Heading to Shetland...

After a great visit, Gillian dropped me off at the train station so that I could meet Opee in Edinburgh and we could travel onwards to Aberdeen where we would be catching a ferry for the Simmer Dim Hash Weekend to celebrate the summer solstice in Shetland.

We met up with a bunch of Edinburgh hashers at Krakatoa, a dive bar near the ferry terminal.

We passed this mural as we walked to the overnight ferry. I like its message: I am the keeper of magic...but happy to share.

Our cabinmates were Touched by Boobies from Berlin H3 and OBH from Paris H3; clearly we didn’t scare them away as they will be sharing a cabin again with us in June 2025. Not only did we drink with them in our cabin... 

…but we hung out together on deck (with Inspector Gorse and Fleshmob from Edinburgh H3 squeezing in for the photo)…

…and dined together (with Cockatool, who originally started this event and has organized again for 2025). 

 

Natural Entertainment...

While Gillian often sees deer and an occasional fox in her yard, I only spotted this hare. 

During my visit Mother Nature did a great job of painting the sky over Gillian’s neighborhood...

…and over the sea.

 

Spotting Birds...

We spotted several birds on our walk back to Gillian’s. Just off the coast was Fidra, an unpopulated island with Scotland’s first automated lighthouse and a nature reserve popular with puffins (although without binoculars, we can only assume they were puffins). 

The birds we saw on the beach itself were definitely not puffins. 

 

A Walk from North Berwick...

On my final day at Gillian’s, David dropped us off in North Berwick, a seaside town of around 8,000 inhabitants that is 20 miles northeast of Edinburgh. After lunch and a bit of window shopping, we headed to the harbor to start our walk home. Along the way we came across an open house at the Royal National Lifeboat Institution Station, so we stopped for a chat about their local efforts. Impressively this charity operates 238 stations around the UK with mostly unpaid volunteers manning the 400 boats.

Then we did a quick trip around the harbor.

The coastal walk was really nice...

…with several opportunities for Gillian to practice her balancing skills.

 

More Views of Edinburgh...

Our tour of incredible views over Edinburgh continued with drinks at the rooftop bar at the W Edinburgh Hotel.  

We finished our incredible tour of Edinburgh on Carlton Hill with our final views overlooking the city. On the left is the National Monument of Scotland, a memorial to soldiers and sailors who died fighting in the Napoleonic Wars from 1803 to 1815. Construction began in 1826, but it was left unfinished in 1829 due to a lack of funds. On the right is the Nelson Monument finished in 1816 in honor of Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson.

In the background on the right is the round W Edinburgh Hotel. 

 

Climbing the Scott Monument...

Our tour continued with a climb up the 287 steps of the Scott Monument, a memorial for Scottish writer Sir Walter Scott. At a height of 200 feet 6 inches (61.1 meters), it is the 2nd highest monument in the world built for a writer, 

Our tour brought us up a spiral staircase to several rooms and viewing platforms.  

The views were definitely worth the climb. 

Here’s another shot of the main train station from a different angle.

Princes Street is a major shopping street and separates the Old Town and New Town (built between 1767 and 1850, so not so new anymore). If you look in the background, you’ll see the River Forth, which flows through central Scotland into the North Sea.

 

Colorful Edinburgh...

I posted photos of colorful Victoria Street when our family visited Edinburgh in 2019, but couldn’t resist posting some more of this lovely curved road filled with boutiques and restaurants. 

Similar to our visit in 2019, flowers were again flowing  out of the turret below Edinburgh Castle. 

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Eventually we made our way to the Water of Leith, the main river flowing through central Edinburgh...

…and through some charming neighborhoods.