Sadly it was time to depart London. Only a few days was not enough. Fortunately we were able to say a proper goodbye to Tony. Out of laziness we took an Uber which was bang on time. We had a little spare time at the station and found a great spot to sit, drink coffee and chill. Our backpacks clashed with another traveler from Russia who became a great conversation for the 45 minute wait. Our train seats had nice little labels awaiting us and our stuff was stowed without issue. Nearby us a group of young men chatted and laughed in their very thick local tongue. It was hard to understand them but you could tell they were having a blast. The country side out there is gorgeous. The train is so much better. Once in Edinburgh we requested an Uber and watched him struggling to find us with the Uber app. The station is build on the lower side of a steep mountain side. Although the original mountain side is covered with concrete, steel and pavement, the steepness is still there. Several times in walking this area we encountered being at the wrong side of what is often a two level road system. Eventually our driver made his way and we were soon meeting up with our Airbnb's assistant.
The place is beautiful and located in a really nice neighborhood. After a few minutes unpacking we headed out to see what was out there. Soon we discovered Holyrood Park and it's impressive hills. We had no idea it was there. What was supposed to be a nice walk to discover food became a medium trekking adventure. We were kind baked after that as we were getting more into Keto at the time. Michelle arranged a "Free Tour" of Edinburgh which later turned out to be a donation based tour. It was excellent and totally worth it. There are so many interesting places like the Heart of Midlothian https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_of_Midlothian_(Royal_Mile) , David Hume's toe https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/david-humes-statue and Greyfriars Bobby https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greyfriars_Bobby We of course had to walk to see the Edinburgh Castle although the crowds were insane and it was kinda pricey so we simple walked to the gates only. https://www.edinburghcastle.scot/
We had time to go to Miller Row, a secret spot that should remain secret. We bumped into a nice local man and chatted about life and stuff. He seemed to like living in the area and indicated Miller Row had remained mostly undisturbed thanks to a lack of Instagram or other Social media attention. Traffic cones on statues is quite popular here.
"Capping the statue with a traffic cone has become a traditional practice in the city, claimed to represent the humor of the local population and believed to date back to the first half of the 1980s, if not before"
I knew Iceland was going to need some good walking shoes and I no longer had any. My Keen walkers were not a good fit for hiking. They also got stinky fast as the inside was ribber or plastic. They had to go. My boots were really more for ice and snow so the hard rubber was kinda slick in the warmer weather. My New Balance shoes from Japan was really my only walking shoes. I needed a tougher shoe/hiker and preferably something with decent side support. Google showed the tourist side of Edinburgh had several shoes stores. Luckily the first time we tried everything was closed. The next shoe purchase attempt was a random walk past a North Face store. Normally I steer away from their crazy over price fancy stuff but they had a sale and I've never had a pair. They had a really surprising selection and soon I had a pair of really nice feeling shoes. Michelle did the same. Upon reflection, these are the best shoes I've had ever had. Great choice.
With our Railpass we booked a 4 hour train to Inverness. It's a very beautiful journey and city. We walked a few KM's along both sides of the River Ness. I wish we had more time to go see the Loch Ness. I bumped into a nice man fishing and we chatted about all kinds of stuff. He showed us a video on his phone of an epic fish he had caught. We also advised us of a local gem of a place to get some good food and drinks. We actually never found the place ha ha but it was really nice to connect with this man. The Inverness Castle was a short walk away https://www.explore-inverness.com/what-to-do/castles-great-places/ It was a few bucks to climb to the top for a really nice view. They provide a very good map to assist with finding landmarks. On the way down there are interesting stories to be told at the various levels of the castle.
One was a story of the Brahan Seer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahan_Seer According to legend, he was a predictor of the future who lived in the 17th century. He led an interesting life predicting all kinds of things. His alleged death was kind of harsh. The Lady Seaforth asked him to investigate why her partner the Earl of Seaforth was absent. The story goes the Seer saw the Earl was having sexual adventures with one or more women in Paris. As it cast her husband in a scandalous light and heaped embarrassment on the Lady, the Seer was allegedly burnt in a spiked tar barrel. Don't you wish you had a time machine to check into this story?
After our nice Castle visit we walked about a little alongside the buildup of an upcoming outdoor event. The rains came a bit so we decided to pop back to the train station for our return home. A kind local person sat beside us reminding us when and where to point our camera's to capture some interesting shots. Scotland is an amazing place and a future trip here will be necessary to really get a grasp of the beauty.
It was time to head home, pack up and get ready for our final country, Iceland. Our flight was conveniently timed in the early afternoon so we had plenty of time to pack and clean our nice Airbnb. This would be our first plane since landing in Greece so long ago. It was time to let go of a few more items through the process of a complete repack. Let's get ready for Iceland.
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