The Edges of Edinburgh

When I came back from working so hard in Switzerland, I thought I deserved some rest and relaxation. So I took the weekend off.



Seriously, I hadn’t exercised very much in Villars while eating three course meals. I felt full the entire time. I don’t like feeling full. I don’t want to feel hungry, but feeling full makes me feel lethargic. Also, the only time I exercised was when skiing. So, I had to get moving. On Saturday I did a bit of walking in Edinburgh, but in the afternoon decided it was time I ride my new bike to the Sea. The Scots have a nice rails-to-trails program, and I road along a paved railway for about five miles to the town of Portobello, on the water.



I walked up and down the seaboard for about thirty minutes and then headed back along the same route. Most of you might not be aware of my compulsion to touch water, but for those who are wondering, I went out and touched the water. It was warmer than I anticipated, but even the dogs seemed to think it was too cold to get into.

On Sunday I ran to the Royal Observatory. This is actually the second Royal Observatory in Edinburgh. The first is downtown and was there when the city was small. As the population grew and then electricity introduced, the light from the city made the first observatory far less useful. They built a second that was so far out of town they would never face this issue again. They actually had to protect the land around this “new” one to keep it from being knocked down for flats.

So here I am in front of the observatory.



Turning to the South, you see that this is in some sense the edge of town.



But, now turning east, you see the King’s Buildings, where I work (well, if the picture wasn’t awful, you’d see that).



And, turning a bit to the northeast, you see Edinburgh. The large land forms across the way are Arthur’s Seat (the highest, round portion) and that sheer faced cliff on the left is the Radical Road from a previous post.





I ran down into town to scope out areas of town we might want to live in. When I got to the Meadows, I took this picture of the castle. (On the right, under the tree branch, the castle appears to be sitting on top of buildings surrounding the park.) Yes, indeed, I think we should live very close to this park.



It was a lovely run.

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.)

A Castle Run & The Radical Road

Okay, so I got a bit busy and didn’t post anything. You see, that’s the problem with blogs. They’re like dogs in that they end in the same three letters. Oh wait, no … my point was that they require daily attention and if you ignore them for too long, they’ll die. Well, blogs and dogs are different in many ways like the last three letters might be the same but they don’t rhyme and no one cares when a blog dies.

So, what if you can’t think of something witty to post? Like I mentioned in the immigration briefing, I’ll post about running. I love running. My job is such that if I wanted to, I could work while running. (Well, my current research job … for the teaching portion of my job, this would require my students to be running, and I think some would object to this method of teaching.)

Edinburgh is a great place to run. Here is a cons and pros list (switched up to keep our brains fresh):

Cons:

• There is an intersection every twenty feet.
  
• You never know where the cars are coming from because they’re on the wrong side of the street.
  
• The city is very pedestrian active, cluttering the sidewalks with non-runners.
  
• It’s probably raining.
  
• It smells like fish.

Pros:

• It’s a town in Europe.
  
• They managed the park system nicely. (See above bullet.)
  
• It’s hilly.
  
• There are castles within a reasonable distance.
  
• From the right hills, you can see the sea.
  
• If you ever get tired of running, there’s certain to be a pub close by.

I can run for two miles in a loop without having to cross a major road but that’s boring. Here are two interesting runs I’ve taken.

The first, I ran to the Edinburgh Castle in the center of the city.




Here’s me with the castle (to show that I didn’t simply take this off the internet?).


Here are some views of Edinburgh from the Castle, well, right in front of the castle.


In this one, the amazing building in the middle is a high school. That's got to be the coolest looking high school anywhere.







In this one, at the horizon, you can see the North Sea (as in many of the following.)



I didn’t run in the Castle this time. I’ll post the story of the time I ran into the castle.


One morning last week, I decided to run over to Holyrod park. Then I decided to go over the very tall “mountain” in the middle, Arthur’s Seat, along a trail called The Radical Road. This was unplanned, a last second decision when I saw it. The run immediately turned into a hike, for the radical road is one of the steepest inclines I have ever been on. In great shape, I could not have run up the beginning hill. Since I have returned to regular running only after my arrival here 15 days ago, I’m not in great shape. Anyway, the hike was enjoyable and led to me getting the displayed views of the city.

In this last picture, if you look sort of dead center and squint, you should be able to see the back of the Heatherlea.


I plan a run to the sea in about two weeks when I think I can make it. It’s not so far in one direction, but then I’d have to run home.

-Tomorrow, Fettercairn 1824 12yr, Highland.

-Saturday, the castle story.

-The layout of the pictures with text looked much better when I previewed it. I simply don't have the time or energy to make it pretty again. I also realize that the text along the side in this post is not awesome and I'll go with simple centered photos in the future. Mea culpa.