Scotland (Trail of Hairy Coo – Part 1)

Much has been said and written about the breathtaking beauty of Scotland, and I sure concur. And you just can’t rush through this place; it’s so beautiful that you need time to soak up the landscapes into your senses completely. Ani and I had spared three days for our Scotland trip and we decided to spend the first day in Edinburgh (the Capital) and the next two days exploring the Scottish highlands.

We boarded the evening National Express Coach from Portsmouth (The Hard Interchange) to London (Victoria Coach Station) and reached in time for our next coach (Mega bus) that would take us overnight from London to Edinburgh. It was March, the weather was great, we had half an hour to depart, and I was sipping coffee and eating my favourite (Egg and Cress) sandwich dreaming about castles, lakes and mountains. Perfect.

If we were meant to stay in one place, we’d have roots instead of feet

The bus rolled its wheels and there began a beautiful journey. A few hours later, I woke up to see the dawn breaking and held my breath at the view. It was unreal. The meadows bathed in the golden light of rising sun. It wasn’t a rainbow in the sky, but a conglomeration of those exact seven colours spanning the entire horizon. What was that?

We reached Edinburgh bus station at around 7am. We had booked our stay at Castle Rock hostel, right beneath the castle in the heart of beautiful old Edinburgh. It wasn’t very far, so we took a stroll also to get acquainted with the city. The day was breezy and the air was rich with the promise of a good time. On our way to hostel, we came across St. Andrew’s Square encircled with key frames (The stick men were a delight to watch) and the Gothic Scott Monument. From the Princess Street we climbed the Royal Mile, walked it and took a by-lane called Johnston Terrace to reach our hostel. The streets looked opulent. Now, once in Edinburgh, you have many things to do and places to explore. We had a single day, we decided not to rush through and picked two things that we wanted to do the most – Hiking Arthur’s Seat and visiting Edinburgh Castle. And wander around the city in the evening maybe. We spent some time getting freshened up and eating breakfast in the hostel. I loved the hostel, the cheerful people at the reception, the lively common hall and our “Romeo and Juliet” room, a cosy little space giving us a great view of the magnificent castle.

Starting to catch the dramatic vibe of Scotland

We geared up for a hike to Arthur’s seat. We walked about half an hour on a plain terrain and reached the evident point of start of hike.

Cuteness Overload

The terrain became elevated, took a turn and we were in the middle of two hills and weren’t sure which one was Arthur’s seat. I was more interested in hiking the hill to our right, the path looked more interesting, so we went all the way up only to realize it wasn’t Arthur’s seat.

But it turned out to be even more beautiful (in the hindsight we can tell). There we were standing on a cliff, beholding the enchanting Edinburgh in our eyes. We spotted the Calton hill, a cemetery, the Castle and many other famous landmarks in the distance.

Time to climb the real Arthur’s seat now.  We were on the other side of the hill now and there were many people climbing from that side too. It was an easy hike, trails were defined and there we were, once again feeling mesmerized by the landscape that unfolded before us.

Arthur’s seat, finally

We descended a random hill that made us stroll through the holyrood park for a while before we finally got our feet back on a familiar road.

This experience earned us a big fat lunch after which we dragged ourselves to the hostel and took a power nap. All charged up, we gushed out and climbed a few stairs in front of our hostel and found ourselves standing in front of the castle. It looked big, bold and beautiful. We immersed ourselves in its history and geography (Castles and Forts are mostly built on strategic locations, defending them was paramount) and came out more informed.

View from the Castle

We had the rest of evening so we loitered around the Edinburgh streets and caught sight of the tram, watched people having a great time, got some souvenirs and a kilt for me. Stumbled upon a guy playing bagpipes, another guy doing magic, kept gazing at the Victorian buildings spanning the area, ran in the drizzle to get our food packed and savoured our Chicken/Falafel rolls sitting on the mezzanine floor of the hostel common area. I was feeling overjoyed, but my heart kept asking for more. And the best was yet to come.