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Edinburgh day trip

Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2020 2:12 pm
by baystate
A brief trip report for anyone staycation-ing or daytripping...

Spent a lovely day across in Edinburgh on Wednesday with an aim to walk up Arthur's Seat with the family on a lovely sunny day. Traffic from Glasgow to Edinburgh on the M8 was noticeably lighter at mid-day than 'normal', albeit with fairly normal levels of HGV traffic. Got to love being stuck behind one speed-limited HGV travelling 64 in the outside lane passing another one travelling 59 in the inside lane. :(

Being my first driving trip to Edinburgh in about 7 years, the various changes to the road layouts in the city centre are pretty confusing. SatNav helped a bit, and we got to where we wanted to go eventually and parked up in the public car park adjacent to Arthur's Seat. £4 for the day seemed reasonable enough. Good walk, slightly tricky for a largely urban 10 year old and a fearless but not really 5 year old. Picnic snack short of the main peak and then turned around as it was clear the 10 year old was up for the summit dash whilst Mrs and the five year old were not.

Modest walk back up Canongate towards the Royal Mile hoping for an open ice cream shop. Nothing much open, and to be honest no real need to be as the tourists are simply not there. Lovely but modestly pricing gelato from Smoov (£12 for four people), but worth the walk. Significant entertainment on the walk back from a drunk/high/mentally ill Frenchman standing in the middle of the road shouting something in French which we think translated to 'With the sun out like this, its just like France'. We think. He might also have been saying 'I'm French, I'm in the sun, who wants some'. Mrs. and the 10 year old found it all very amusing. The five year old just kept commenting on the stupid man in the road which caused me to hurry along before we fully understood the translation and Daddy got some. :lol:

Decided to finish up the day by parking up the other end of Edinburgh and enjoying the Princes Street Gardens. Also very empty. At that point it was getting past six so we thought we'd go up to Rose St to find something to eat. Princes St itself was Sunday morning hangover dead, which is really quite a shame, but its a reflection of the current travel realities. Great pizzas with some really imaginative toppings from Dough on Rose St (goats cheese, beetroot crisps and walnuts for me and Mrs; margherita for the kids) and then back down to the Gardens to eat al fresco before heading home in the early twilight with no traffic to speak of.

A pretty good family day out. Although considering we were meant to be in Alicante this week, the closest we got to seeing the sea was the great view of the Firth of Forth from Arthur's Seat.

Re: Edinburgh day trip

Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2020 5:15 pm
by Clive
Thanks for the trip report. Going to Edinburgh is like going abroad anyway!

Talking of staycations - which I’m not overly keen on as I live in a seaside holiday resort anyway - I saw reports of a Scottish tourist to Luss paying £12.00 for what was a really small fish supper. Absolutely mental. Imagine a family of 4 paying £48.00 for a chippy tea.

And we have a rescheduled family wedding in Aviemore next May. For the price we are paying for 3 nights in a cottage I could have purchased rack of us a round the world airline ticket.

Re: Edinburgh day trip

Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2020 7:55 pm
by Allen McL
I was due my annual "staycation" to Edinburgh filming the tattoo and festival stuff throughout August but obviously that won't happen this year. So instead I'm off on a 'one man and his drone' tour of Scotland next week, kipping in the Grand Hotel Peugeot SUV (room at the back) enjoying a different coastal vista on each day, not to mention the odd pint or two here and there. I'm really looking forward to it. Here's a wee "rehearsal" I did in Oban last week...😉

https://youtu.be/4dl-C92C1fY

Re: Edinburgh day trip

Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2020 8:02 pm
by Clive
Allen McL wrote: Wed Jul 22, 2020 7:55 pm I was due my annual "staycation" to Edinburgh filming the tattoo and festival stuff throughout August but obviously that won't happen this year. So instead I'm off on a 'one man and his drone' tour of Scotland next week, kipping in the Grand Hotel Peugeot SUV (room at the back) enjoying a different coastal vista on each day, not to mention the odd pint or two here and there. I'm really looking forward to it. Here's a wee "rehearsal" I did in Oban last week...😉

https://youtu.be/4dl-C92C1fY
Nice one. I’ve been in some of those fantastic apartments and houses at Ganavan Sands. Lovely all round.

Re: Edinburgh day trip

Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2020 8:51 pm
by Allen McL
Clive wrote: Wed Jul 22, 2020 8:02 pm
Allen McL wrote: Wed Jul 22, 2020 7:55 pm I was due my annual "staycation" to Edinburgh filming the tattoo and festival stuff throughout August but obviously that won't happen this year. So instead I'm off on a 'one man and his drone' tour of Scotland next week, kipping in the Grand Hotel Peugeot SUV (room at the back) enjoying a different coastal vista on each day, not to mention the odd pint or two here and there. I'm really looking forward to it. Here's a wee "rehearsal" I did in Oban last week...😉

https://youtu.be/4dl-C92C1fY
Nice one. I’ve been in some of those fantastic apartments and houses at Ganavan Sands. Lovely all round.
You can never fail to be impressed by an Oban sunset, that's for sure ! :o :P 8-)

Re: Edinburgh day trip

Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2020 9:06 pm
by bill
Sounds like a decent day all round baystate. I like Edinburgh for a wee jaunt, it's chalk and cheese with Glasgow. I too should be typing this from sunnier climes,Torremolinos. :(

Re: Edinburgh day trip

Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2020 7:33 am
by GKirk
2 night stay in Edinburgh booked for the start of September. Also looking at booking a night in Glasgow at some point, EGPFforum apres Covid drinks anyone?

Re: Edinburgh day trip

Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2020 8:58 am
by Clive
GKirk wrote: Thu Jul 23, 2020 7:33 am 2 night stay in Edinburgh booked for the start of September. Also looking at booking a night in Glasgow at some point, EGPFforum apres Covid drinks anyone?
For sure.

Re: Edinburgh day trip

Posted: Sat Jul 25, 2020 10:09 am
by bill
GKirk wrote: Thu Jul 23, 2020 7:33 am 2 night stay in Edinburgh booked for the start of September. Also looking at booking a night in Glasgow at some point, EGPFforum apres Covid drinks anyone?
I'm in Kirky! :D