The Ale Trail : on to Edinburgh Castle for Tea and Scones

Dalhousie Castle in the November morning sun

There's only so much high priced you almost cannot afford it fun a man can have before it feels like you got an itch to leave.  Castle Dalhousie this time around was looking real sweet in the rear view mirror, my beloved said as we drove away, in her beautiful Bristolian accent in an American vernacular sort of way, "We are so out of here!"  I will remind she said the very same thing when we left Camp Darby a decade ago, and damn she was right then in 2001 as 2010.  OK, nuff...

Looking East towards the John Lewis Shopping Centre

Bonnyrigg is about eight miles southeast of Edinburgh city centre.  Bonnyrigg is home to Dalhousie Castle.  There's a bitchen Tesco's about a mile out from the Castle where I was able to purchase Scottish brewed ales and beers and I will write an amplified assessment in the next posting concerning those.  We refueled there and then drove to city centre, clearly marked roadsigns saved me from further stress.  Now when you are in any British city (Scotland for now being a part of the United Kingdom and thus "British") parking on the street is a bitch, so go look for a parking garage, in this case may I recommend the one at the John Lewis Stores, which is part of a shopping mall, which once on foot lead us through the mall to a Taxi Parking stand.  Now the Scottish are known to be thrifty... so I should not have been all surprised when asking at the post office when topping up our mobile phone if there were taxi's nearby.  The lady replied, "Oh you don't want to take a taxi, they are too expensive!"  So outside on the street, with the taxi's highly visible I walked up to a colorful one and asked what he would charge from here up to the Castle.  He replied, " £4.00 pounds."  I'm not rich and after having spent much too much money at Castle Dalhousie there was a massive burn hole in my wallet, but hey, £4.00 pounds, I said, "Honey, lets go!"  I swear 3 minutes later we were at the entrance.

Looking South West from inside Edinburgh Castle

Two minutes later we were inside.  No way can you go to as a first time in the city tourist and not go to Edinburgh castle.  The city father's know this, so bend to the will, do the castle, get the feel, freeze in the chill, and check out the views.

Looking North East

Folks have been congregating here since the 9th century BC.  From Wikipedia we learn there has been a royal castle here since at least the reign of David the First in the 12th century.  The history after that is up to you to learn and there are a few resources on the web for doing just that listed at the end of this posting.  For now Mighty Meg Mons...

The Mighty Mons Meg

No way (click on the picture to enlarge) will you visit Edinburgh Castle and not be fascinated time and again with the abundance of Japanese tourists flocking to Meg Mons, I thought the bus had just unloaded at "Old Faithful" in Yellowstone before I regained my composure.  Now for my money I'm just not freaky vain enough to have to have my piccie snapped at every major tourist attraction in Earth.  Not so for our Nippon brothers and sisters.  It took forever it seemed for them to snap a shot this way, that way, with mum, with sisters, with dad, dad alone, mum alone (she was not pleased) one family from the main island after another.  I came back a half hour later and took this shot between busloads, I swear, just as the first group left I had about 90 seconds to get this one in and then the scenario repeated itself and this was early November, go figure what the summer offers with those extended daylight hours!

It's easily a good 2 hours walking up and down and about with lots of picture opportunities, this blog posting is major league touristy, sorry... but this is what's on offer... just about all that's on offer.

There are many rooms about the Castle where you will find exhibited sharp instruments of murder and mayhem.  You may find them to be interesting.  They certainly are ancient and they certainly are well guarded.  As an example...

Just outside the Scottish Royal Jewels display room

As you approach the Scottish Crown Jewel exhibit there is this weird almost life like procession of statues in line with a story that if you were to take time to read, and some do, you will be there for a bit before going into the room where the Fake reproduction of the Scottish Crown Jewels are supposed to be on exhibit as if they were the real ones.  Now I don't know if this is true as a Yorkshireman told me this one.  He was certain the ones in the case are fake.  Listen to me, like a Scotsman, don't argue with a Yorkshireman, just don't.  So OK, we enter the room where the Ersatz Jewels are cased in glass.  The sign at the entrance say's clear as day "NO PICTURES."  I'm good with that, I let the man at the door see me shut off my camera and bag it.  It's real dark in there and some folks are assholes.  I was standing there looking at the Jewels, OK their Jewels... like I'm ever going to own Jewels like that... when at the top of this lungs... NO PICTURES SHUT THAT CAMERA OFF NOW!  A guard was inside standing right behind me that I just didn't see because of insufficient time for my eyes to adjust to the light and they were not adjusting to the light, and the guards know this so be prepared, as the guard was dressed in black... I nearly wet myself.  I was still hyperventilating when we reached the fresh air.

The best part of the visit and be certain to not miss

It was time for Tea and Scones... look I'm an expert on this sort of thing, done the Devonish, done the Cornish, had em at home, had em at my sister in laws in the Cotswolds, have been having them seaside in the UK for years.  My advice is don't leave the Castle without having the Tea and Scones, don't to the weird salads with raspberry vinagerette as you are just too far north for that to be successful, stay away from the alcohol as you are sill walking down hill, and look, save your appetite for a nice restaurant far way from this heavy tourist zone, just do the tea and scones, trust...

There is plenty more on your way back to the street for you to see if ancient body armor, weapons of death and memorial chapels are your thing.  Me, it was time for shopping...

Looking up towards the direction of the Castle on the Royal Mile

Let me give you some advice, you will find the very same things for sale at much better prices over at the shopping centre with the John Lewis store in Edinburgh than you ever will shopping at the tourist trap stores situated on the Royal Mile save for the "Cigar Box" at 361 Royal Mile if you are an American and wish to purchase for the intent of smoking before you leave the country to return home, Cuban Cigars.  The prices are outrageous, so look at it as I do as Kinky Freedman said, "I'm burning Castro's fields!"  Hat's off to the Edinburgh Police Constabulary for there were no bums on the street to pick pocket or annoy, then again it's about 7 hours of sunlight in this most northern of cities this time of year and chances are all the bums flew snowbird down to Italy this time of year.

Look, you cannot drive this far this time of year with the sun shining unexpectedly and not think I and my lovely bride of 25 years would not venture into Edinburgh to see the Castle.  It was worth the stop, but then with Castle Dalhousie still burning that massive hole in the wallet of my mind, we hit the poorly marked streets west for Glasgow and roads south.  Been there... done it... got the Cubans...

Next Posting:  Carlisle in search of Hadrian's wall.


Edinburgh Castle official website (Click Here)
Edinburgh Castle wiki (Click Here)
The Cigar Box on the Royal Mile (Click Here)