“If ye provoke me I will punish ye”– Saying above the entrance of Edinburgh Castle
So, we have arrived at Edinburgh Castle, built on a burnt out volcano. castle rock, Edinburgh Castle was at the center of the civil war which raged between Britain and Scotland for nearly 300 years. One of the things that has fascinated me about this trip is the entire concept of time or timelessness Edinburgh Castle was first constructed in 1130, almost a thousand years ago…the Romans occupied the region almost a 1,000 years before that! Speaking strictly for myself, while American history is rich it is shallow when compared to European history. As a government and society, historically speaking, we’ve pretty much just gotten out of our diapers. Just an observation. Please do not place any ideological spin on it, none is intended and it’s a damn shame that I even have to make this statement in this day and time. On to pictures 🙂
Edinburgh Castle has almost a million visitors a year and it seemed like a fair chunk of them were visiting that day lol. What you can’t see from this picture are two massive construction cranes on either side of me as the famous “Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo”, had just been completed roughly two weeks before and they were tearing down the grandstands. “Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo” is best described, at least in my mind, as the penultimate Drum and Bugle competition in the world. That statement probably doesn’t do the pageantry true justice, Drum and Bugle really isn’t my thing, I’m more of a jazz guy but if you are interested just google what is in quotes above and there are many videos of the event. It is impressive. One photo, not shot by me, for reference.
Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.
Edinburgh Castle was the center of the royal controversy concerning Mary Queen of Scots among others but that particular one is probably the most well known in the states. I’ll not go into the story, again one can google it, but suffice it to say who controlled the Castle basically controlled Edinburgh and thus Scotland. The Castle commands the City of Edinburgh as shown below.
In the above photo you can see a crane derrick to the right, one of those that I mentioned previously. Arthur’s seat is another burnt out volcano and highest point in Edinburgh if one looks closely one can see small irregularities scattered along the top of Arthur’s Seat. Those are people! It was a very clear day.
Of course, as any good castle should be, Edinburgh Castle was defended by cannons.
The cannon above was capable of hurling a 300lb stone up to two miles when fired!
Other cannon were more conventional in nature. this particular battery faced to the East towards Newtown, which can be seen through the port.
The only modern cannon on the castle grounds is the “One o’clock gun” shown below.
In days gone by the gun was fired daily, as it still is, to allow ships in the harbor to set their clocks for navigation purposes. The reason told for why the gun fires at one, rather than twelve is attributed to renowned Scottish frugality….why fire twelve shells when one will do.
Within the castle walls was the Chapel of St. Margaret of Scotland. Sorry, have no clue who St, Margaret was, but the chapel was pretty.
The castle, as most castles were, was intended as a fortification and thus military in nature. Edinburgh Castle holds true to this as being the headquarters’ until 2006 of the Black Watch, the senior Highland regiment of Scotland. The battle ribbons for this unit are quite amazing as it has been involved in almost every major action of the British Empire over the last 200+ years. The Scottish War Museum is quite impressive with several movies and a myriad of displays chronicling the regiment’s history.
Well folks that pretty much wraps up this adventure I hope you have enjoyed it and thank you for tagging along.
A few concluding observations: 1.)the people in the UK are in general delightful always happy to strike up a conversation or answer a question. I was fascinated by the number of impromptu conversations that were instigated by the local population all of which were very pleasant. 2.) The popularity of through hiking Hadrian’s Wall is relatively new according to the locals having really exploded over the past 5 years or so. Thus, services along the path are no where near as well developed as along the Camino in Spain so, if you come here be prepared to pack a lunch and bring something on which to sit. We used garbage sacks. Light, compact and they kept your butt dry when sitting on damp ground lol. 3.) Guinness beer is much better in the UK much much better. In the states I am not a fan of Guinness, in the UK I sought it out. The reason it is better, in part, IMHO because it is served just a little warmer than American brews typically are and, in part, because I was told this by more than one bartender, Guinness doesn’t travel well. To the point that Guinness in Ireland is ostensibly even better than Guinness in the UK it must be served fresh I was told. 4.) Early on in this journey I did not do justice to sharing with you a little more detail regarding this man:
Roger Brough (pronounced Bruff) the sign photographer, and retired postal worker, whose little garage is in the background and faces the Hadrian’s Wall Path between “Bowness on Solway” and “Burgh-by-Sands” (pronounced “Bruff be Sands” locally) announced proudly, as Rich and I were visiting with him, that his name was Roger Brough (Bruff) with an “ou” which meant he came from a line of “cattle thieves and sheep stealers” and was no part of the more genteel (I’m sure relatively speaking lol) Burgh (again Bruff) which inhabited the next town! LOL. Folks, this trip was a gas! I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I have enjoyed sharing it with you. Be well!
One last thing. Just have to share what I found at the Glasgow airport:
Just like dust, it’s everywhere 😂. I understand that today (10/8/18) the first KK opened in Dublin and the traffic jam was biblical lol.
Lou Hikes? 