Hiking Edinburgh

It’s a good thing I had practice on Hadrian’s Wall for the distance we walked and hiked today. We did take a bus to Princes street to find the tourist information centre. From there we walked to the Scottish National Gallery, very close. 18 rooms of art from early 1470-1550 Northern Renaissance to Impressionism. I tried the early work but drifted to the Impressionists. A quick look at some of what we saw

The early Santa Claus with a religious look

Looks Dutch 

Art by Raeburn, Scottish. And my favourite, Monet

Next we walked along Rose street towards the water of Leigh.

This part of Edinburgh is called the new town, built in the late 1700. Norm got us out of the busy Royal Mile to walk along the water, Leith.

It was peaceful and beautiful. We now found ourselves in Stockbridge, an upscale area, looked at bit like Bath

Lunch time at Patisserie Florentin. 

As we headed to the Royal Botanic Gardens we found the Main Street of Stockbridge had more than 10 charity shops! 

Two side by side. Yellow Bunny was looking for her fascinator for tomorrow 

Maybe not. On we walked to the gardens. Free to walk around all 70 acres of beautiful landscapes and plants from around the world. It was magnificent! 

Lots of rhododendrons 


The biggest hedge we have ever scene. This is a beech hedge that is 23 ft high and over 100 years old. It is clipped every September. 

Looking inside

And from a distance 

The Queen Mother’s garden had a labyrinth with a small chapel beside. It was filled with shells gathered by children of Scotland and pinecones from the garden

Different

We continued walking trying to figure out the names of trees and plants from the Latin words

Gunnera 

and for those insect lovers

and if you look carefully you can see the Edinburgh Castle from the gardens.

So how about climbing Arthur’s Seat? After over an hour walking we came to the once volcano. We did this once before but realized that we didn’t actually hike to the real Arthur’s Seat.

This time to the very top! 250 metres high! 

The views are worth it. 

It was a thrill and we were probably one of the oldest ones up there.

Part way up

Hills of gorse 

Looking up to where we were

We were on top of that hill

Now to WALK home.