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Crossing the Forth*
Oct. 5th, 2012 07:49 pmWe took advantage of our early arrival in Edinburgh to meet in real life someone we'd previously only known online: and here he is! We didn't even leave Waverley Station, but we had a drink and a very interesting conversation about SEO (his speciality), Dorothy Dunnett (he runs her website), Slovenia (which he makes sound very appealing) and more. Then we caught a local train to North Queensferry, over the Forth Bridge, and dragged our suitcases to our hotel, which - like most of the town - is under the Forth Bridge.
We spent our time in North Queensferry wandering around the town, admiring the many views of both bridges, road and rail, taking photographs from interesting angles, dashing out after dinner to photograph the bridge which is floodlit at night. And the fun continued today, as the bridge has been visible for much of our walk, starting with the moment early on when we looked up at the rumbling above us to see the Royal Scotsman crossing onto the bridge (there's something irresistible about trains with names). *This is why ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
durham_rambler thinks this post should be called 'A Wonderful Prospect of Bridges' (he hasn't read Iain Banks' The Bridge).
We've been walking along the Firth of Forth, a fractal line round bays and inlets (not to mention the scrapyards of Inverkeithing), the rail bridge appearing and disappearing, then the road bridge lining up behind it, then Inchcolm Island joined in the dance, and finally as the day brightened, the Edinburgh skyline became more and more distinct. At first we could just make out Arthur's Seat, and Leith beyond, then we thought that perhaps we could identify the castle, and eventually its silhouette was so sharp I wondered how we could ever have doubted it.
The walking is fairly urban: this was a deliberate choice, because it gives us easy walking and plenty of options if the weather is wet, as it still may be - buses and cafés are available. A lot of the paths are tarmaced, which is hard on the feet, and it's clear from the evidence that this is dog-walking territory. On the plus side, there are plenty of seats, and we lunched on one with a view across to Edinburgh and pleasantly shaded by trees, from which a robin emerged to share our sandwiches.
This was the shortest day; ten miles tomorrow!
All the photos of North Queensferry
We spent our time in North Queensferry wandering around the town, admiring the many views of both bridges, road and rail, taking photographs from interesting angles, dashing out after dinner to photograph the bridge which is floodlit at night. And the fun continued today, as the bridge has been visible for much of our walk, starting with the moment early on when we looked up at the rumbling above us to see the Royal Scotsman crossing onto the bridge (there's something irresistible about trains with names). *This is why durham_rambler thinks this post should be called 'A Wonderful Prospect of Bridges' (he hasn't read Iain Banks' The Bridge).We've been walking along the Firth of Forth, a fractal line round bays and inlets (not to mention the scrapyards of Inverkeithing), the rail bridge appearing and disappearing, then the road bridge lining up behind it, then Inchcolm Island joined in the dance, and finally as the day brightened, the Edinburgh skyline became more and more distinct. At first we could just make out Arthur's Seat, and Leith beyond, then we thought that perhaps we could identify the castle, and eventually its silhouette was so sharp I wondered how we could ever have doubted it.
The walking is fairly urban: this was a deliberate choice, because it gives us easy walking and plenty of options if the weather is wet, as it still may be - buses and cafés are available. A lot of the paths are tarmaced, which is hard on the feet, and it's clear from the evidence that this is dog-walking territory. On the plus side, there are plenty of seats, and we lunched on one with a view across to Edinburgh and pleasantly shaded by trees, from which a robin emerged to share our sandwiches.
This was the shortest day; ten miles tomorrow!
All the photos of North Queensferry
