Heading to Scotland

I got back on Friday evening after spending sixteen days in Scotland.  I'll milk this trip for half dozen or so posts.  This is my first one.  Things will continue to be busy this week as I learned a few days before leaving that I was being called for Jury Duty, starting today!  Depending on whether or not I am seated on a jury will probably depend on how quickly I get around to check on everyone.  Take care!

Arthur's Seat, Edinburg

I boarded the plane in Boston at 5:30 PM, flying to Dublin and then on to Glasgow.  I’d slept maybe an hour on the flight from Savannah.  The airline agent said that dinner would be served 50 minutes from take-off, so I decided not to eat, figuring I’d have dinner and then sleep the rest of the way to Dublin.  So much for plans.  They didn’t feed us for nearly two hours, partly because of turbulence.  Trying to entertain myself, I read a bit then watched a stupid Irish comedy, “The Young Offenders.” It was about two guys on stolen bicycles looking for lost cocaine, in the hopes of making millions, while being hounded by the police.  The movie was over when my dinner arrived.  I ate.  When they finally picked up my tray, I tried to sleep the remaining three hours.  I wasn’t successful.  There were several more patches of turbulence which required instructions given at such a decibel that my earplugs only partly muffled it.  Each time, I woke, went back to sleep.  

Thanks to a nice tailwind, we landed in Dublin half an hour early.  It was 4:30 AM and the sun was rising.  I walked through the terminal, checked through immigration as flights from Ireland to Britain are no different than from one state to the next.  The terminal was nice and looked new—or at least they’d updated the lighting for everything was bright. Too bright.   They’d be no sleeping while waiting  After two hours, I boarded a prop plane for Glasgow and sat next to a delightfully talkative principal from Texas who was meeting her son and daughter-in-law in Scotland.  It was 8 AM when we arrived in Glasgow and in no time I had taken the bus to the train station in the city centre and was on a train for Edinburgh.  I was met at the station by Ewan.  We threw my bags in his car, dropped them off at his house.

View from Arthur's Seat

By 10:30 AM, we were off climbing Arthur’s Seat, a volcanic outcropping in Edinburgh.  It was cool and the wind was blowing and soon we were huffing and puffing as we climbed toward the rocky crest.  It was also humid, but the wind and cool temperature made it very comfortable.  Ewan pointed out the sights of the city.  Although I’d been in Edinburgh, this was the first time to climb this hill.  After climbing down, it was time for a late lunch, which we took at a seaside restaurant in Portobello, eating outside while looking out into the Firth of Leith.  

At lunch, I asked about the local beers and ordered one.  Surprisingly, Ewan ordered cranberry juice.  Then I learned that Ewan wasn’t drinking this year.  He’d decided to go dry every fourth year as a way to bring awareness to Scotland’s alcohol abuse problems.  I was a little dumbfounded, for in my luggage I’d brought him a bottle of Savannah bourbon.  He graciously accepted the gift and promised that on his birthday (the day he stops his fast) he’ll enjoy a drink and think of me.  

With Ewan, On Arthur's Seat

After a rather late lunch, we walked along the Portobello Beach, a community that Ewan represented when he was on the Edinburgh Council.   Later, we went up on Calton Hill, where he had more good views of Edinburgh and we continue to talk and catch up with each other.  He then too me to a park in Leith, a part of Edinburgh along the water, which in its day had warehouses holding casts of whisky.  There, Ewan showed me Leith Links, where golf was played on a seven hole course years before St. Andrews (or at least that’s what those in Edinburgh claim).  After photos, we drove back to Ewan’s home.  He had a formal engagement that evening (he was wearing his formal kilt).  I had dinner with Hilary, his wife, and as I had only a few hours of sleep the night before, was asleep soon after laying down.

 Tomorrow is Friday. I'll spend the day exploring Edinburgh on my own, catching sights I missed when I was here in 2011. On Saturday, I'll be on my way to Iona.