Walking Trails in Edinburgh

Over the holiday break, we did a lot of walking on the bike paths close to our flat and in Holyrood Park.  Today we took a 3-1/2 hour stroll through Edinburgh exploring some of the many walking paths on the west side of the city.  

We headed to the Fountainbridge area in order to hop on the Union Canal.  The canal was built in 1822 and runs from Faikirk to Edinburgh.  It was originally constructed to bring minerals (coal) to the capital city.  However, the construction of railways diminished it use.  Today it's a great place to walk and there are a few boats on it.  Some of which are restaurants and "boatels".  

When you get to the Waters of Leith path, the canal becomes an aquaduct that passes over the Waters of Leith.  Above is a picture of Luke and Luther walking across the aquaduct.  Below is a picture of the aquaduct from below.

There are lots of ducks and a couple of swans that live on the canal.  One was a little camera shy.

Rather than head back home via the canal, we switched to the Waters of Leith paths and started our almost 7 mile journey home.  (The sign said 7 miles to Leith and we're not very far from Leith.  It was probably more like 5 since we exited the path in Stockbridge.)

The path runs along the Water of Leith while is a 24 mile river that runs from the Pentland Hills through Edinburgh where it ends in the Firth of Forth.  The city has constructed walking trails that run along the river and they're a great place to bike, walk, run, etc.  We've walked from our flat to Leith a couple of times but I have wanted to walk the section in Dean Village for a while now.  I'm glad we did because it was beautiful.  

In the 1800's mills used the river as their primary source of energy.  They were smart to do so because the river runs pretty quickly.  I was really glad that Luther didn't make any attempts to go swimming because it would have swept him away rather fast.

Even though it rained on us the whole way, we had a lot of fun and enjoyed seeing a different side of the city.  We hope you enjoyed it as well.

Love you & miss you,
Aubs, Luke and Luther

**UPDATE**

I forgot to include the map of our route.

Stirling Castle

Yesterday Luke and I took the train to Stirling.  It's about an hour from Edinburgh and it definitely worth the trip.  Stirling Castle has been restored by Historic Scotland and provides an accurate representation of life at the castle during the 16th century.  And it is absolutely beautiful.  Because it has been restored, it is really busy as well.  We had to stand in the queue for about 15 minutes to get tickets which we had not yet experienced on any of our other trips to castles.

Included in the price of your ticket, you also get an audio tour guide (the blue things hanging around our necks in the picture above).  I'd recommend bringing headphones so that you don't have to hold it up to your ear the whole time.  But it gives you a lot of information about each of the sections of the castle.

On our way to the castle, we passed the Church of the Holy Rude (where James VI was crowned), Mars Walk (the home of the Earl of Mar - Guardian of infant James VI) and the Stirling Old Town Cemetery (a beautiful Scottish kirkyard).  We also passed Argyll's Lodgings (a 17th century townhouse) but did not get to tour it because the tours had been cancelled for the holiday period.  Hopefully we'll get to do that the next time we go to Stirling - as long as someone comes to visit us soon (hint, hint).

After we spent a couple hours exploring the castle, we headed into Old Town to Nicky Tams Bar for a great lunch and a couple of pints.  I'd definitely recommend it if you're heading to Stirling any time soon.

Here are some pictures from our outing.  Enjoy!

Church of the Holy Rude

Stirling Castle from the kirkyard 

Now that's the way to be remembered!

Poor little guy lost his head!

The mountains in the distance look mysterious in the clouds.

Chapel

Ceiling of the Great Hall

Royal seats in the Great Hall

They believe that James V had a lion.  This little guy was on the stairs in the lion's den.

Great Hall

Love you & miss you!
Aubs, Luke & Luther

North Berwick & Another Castle

Sorry it's been a while since I've written.  It's taken me a bit to get back in the swing of things since going back to the states.  But I think we're there now.  And I'm on my 3rd week of working but that's another post for another day.

Last weekend we actually saw the sun here in Scotland.  Since I've started working I rarely get to see the sun because I walk to work before the sun is up and it sets long before I leave to head home.  So we took advantage of the "beautiful" weather and decided to see a castle.  Our original plan was to go to the Edinburgh castle but our friends Kurt and Erin called us just as we were finishing getting ready to see if we wanted to go with them to Tantallon Castle in North Berwick.

Kurt & Erin

North Berwick is about a 30 minute train ride east of Edinburgh so it's easy to get to, inexpensive and makes for a great day trip.  Our original plan was to climb the North Berwick Law which is a random hill in the middle of flat ground that you can see from Edinburgh.  Unfortunately we didn't make it to N. Berwick until noonish and since it is an hour walk just to the castle (3 miles - or if you were paying attention a few blogs ago - a league) we decided to head to the castle so that we could see it before the sun went down.

To get to the castle we walked down the 2 lane highway that ran along the water.  We passed a golf course and Lucas decided that all he wanted for Christmas was a round of golf of an oceanside, links course.  Luckily golf is pretty cheap here in the winter so that's what Santa will be bringing him.

Also visible on our walk was Bass Rock.  It's a gigantic volcanic plug in the middle of the Firth standing on it's own.  You can see the lighthouse on it in the pictures below.  I really want to go out there but apparently the "island" is privately owned so I'm not sure that's going to happen until I make some friends in high places.

As if the view along our walk wasn't nice enough, then we got to the castle.  The castle was beautiful!  It sits right on the edge of the water on a cliff.  Here are some pictures for you to enjoy.

Once you crossed this bridge and went through the entry way it opened up onto this beautiful lawn overlooking the firth.  It was breathtaking.

The tide was really high and the water was rough.  Every once in a while you would hear the waves crashing against the rocks and it sounded like thunder.  It was fascinating to watch.

Well I hope you enjoyed this post.  Hopefully I'll have another one up soon to make up for my lack of updates recently.

We love you & miss you,
Aubs, Luke & Luther