Arthur's Seat

Hi, reader

This afternoon I went to Edinburgh's Holyrood Park to climb Arthur's Seat.

I got to Holyrood Park around 3.30pm and found a free car park without much difficulty. There was a pond with thirty or more swans in it, but I decided to see them on my way back as I wanted to get to the top of Arthur's Seat while the light was still good.

Arthur's seat is an ancient volcano situated just to the east of Edinburgh city centre. The hill rises above the city to a height of 250 metres. The writer Robert Louis Stevenson described Arthur's seat as 'a hill for its magnitude, a mountain for its virtue and bold design'. As I climbed up, I also felt it was more like a mountain than a hill. It's a steep walk, although my photos don't do it justice.

In truth, it's quite manageable and just like Conic Hill at Loch Lomond, it can be climbed by people of all ages. There were some elderly people and lots of young kids going up and down the slopes.

I was just thinking what a steep climb lay ahead when two guys went jogging past me on their way to the top. Actually I saw quite a few joggers and speed walkers along the way; some of them looked like they were just out for their daily run.

There's a great scene from T2: Trainspotting 2 where Renton (Ewan McGregor) and Spud (Ewan Bremner) go for a run to the top of Arthur's Seat. Here's the clip.

Halfway there. You can't see them in this photo, but I could make out the tiny silhouettes of people at the top.

This seems to be going on forever!

Finally, I made it to the peak. There's a spectacular 360 degree view of Edinburgh, Leith and the surrounding countryside. It's great exercise and really worth the effort.

It was incredibly blustery and quite cold up there. At times I nearly lost my balance, the wind was so powerful. Here's the view:

There's a metal disc up there. It's a way marker that tells you what you can see in all directions.

And here's my treat for completing the walk. 

I recently found out that Fry's Chocolate Cream is accidentally vegan.

I enjoyed the walk down much more. I just aimed forward and let gravity carry me down the hill.

Also on the way down I went to take a look at this interesting-looking ruin. This is all that remains of St. Anthony's Chapel. I had no idea what it was, so thanks to my friend, Justin, for enlightening me. You can learn more about St. Anthony's chapel here.

Finally, before I went back to the van I took some dried cranberries to the swans I'd seen earlier. I read somewhere that it's not good to feed bread to birds. It's like giving them junk food. But I remembered from reading Danny, the Champion of the World that birds love dried fruit. The swans certainly did. I nearly got my fingers pecked off.

I returned to Marine Drive for the evening. It's such a good parking spot. The temperature dropped to a nippy 4 degrees and the van was buffeted by powerful winds and a few hours of lashing rain, but I was snug in my sleeping bag with my book and a cup of tea.

Hope you can join me next time, when I'll explore Edinburgh some more.

Thanks for reading,

Brian