Well, as you can see, we've achieved the transition to a more pedestrian mode of travel in successfully arriving in Edinburgh. But first, let me tell you a little bit about our two-night stay in the town of Pitlochry.
Tourism is Pitlochry's breakfast lunch and dinner, and it shows. Want to buy some Scottish tourist souvenirs? This is the place. I confess I didn't much like it, probably because the warmth and friendliness we'd encountered in the more remote pubs of Scotland seemed to be missing here. And the Guinness and beers were much more expensive. However, it had one big redeeming feature from my POV. The River Tummel which passes through the small town is inhabited by Atlantic salmon which can be seen, by patient observers, free jumping in the rapids. It also has a fish ladder. It was on this ladder, about the 20th rung which uniquely has a glass wall, that I spent an inordinate amount of time but eventually I was rewarded. I have the video to prove it.
One minute movie, suitable for all fish and wildlife lovers:
Maybe if this was the first Scottish village we'd visited we'd have more pictures but the Pitlochry photo archive is almost empty. And there was a fair bit of rain while we were there, which may explain that.
This photo shows the kitchen and lounge windows (arrowed) of our two bedroom Airbnb apartment in Pitlochry. First time we've been behind the wood shed, but it was comfortable, spacious and right in the centre of town, close to all amenities.
And so to today, which began with a leisurely departure from our Pitlochry apartment, which we left at 10:30am, 30 minutes earlier than our scheduled check-out time. It was raining as we turned left out through the carpark gate and headed south to join the A9. The first target today was to fill the car fuel tank at a service station reasonably close to the drop-off point. All three of us were navigating, Siri, Mary and I. A few weeks back I'd pinpointed the BP servo in central Edinburgh which we were heading for (thanks, Google Street View).
It's about a 1.5 hour drive and as we approached Edinburgh the rain eased off and we got a fine view of the three bridges over the Firth of Forth. The latest of these is not yet complete but it makes the oldest and most famous of these Forth bridges look a bit frail. In due course the BP Servo arrived just where Siri and Google said it would be. Phew! Next task was to double park (suggested by our Airbnb landlady) outside our building's entrance, right in the heart of old Edinburgh. Here we planned to find our way into the apartment via a keysafe, then written instructions for finding the actual front door (through black iron gate, through tunnel, into courtyard, up one flight of outdoor stone stairs, find red-painted locked door, through door, up to first floor, find another red-painted locked door, enter apartment). While I was accessing the apartment Mary was guarding our illegally parked car with instructions to talk fast and perhaps burst into tears if a Traffic Warden appeared.
By my third trip up into the apartment I'd transferred from the car all of our baggage that needed to be transferred. Mary by this time was keen to see what the apartment was like but that was not to be, just yet, as next we had to get rid of the hire car as it couldn't stay parked outside, unguarded indefinitely, without suffering the indignity of clamping or tow away. Thanks again to Google Street View and Siri we found our way through Edinburgh's tight and busy ancient streets to the rental car drop off in the multi-storey carpark adjacent to the central railway station. Mary could possibly have stayed behind in the apartment but I prefer to have her along as co-pilot in tight navigation situations such as this where two pairs of eyes and two brains are better than one.
The car handed over, all that remained was for us to wend our way back on foot through twisty tourist-filled streets and stairways to our accommodation. This simple journey/reconnaissance convinced us that a taxi will be essential to get back to the railway station in three days time with our bags; just too hard on foot, especially when it may be raining.
Some early pics from Edinburgh, which seems a fascinating destination already.
Google Street View image of the entrance (arrowed) to our apartment building. This image helped greatly in finding the place once we arrived in the vicinity.
Even though it was chilly, we couldn't resist an ice cream from this shop in The Grassmarket, which is adjacent to our apartment.
Mary's looking out of our kitchen window while I took the photo from down in the courtyard.
The tunnel to the courtyard behind the black cast iron gate visible in the Street View picture above.
Edinburgh Castle, as seen from The Grassmarket, only a couple of minutes from our apartment. Probably we'll visit the Castle tomorrow.
Off to bed after a busy day, and dinner and a couple of Guinnesses at The Last Drop pub around the corner.
Thanks for viewing
Mary and I welcome your email feedback and comment. Click here to email us.
Kev Long
Author iPad Traveller for iPad and Mac.
Our Instagram posts
The technical stuff:
Our main iPad is connecting to the Internet mainly through a cellular connection provided (prepaid, 3gb for three months for £16) by the UK "Three" network. On high ground and in town environments this connection has so far proven quite good but, as in Australia, some places lack good coverage so no or poor connection. There are quite a few WiFi options available too although not always advertised. Just ask if you're unsure if available. All except two of our accommodation reservations include free WiFi which is of course the preferred method of transferring large amounts of data but I have been posting these blogs and their images sometimes using only a cellular connection either from inside our accommodation or on the roadside.
Mary's iPhone is operating using an Australian SIM card (Optus prepaid) which is roaming while in the UK and gives us the ability to make phone calls (not cheap) and send and receive SMS. It also uses WiFi, can connect directly to the Internet through the local cellular system (expensive), and use a Personal Hot Spot provided by the iPad (essentially free as the iPad connection is prepaid).
Location:West Bow,Edinburgh,United Kingdom
Looks nice as usual. Long time since I've been there though.
ReplyDelete