The sun came out in earnest in Edinburgh on Sunday and we walked through Princes St. Gardens to the Scottish National Gallery. We had originally planned to go to another National Trust property (Gladstone's Land) but it doesn't open on Sundays until April. Which reminds me - I forgot to say that we visited the Georgian Town House at Charlotte Square on Saturday morning.
A quick look at some of the paintings then it was time for tea and coffee outside the cafe there. Next stop was the Mound, then down the Royal Mile to Holyrood to sit and read papers and books in the sun. It was such a lovely spot - Salisbury Crags as a backdrop and Holyrood Palace - then some idiot decided it would be a good idea to blow half a billion pounds of our money and build the monstrosity that is the Scottish Parliament. It's not ageing well either. Here's Jo reading from her iPad:
We had lunch at the Palace tearoom then caught a 36 bus - thank you everyone for our bus passes! - down a convoluted route to Leith. It was our plan to do the other bit of the Water of Leith walk from Leith to Dean Bridge. First of all, a pint at the lovely Teuchter's Landing:
By this time of day - approaching 4 pm - the place was mobbed. It's quite a small bar inside, but there's lots of space outside, including a floating barge with seats. Getting served wasn't quite so easy. This spot was where the steamboats to Aberdeen used to leave from.
Leith has been gentrified in the last decade or so and it now has a bit of a look of Amsterdam:
We spotted another GBG pub - the Malt and Hops. Jo - not me - suggested we try one more in there before setting off on our walk. Mistake - we met a fellow CAMRA member, Norman Mackenzie, in there and it was several beers later before we left. The sun was now setting fast:
We had to get a shifty on or it would have been dark before we got back. We made it OK and rewarded ourselves with a quick half pint at Kay's Bar - another old favourite - and then grabbed a Pizza Express meal before retiring.
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