A Quick Story about Running to the Castle

On one of my first visits to Edinburgh, I woke up one morning and thought it would be lovely to run to the Edinburgh Castle. It was a Sunday morning and relatively early. Edinburgh is rather quiet on Sunday Mornings. Anyway, I ran to the castle. The castle has a moat around it, although today the moat is free of water and the draw bridge has been replaced by a permanent bridge. If you look at this picture from my run the other day, you can make out the depth of the bridge by looking at the person in pink just to the right of center. This person is standing to the left of the bridge next to a wall from which you can look down into the moat.



Now there are some people on the bridge, for example the person in white pants next to another person in pink. They look to be about half way across. The other side is the large opening to the castle. This opening has two full sized wooden doors that meet in the middle. In this picture the doors are open inviting people inside.

Prior to my run in 2008, I had walked to the Castle and seen that you could enter when the doors were open. So that morning, I ran a pretty good distance by several other landmarks before running up the hill to the castle. As I approached the castle, I was happy to see that one of the two doors was open. The door on the right was open, although the door on the left was closed. Nonetheless, I ran across the bridge, through the door, and into the castle grounds.

I was startled by an unconvincing Scottish yelp that was probably “HEY!” I was a good twenty feet inside when I turned back to see a soldier armed with a machine gun, probably an SA80 slung as only the Brits sling a weapon. He jumped up off his stool and yelled something at me. Apparently, an open door is not an invitation when half of the door is closed. Behind that closed half just might be a young Scottish soldier looking to win a medal.

Anytime someone jumps out from behind a door you just passed through it’s startling. When they are heavily armed, it’s especially startling. I simply ran out of the castle with a big “Sorry, thought it was open!” I have not run back into the castle again. Even on the run in the picture above, I just touched the moat wall and headed for the Heatherlea.

When I told my friend Jared I had run to the castle he said, "I'm guessing you didn't run in this time." (I later learned that these castles are still considered military posts, although technology has nullified the defense effects of the moat and stone wall.)