Edinburgh

June 10th brought another day of sunny skies. From what the locals say, we've had extraordinarily great weather on this trip. Most have said that the best weather of the year has been in the last couple of weeks. We've had only two days of rain, and the only day that rained all day we were in London, and the other day it rained only part of the day. Sunny skies make the sights so much better.

We drove to the village of Carmichael again, this time to walk to the Carmichael house ruins. At the welcome center, they gave us a map to the old house. We walked down paths, across fields, and down drives. It was about 3/4 mile to the house. It was very large, in the thousands of square feet, and three levels plus a partial basement. No roof at all (more on this later), but many walls were still standing. Gary was excited!

Carmichael Ruins

The roof was removed some years ago as a way of avoiding paying taxes on a home. While it cuts the tax rate, it sure makes a mess of a house when it's open to the elements. Penny wise...

Some of Edinburgh Castle

After a bit, we walked back, had a light lunch at the cafe at the welcome center. Gary and Linda bought some memorabilia to carry home. Then on to Edinburgh Castle. The drive there was not too far, but with me driving, it was exciting. Hit a couple of curbs, and had trouble finding the right gear several times. No damage yet.

the GPS led us to the castle. Parking was challenging; we had to use a very expensive e parking deck (£18) for 4 hours. The castle was fabulous. Big, up high on rock outcroppings, overlooking the impressive city. I enjoyed the castle very much. It's pretty old, with parts dating back to the 800s. That's 1,500 years old!

It got to be time to leave the castle, so we walked a short way and had a drink. Then walked to the Hard Rock Cafe to get a tee shirt for one of Gary's daughters.

Edinburgh Castle over City

Then to eat dinner and walk back to the car. We looked for and found a hotel, the Salisbury, where they had room for us. It was nice. Then to bed. A long, but tiring day.