Arthur's Seat

Arthur's Seat beside Duddingston Loch

Arthur's Seat is a notable landmark of Edinburgh as it is a mountain that serves as the backdrop of the city.  I have read that climbing to the top provides excellent panoramic views of the city and surrounding Scotland on a clear day.  However, there is not much literature on exactly how to climb to the top.  There are many different trails and ways to climb to the top, but no ONE this is the path you take with small children in tow.  Since it seemed that there were easy and difficult routes to take, but lots of chances to blaze your own trail as well; we did as much research as we could and then decided to just go for it.  We determined to hike up the west side from Holyrood Palace and down the east side to Duddingston Village.

I have been wanting to hike Arthur's Seat since we arrived, and was very excited when we decided to set off to take on the challenge of hiking Arthur's Seat.  The other problem with reading reviews on TripAdvisor and other travel sites is that everyone has different tolerance levels and athletic abilities.  When I read that it was very challenging and rock-climbing skills could be needed, I was very nervous about going with a 22-month-old and 4-year-old.  However, the route we took was not challenging at all and was a lot of fun!

Amelie wasn't too keen on the uphill portion of the hike, but with ice-cream as a reward for completing this quest she gladly took on the challenge without much fuss.  Liam was very patient to sit in the pack while we hiked up the mountain and provided us with some laughs as we allowed him to hike down the mountain.  With it being a Saturday and nice weather, we were not alone on our quest to hike to the top.  It was fun to see other families out doing the same thing as we were...bribing our children to continue to push through and get to the top! ;)

St. Anthony's Chapel ruins on the mountain.  Not much is known about this chapel, but it is thought to have been built in the 1100's.  It seems very likely that St Anthony's Chapel was closely associated with Holyrood Abbey.  The two were linked by a well-made stone track (now heavily worn) with prominent kerbstones that can in places still be seen.

Only climbing a couple of feet provided us great views of the city.

Bobby carried Liam up the mountain while I carried Liam down the mountain (a little that is).  Amelie walked on her own.  She and I enjoyed looking for yellow and purple flowers on our journey.

We loved the views of the Forth too.  You can see Inchcolm Island in the background.

A nice flat spot near the top to have our picnic lunch of PB & honey while looking to where we needed to head next.

After eating lunch, Amelie decided to relax.  You can see Holyrood Palace and Abbey in the background.

Liam is the collector and collected a couple of rocks to carry with him.   

Right near the top, there was a little more climbing...nothing too crazy though.
  Amelie did a great job picking the way for us to climb.  At this point there was no one path to follow.

Did I mention that this is an extinct volcano, which erupted around 340 million years ago?

At the pinnacle of Arthur's Seat.

As we were walking around on top, Amelie was stung by a bee on her pointer finger.  She cried for a couple of minutes and we watched it swell.  She recovered fairly quickly, but I think a bee-phobia has now begun.
This picture was taken right after she was stung.

Since I am a science teacher this was also particularly interesting to me as this mountain holds a special place in the history of science, for it was here in the late 18th century that James Hutton found evidence to support his theories about the workings of the Earth. He observed igneous and sedimentary rocks and understood that they had been formed at different times by different processes. He suggested that the Earth was very old, and continually changing; a startling new idea that changed forever the way people thought about our planet, and influenced other scientists such as Charles Darwin. James Hutton is now recognised as the 'father of modern geology'.  

It was smart to take different paths going and coming as we were able to see other Lochs and other great views.
 Also, since the east trail is more like rolling grasslands, Liam was able to walk down
(and I got to carry an empty pack!).

He would get running so fast that his legs could not keep up with the momentum of his body.  At one point, he lunged for some soft grass and rolled to a stop.  We all laughed so hard that he continued to throw himself down in the grass as he went down the mountain.  

After we descended the mountain, we arrived at Duddingston Loch.  Duddingston Loch has been used for ice-skating and curling for several centuries.  In an earlier blog post, I showcased a famous Scottish painting of the Reverend Robert Walker ice-skating on Duddingston Loch.  We made our way through the cemetery surrounding the Duddingston Kirk.  We walked through the small village to the Sheep's Heid Pub for treats for the whole family.  Sheep's Heid is said to be Scotland's oldest pub, dating from 1360.

The Loch is now a bird sanctuary.

The swan family behind us was fun to watch.

Bobby reenacting the painting...

Amelie's promised ice-cream.  She generously shared with all of us.  It went above her expectations as it came with a chocolate chip cookie, mint leaves, and a strawberry.  We also ate "chips".  

Every where is Walking Distance If You Have the Time

With summer school over and the Fall semester not quite yet started, we have had lots of time.  I really liked the quote by Steven Wright, "Every where is walking distance if you have the time."  I love walking without having time pressures and time schedules to follow.  I know this is a unique season of our lives, but I am hoping that even when we return to the States we will remember the benefits of taking strolls and exploring wherever we reside.

On Friday (July 26th) we set off to visit St. Mary's Cathedral.  It is a majestic church that we have seen from a distance, but not yet made a point to visit up close.  With chances of rain looming, we thought this would be a good escape from the apartment.

St. Mary's Cathedral is a cathedral of the Scottish Episcopal Church.  It's foundation stone was laid in 1874 and was paid for by Barbara and Mary Walker, spinster sisters.  We had the church mostly to ourselves as we walked around looking at the carvings, sculptures, and paintings.  Liam enjoyed hearing his echo and we had to work on making him whisper.  Amelie enjoyed "reading" the pamphlets about the cathedral left out for visitors.

This banner says Water of Leith at the top. 

The organ and choir area.  St Mary's Cathedral is the only cathedral in Scotland to maintain a tradition of daily choral services with choristers drawn from its own choir school.  

This painting caught our eyes.  "Christ healing the dumb."

This is the label for the painting above.  Can you believe it's from the 1500's?

Since the rain was holding out, we decided to continue exploring this south part of Edinburgh after we were finished looking around the cathedral.  A local had recommended that we go to Union Canal as it was a great area to walk around with children.  Since we were close by, we made our way to the canal that actually travels from Edinburgh to Glasgow.  The Union Canal was constructed to bring minerals, especially coal, to the capital. It was opened in 1822 and was initially successful, but the construction of railways diminished it's value and so wasn't used as much.  Now, it is popular for leisure purposes. We only walked a couple of miles until we happened upon a nice park with a playground.  After the kids played for a while, we headed home for Bobby's delicious chili.

The boats on the canal were different from any I've seen as they were very long and slender.

Amelie and Liam love to run.  We allowed them to run, but this is also a bike path so we had to be especially careful with Liam.  He was so accustomed to hearing us say "Bike" that he began yelling "BIKE!" over and over again as bikes were approaching and leaving.  At least we knew he was being mindful of the surroundings! ;)

Amelie and Liam talking to 4 baby ducks.

More Strolling, but on Sunday

We had such a fun day strolling through the city on Saturday, we decided to set off with little plans again on Sunday.  We started the day in a similar leisurely fashion by starting at Edinburgh's other farmers market, Stockbridge Market.  Bobby gave Amelie and I the same charge of who could find the coolest thing for 1 pound.  Amelie actually bargained with a vendor, and was able to get a raspberry chocolate bar for cheaper than what was listed.  She won!  Bobby and I spent our pound (and then some) on some delicious French cheeses (especially Comte).  With it being Bastille Day, there were a couple of French treats present that are not normally available. We were able to eat lunch on the sidewalk (pesto pasta, BBQ sandwich, and paella).
 

You can see the cheese truck in the distance as well as the French flag flying.

Bobby was finishing buying our lunch while I was helping the kids get started on their lunch.
You can see Liam is looking at Bobby while yelling "Daddy!"
I laughed when I saw this because I didn't know Bobby was taking pictures.

After the market, we started strolling on Water of Leith Walkway.  This biking/walking path in the woods with the river on one side is so relaxing and makes you immediately feel that you are miles away from a large city.  As we started walking, we came across our first fun surprise of the day...St. Bernard's Well.  We were able to read on a plaque nearby that it was built in 1760. The waters of the well were once held in high regard for their medicinal virtues attracting travelers from around the world.  It is in the shape of a circular temple supported by ten tall columns, with a statue of Hygieia, the Greek goddess of health in the center. It operated until the 1940′s.

As we walked, we loved the views like shown in the picture above!  Our next surprise of the day was when we came across Dean Bridge.   This bridge, dating back to the 1830s,  stands over 100 feet above the water.  It was very impressive!  

Our next surprise of the day was happening upon Dean Village.  This was a milling village that operated for over 800 years using the current of the river to run at least 11 mills.  It was incredibly interesting to walk past the mills, workers housing, and village.  We felt like we had stepped out of Edinburgh and into a remote village.  Most of the buildings have been converted into pricey apartments and offices.  I would love to live here!

I love the old school buildings in the city!  Each school has reliefs carved among other impressive details.

The housing built in the 1800s for the mill workers.

 Before walking to a playground to close the day, we had fun skipping rocks in the river.  

We walked to Inverleith Park to check out the playground.  We were highly impressed with the views over the city, this being our last surprise of the day.  This park boarders the Royal Botanic Gardens so as you can imagine, it is lush and green and beautiful.

Adding to my collection of Liam's napping environments.

I think part of the fun of the day is not having any expectations while being surprised at every turn.  I am sure had we researched and mapped out all of the important points of interest, we would have had a wonderful time too but there is something in the discovering that is really fun.

With being out all day we often get home and are all very tired.  To help pass the time until dinner is ready we watch a movie.  Liam now knows how to ask for a movie.  We also do not have AC in our apartment and with the nice weather have been a little toasty.  When we are home we try to wear as little clothes as possible.  Liam also knows how to say naked.