This trip to Edinburgh was my first visit to the land of the Scots, arriving at Edinburgh Waverley by train from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the last major English city before crossing the border into Scotland. Of course, this mere two-hour train journey didn't just take me to another city, but to another country entirely and - at the age of 21 - only my second country! In jumping on the East Coast Mainline train, I had unwittingly embarked on my journey as a traveller of the world - I just didn't know it at the time. Unfortunately for me, and this Travel Chronicle, my trip to Edinburgh coincided with the age of the 35mm camera so my photographs of my time in the city are grainy and few and far between. This is regrettable but certainly helps to tell something of the longevity of my travels since this early starting point - a historical reminder, if nothing else, of just how long ago this was.
We set about conquering the Scottish capital and sight-seeing the kinds of things many international visitors come to Edinburgh to see (very technically, having arrived from England, I could be classed as an international visitor): the looming edifice of Edinburgh Castle, the blackened spike of the Scott Monument and a two-hour hike up to Arthur's Seat for which I was rather sartorially ill-prepared. Above the Scottish capital the clouds had gathered, soon soaking our 4km return hike and scuppering our chances of wonderful views across Edinburgh's sooted sandstone rooftops. The wet weather, though, wasn't incongruous and, knowing what I did about Scotland, should've been entirely expected. The view across Edinburgh from Arthur's Seat would have felt distinctly un-Scottish without such drizzle and, in retrospect, was Scottish in its own way and should therefore be appreciated. At least my first trip to Scotland was meteorologically authentic.
On the sodden hike to Arthur's Seat armed with nothing more than a flimsy jacket and a broken umbrella. Right: at the top of Arthur's Seat 250 above the Scottish capital.
The evocative view of the Scottish capital seen from Arthur's Seat.
