MidLife Traveller

August 6, 2013 · 12:35 am

The place where it doesn’t matter if you have a lisp

7th June 2013

Sometimes this being high tech just doesn’t pay off, I booked a bus and boat tour to the Forth of Fife online and kept a copy of the confirmation on my phone and ipad – no room for a printer in the backpack. You can fly all over the place without a printed ticket but the ticket booth attendant where all the tourist buses pick up HAD to have a piece of paper before they would give me my ticket. The fact that they could plainly see my confirmation meant nothing – without it printed out they weren’t going to do anything.

Thank goodness again for my ~~OCD~~ need to arrive with miles of time to spare. The ticket guy told me about a place where I could print an email, so off I went at a million miles an hour. Got there and asked, no, they don’t have anywhere to print it, but she pointed me up the hill a couple of blocks to another place where she thought they would be able to do it. Another heart attack inducing sprint later I got the same answer – this was not looking good! But then another guy at this place poked his head around the corner and said he was pretty sure a cafe just another half a block further up had an internet cafe upstairs. By this time I was almost ready to give up and just go buy another ticket but I figured I still had time so I’d give it a go – yay, third time lucky!! A couple of pounds later and I was set – and my return trip back to the ticket booth was downhill!!

Cruise boat leaving us on Inchcolm Island, Scotland

Whew, got back with about 5 minutes to spare! Then it was a nice half hour ride down to the bridge with commentary along the way. There didn’t seem to be that many people on the bus for the size of the boat but another bus arrived and all these little old ladies started pouring out, chattering away in the most gorgeous Scottish accents, the boat was certainly full once they all boarded. I perched on the end of one of their seats and ended up having a wonderful chat with some of them, then ran up and down the stairs getting brochures for one of them, then another two, then another eight – because, of course, they all wanted one each to take home!! They were really lovely though and kept passing everything I said down the line like Chinese whispers – “she’s Australian, you know”, “travelling on her own, you know”, “ooooh, very brave lass isn’t she”!!

Forth of Fife rail bridge, Scotland

The gorgeous rail bridge was the main thing I wanted to see. I hadn’t even heard of it until we drove into Edinburgh the other day, but it’s an amazing structure, built way back in 1890 and still going strong.

I also took the opportunity to spend some time on Inchcolm Island, it’s in the middle of the harbour and has ruins of an old abbey as well as some WW2 remnants to explore. The boat lets you off and you catch the next one going back an hour or two later. I asked one of the island staff if it was okay to head up the hill to some of the WW” bunkers because there seemed to be an awful lot of seagulls flying around. She said I’d be fine so long as I stuck to the mowed path – that should have been warning enough, really, I should have read more into those words than what she said.

Seagulls on Inchcolm Island, Scotland

I headed off (along the mowed path) and not too long later seagulls started squawking and flying around but I thought they’d get used to me. Then a bit further on, I got my first seagull poo down the front of my coat, but I thought, okay, that’s a bit of bad luck, I’ll put my hood up and kept going. Then they started dive bombing me, so I put my bag on top of my head and went a bit further. But they weren’t giving in, and I didn’t know what to do, I must have looked an absolute dill, with my bag on top of my head, doing circles, trying to decide whether to keep going or give in and go back. I ~~finally used some common sense~~ gave in and started back down the way I’d come, yelling at them like a bloody loony tune. I honestly thought they wouldn’t keep it up but they got worse and by the time I got away from them my coat and bag were absolutely covered in seagull poo.

So, back to the island staff office to try and clean up – guess what, they have no running water. They gave me a bucket, a couple of bottles of water and some disinfectant wipe things and left me to it. Oh my god, have you ever smelt seagull poo – it pongs. I wouldn’t have worried so much about cleaning my coat then and there except I really needed to wear it as it was freezing, and also because it smelt so bad. I kept finding new bits everywhere I looked, down the back of my jeans, on my joggers – but I was so relieved to have had the hood, none on my hair, that really would have been the pits.

That little episode put paid to my plan of spending some quiet time sketching the abbey ruins, although I still had time for a good look around them. The boat trip back was much quieter without the dear old ladies for company, just a few seals and puffins as well as the bridges to admire.

Even though seagulls have slipped even further on my list of bird I like, sometime you can be lucky – this is only, I think, the third time I’ve had access to a washing machine where I’ve stayed – so coat, bag, jeans and joggers all went in together for a good clean. Lesson learnt for today – don’t trust bloody seagulls, EVER.

Look what I found in Edinburgh!

Forth of Fife road bridge

Abbey ruins, Inchcholm Island, Scotland

From the abbey ruins on Inchcolm Island, Scotland

Inchcolm Island, Scotland

Bunkers from world wars on Inchcolm Island, Scotland

On the way to Fife, Scotland

4 Comments

Filed under Mid-life travel, Scotland, Solo female travel, Travel

Tagged as Forth of Fife, Inchcolm, Seagulls

August 4, 2013 · 3:05 am

Discovering the buses and the Britannia in Edinburgh

5th June 2013

Aha, I went to the train station just nearby and asked about catching a train to the city, the nicest man at the ticket office gave me a map, took me outside and showed me where to catch a bus to town. Much easier and cheaper than the train he told me. So, armed with my new-found information I then caught another bus from the city down to the port area to see the royal yacht Britannia.

It’s the funniest thing, you go into a shopping centre to access the yacht – who’d have thought? They have the gift shop in the shopping centre, it’s massive, and as the centre is right on the water, they have steps and gangways connecting the two, amazing.

HMY Britannia, Edinburgh

I’m sure it wouldn’t be everyone’s cup of tea but I was really keen to have a look at it, also, it’s something a bit different to most of what I’ve been seeing. I even had tea and cake in the café on board, not sure I was sitting where the royals sat but you can’t have everything can you.

She was built in 1952-3 and sailed over one million nautical miles and there’s not one nut or bolt or whatever holds ships together on here outside skin. That’s about as technical as I get – the bit about nothing marring the outside skin stuck with me, it’s something I wouldn’t even notice but supposedly is quite significant.

Rolls Royce on board the Britannia

The Rolls Royce car in a special garage on the deck was something you don’t see every day either. Why wouldn’t you take your car with you on a sea voyage? Considering she was decommissioned not that long ago, or so it seems to me, it seems quite dated and not overly elaborate . I remember my family having plastic saucer chairs just like the ones on board. I can’t see we had the same standards or quantity of china or silverware though.

Plastic saucer chairs, Britannia

I had an absolutely great time traipsing around from top to bottom and yet again was sorely tempted in the souvenir shop – but I didn’t break, yay me!

I got back to the city okay but went too far on the next bus. I’d asked the driver if he went near the train station close by the apartment, yes, he said, so on I got. Well, we might have gone near it but we didn’t see it so I was merrily sailing along, way past where I wanted to be. I started to get worried when we went on a bloody freeway – crap, where the f$*k are we going? Anyhow, at the next stop I asked the smug looking so-and-so, and he let me off and gave me directions on how to get back.

He would have to be about the tenth male in England to give me that “how has she made it this far” look. But, on the bright side, I only had to walk back about 15 minutes – I should have just walked from the city, I’d have been better off. Ah well, another lesson learnt today – don’t be lazy – just walk!

Cafe on board the Britannia

Just a tiny selection of the silverware on the Britannia

And just a bit more

Yeah okay, it’s a bit flasher than your average tinny!

Fosters on tap on the Britannia!

Ooooh, love sailor uniforms

Selfie on the Britannia

Wheelhouse Britannia

Engine room Britannia

Britannia engine room

HMY Britannia

First day in Edinburgh

4th June 2013

Do you know, I don’t think I’ve ever been inside a terrace house until Glasgow, I’ve admired them for years and have always wondered what they’d be like inside. Well, I stayed in one in Edinburgh too, in a studio apartment on the ground floor, and it was just gorgeous – except for being able to hear the people in the lower floor apartment getting it on one night! I don’t know about everyone else, but I feel like I’m doing something wrong when I can hear other people’s intimate moments, like a voyeur or something – oh well a pillow over the head does wonders.

My first sight of Edinburgh Castle

It was just a ten minute walk (if you didn’t get lost) to the centre of town. My first morning walking, I visited the red light district, saw lots of interesting signs for lap dances and similar fun, but was too concerned with getting back on track to take any photos. It’s always the way isn’t it? You think of these things after the fact, or at least I do.

Anyhow, I wasn’t too far off course and next thing you know I was at the base of the walls of Edinburgh Castle! Mind you, it took another ten minutes to walk around to the front to get inside. It was the longest queue I’ve come across so far and the hottest too, the weather is just perfect.

Heading to Edinburgh Castle through the stadium for the Tattoo

Edinburgh Castle is not at all as I expected. I always thought it was just a castle, but it seems more like a little settlement perched up on a mountain in the middle of the city. There’s an enormous paved area outside the walls where the Edinburgh Tattoo is held in August and they seemed to have half the grandstands erected already. That was my first surprise, that the tattoo is held outside the castle walls.

Waiting for the cannon to fire at Edinburgh Castle

You could easily spend all day wandering through the different parts of the castle and all the other buildings. I had a lovely lunch at one of the eateries, overlooking the city; it felt like it was a million miles away but really only a few minutes walk. I’d read somewhere that they fire a cannon each day at 1pm so when I came across a huge crowd of people, with cameras and phones held in the air, all pointing in the same direction, I used my amazing powers of deduction and figured they were waiting for the cannon to fire. So, instead of doing the same thing, and because I couldn’t see the cannon either, I started filming them, they were so intent on capturing the exact moment. I almost dropped my camera and wet my pants all at the same time when it went off, it was an absolute monstrous bang! I was in good company though, just about everyone had the same reaction.

Second and biggest surprise was that NOTHING in Edinburgh is free! Everywhere I went I was paying entrance fees, which is normal really and I usually don’t even comment, but having just spent a week in Glasgow where there are free museums and attractions all over the place, it came as a bit of a rude shock.

National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh

I had wandered down Edinburgh’s Royal Mile from the castle, and as you can only window shop, without buying anything for so long, I headed to the National Museum of Scotland. What an unbelievable place, it’s huge and full of Celtic, Viking and Roman history as it relates to Scotland, as well as science and technology, art, you name it, there’s a gallery for it here. I just love wandering the streets. looking at buildings and people, but honestly I could have spent days instead this building instead of just hours.

Edinburgh

Wrought iron work, Museum of Scotland

Building on rock, Edinburgh

Sights of Edinburgh

Where the Edinburgh Tattoo heppens

Prison door, Edinburgh Castle

Cute window detail, Edinburgh Castle

View from cannon mounts, Edinburgh Castle

Edinburgh

At Edinburgh Castle

Edinburgh

From Edinburgh Castle

Ancient jewellery displays, National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh

Jewellery through the Ages, National Museum of Scotland

Edinburgh sketch

2 Comments

Filed under Mid-life travel, Scotland, Solo female travel, Travel

Tagged as Edinburgh, Edinburgh Castle, National Museums Scotland

July 27, 2013 · 8:40 pm

Big post – 3 days in the highlands of Scotland

1st – 3rd June 2013

I really wanted to visit at least one of the islands off Scotland and had been toying with the idea of heading up to Inverness and trying to catch a tour to the Orkney Isles. Then one day when it was raining in Glasgow I popped into St Enoch shopping centre in the city and found myself face to face with a Flight Centre shop. Fate – or so I told myself! I walked out having booked a 3 day bus tour to the highlands and Isle of Skye, finishing in Edinburgh – killed three birds with the one stone.

Another couple of sad goodbyes, this time to my wonderful studio at the Embassy Apartments and to Glasgow in general, a last subway ride and some nervous time waiting in George Square for the bus to arrive. I didn’t realize it but the tour actually started in Edinburgh, so the bus was almost full when myself and two others boarded in Glasgow. A 29 seater bus with one spare seat – VERY squeezy!!

On the bonnie bonnie banks of Loch Lomond, Scotland

First stop was at a place called Luss on the banks of Loch Lomond – typical budget bus tour, stop, everyone pile out, take photos, jump back on the bus. Except, one guy thought the rules didn’t apply to him and he rocked up 5 minutes late. Well, the bus driver told him in no uncertain manner that if he was late again the bus would not wait for him!

The scenery was pretty gorgeous and Loch Lomond itself was beautiful. Before we got there the driver played a hauntingly sad version of the song The Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond. He explained the high and low roads in the song are about one person still living and the other one having died. Of course I was holding back tears, I always cry at sad songs and movies.

Obviously the first day was all about getting to the Isle of Skye, our lunch stop was at Fort William, but right on the edge of the town with no time to explore, then it was off again for more driving. I must admit, the driver, Gary, did his best to keep us entertained, he’s a born story teller and played some great Celtic music. He had a terrible day really, bike riders in a road race kept holding him up, the roads are not wide enough for two vehicles as well as bikes, so we were stop, start, three parts of the day – he was getting pretty irate about them at times, but nothing you can do is there.

Snow on the mountains in summer, Scottish highlands

We drove through some incredible country, stopped for photos of Britain’s highest mountain, Ben Nevis and I think a few other places – it all became a bit of a blur. There were lots of high foggy mountains with snow still clinging in places. I do know we stopped for a look through Eilean Donan Castle, it was pretty cool, and has even starred in a couple of movies, Highlander and Maid of Honour. The Isle of Skye isn’t far off the mainland, there’s a bridge connecting the two, but seems very far removed from Glasgow. We stayed in a little village by the name of Portree, my B&B room was great and the hostess was lovely.

Roundabout sculpture, Scotland

Bike riders holding up traffic, Scotland

Sleeping beauties in the bus

Surrounded by sleeping beauties

Misty Scotland

At least they warn you!!

See, they weren’t joking!

Photo stop: out, click, (pose & click for some), back on the bus

Eilen Donan castle, Scotland

Guides at Eilen Donan Castle, Scotland

Almost at the Isle of Sky, Scotland

Waterfall, Isle of Skye

Next day we drove all over the island, but spent way more time off the bus than the first day, so that was great. Quiraing felt like we were on top of the world, absolutely amazing countryside and views. The remains of diatomite works (for making dynamite) near Loch Cuithir were eerie in the dark overcast weather. A waterfall, just metres from the viewing platform, flowing over the cliffs into the sea was amazing. A walk to what seemed like the edge of the world to see ruins of a castle and the scenery around it was great fun. A visit to a fairy grove, hidden away in the wilds was awesome – everything was in miniature, so very cute. Neist Point Lighthouse was a non event for some of us, it was such a steep descent to just take a photo of the lighthouse from quite a distance that quite a few of us cooled our heels near the bus trying to keep warm, but it was a good opportunity to chat. Dun Beag, the remains of a broch, a type of Scottish roundhouse, was awesome – anything built some 2,000 years ago is always interesting to me. Hunting for hairy coooos was hilarious, every time someone saw a cow we were all trying to crane our necks to see if they were the special hairy ones – we didn’t see any all day, lots of false alarms though.

The Canadians after a quiet nip!

I was next to the window in the back seat and had a Canadian couple next to me who didn’t sleep the day away like most of the young ones had done the day before. I had a great time hearing about their travels, I can’t get enough of other people’s travel stories. They are currently in Saudi Arabia for three years and before that they lived in Iceland for two years, what a huge change!! So, a much more active day and a truly wonderful look at the island. Pizza and a red wine for dinner at a hotel in the square before toddling off up the hill to my room was a perfect end to the day.

Portree Harbour, Isle of Skye, Scotland

Ruins of diatamite workings, Isle of Skye, Scotland

The Quiraing, Isle of Skye, Scotland

Quiraing, Isle of Skye, Scotland

Castle ruins clinging to the edge of the island

Wildflowers, Isle of Skye, Scotland

The fairy grove on Isle of Skye

Old man wooly

Dun Beag, Isle of Skye, Scotland

Our last morning I shared seats with the Canadian lady; they were in the back seat again, and as I had a seat on my own, she asked if she could share with me because her hubby was so squashed. Then after lunch they just took the front seat for themselves – their reasoning was because the young ones who were sitting there kept sleeping!!

Canals in Fort Augustus, Scotland

We had a really interesting tour around Talisker Distillery, and even though I’m not a whiskey drinker I though it was pretty nice. The sites of the famous MacDonald Clan uprising at Glencoe and the Glenshiel Uprising at Glenshiel were more great stops with Gary setting the scenes incredibly well beforehand. Once again, to remember it all you need a tape recorder going the whole time, just information overload for me, but great to see and hear. Our lunch stop was at Fort Augustus, a cute little village on the banks of Loch Ness. There is a series of locks running through the town and a swinging bridge, interesting to see them operating while sitting on the bank of the canal eating my baguette. We made a few stops in the afternoon for photos and also at the Commando Memorial. It’s set in the area where the commandos trained for the Second World War, amidst some beautiful wild country. As well as the big statue, there’s a tremendously sad section where people have left plaques, photos and flowers for commandos lost in other wars; most recently the war in Afghanistan has added too many names to the total.

I don’t think you could fit much more in and still enjoy it, there’s an awful lot to see for such a small place; and it was great to get all the history and legends associated with the places we saw. So, I don’t think I’ll be rushing out early tomorrow, a slow start sounds like a plan.