Our plan today was to go to The Georgian House in Charlotte Square, run by the National Trust, in the morning and then do a bit of the Water of Leith walk that runs from Balerno down to the sea at Leith, in the afternoon.
So how did we fare?
Well breakfast was in a little cafe off George Street. We were beginning to lose heart when we stumbled on it. . . up a close on the first floor with views up and down the road. A great place to people watch. No idea now what it was called or where exactly to find it again but I had a very nice bagel with cream cheese and Ian had granola with yoghurt and honey.
Enjoyed our visit to the Georgian House. . . it's a bit much, mind you, when you recognise and have even used some of the exhibits!
In a room on the top floor, there was what was called 'The Activity Room' which amongst other things gave you the opportunity to write using a feather and ink.
Whilst I've never written using a feather, I do remember carrying a bottle of ink in my school bag to fill my fountain pen! Quick ink.
When I was a school girl, I had a permanent blue ink mark on the side of the middle finger of my right hand.
In primary school, we were taught the cursive writing style - with 'up light and down heavy' strokes in preparation for using ink and the pens we practised with were simple shaped sticks with a metal nib on one end!
Another world!
Our walk was an experience.
It started off well enough as we followed the path beside the river flowing through the Village of Dean, but as we reached Sauchton, we were diverted into a housing estate, due to the tram works, then as we tried to get back onto it further along, we were stopped by a policeman with his tape straddling the road, twice. Something has happened. . .
Anyway, we found a pub - no we didn't have any beer - but after refreshment we set off again. We were walking beside a very busy road with two lanes in each direction. This was our lowest point and we were on the verge of packing in the whole idea when luckily we found ourselves back by the side of the river.
There's an information and activity centre sitting at the side of the river at Slateford. And it had a wee cafe too. My coffee came in a silver pot and i was given a pot of hot water too, just in case the coffee was too strong! So nice. We sat outside in the sun which had eventually come out and read their leaflets.
I'm ashamed to admit that having opened the Eton Mess chocolate which was part of the goody's box that Lucy sent me for Mother's Day, we ate the lot! I still feel queasy thinking about it!
There was nothing for it. . . after the chocolate, we had no option but to keep walking to try and burn it off.
To be honest, from Slateford on, it was a riverside walk again and at some parts was very pretty.
We wandered down memory lane when we reached Balerno but only briefly as the temperature was dropping quickly - then visited one of the local pubs, think it was The Grey Horse, before using our bus passes to get back into Edinburgh.
And there, we found a pub to have dinner in, The Abbotsford. Worth a visit for dinner upstairs or beer and a snack downstairs.
After which we took a taxi home.
Day was done!
This isn't Edinburgh. I didn't take any photos when we were there but the image of Ian holding a glass of beer fits just about anywhere, doesn't it?
The photo was actually taken in Singapore.
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