. The fact that it took a circuitous route was bad enough, but a
few people had to stand because there weren’t enough seats. To top it off, the bus driver
didn’t actually know where the stations he was driving to were located.

Needless to say, we were not amused.

We finally arrived home between 22:30 and 23:00 after catching a cab from Clapham Junction.

Rob’s going to submit our tickets and food and taxi receipts to the train company for
reimbursement.

Still, people were remarkably calm, though nerves were starting to get stretched a bit thin near
the end of the ordeal. There were quiet rumblings about using the emergency door opening lever
to get some fresh air into the cars.

Click here to view pictures from Day 10.