A Busy 3 Days

I am about 5 days behind in cataloging my activities and I'm afraid it's only going to get worse :-) Lets see if I can get in all of last weekend and Monday's adventures...

Saturday was a low-key day for me (one that was overdue). I went to the Edinburgh Farmer's Market which is on Castle Terrace (hence the name, the castle is directly over you on the hill). It was so NEAT, although not quite what I was expecting. I have become spoiled with Central Florida's farmers market and their plethora of fruits, veggies, cheese and flowers. The Edinburgh market consisted of about 2 veggie booths, NO fruit and at least 12 MEAT booths! Yup, every kind of meat you could ever want to buy was here. Can you tell this really is a county that likes its red meat? There were a few jam sellers and cheese mongers, but then there were at least 10 hot food booths. Why you would go to a farmers market to buy fried buffalo burgers I will never know - but it was fun none the less. The afternoon consisted of a lazy walk up the Braids ( just a residential neighbor on the side of a hill that afforded beautiful views of the city and the Forth). I did find a place where I might finally get to try my hand at golf! For only 5 pounds I get to play 9 holes (I think) We'll see how much of a fool I can make of myself :-)

Sunday was church and another great message from Pastor Peter. Unfortunately for me, this was his last Sunday. He is going to be teaching expository preaching in a college starting in the fall. So after 17 years of faithful service to Charlotte Chapel, he decides to leave the summer I arrive. Figures :-) After church I went on a picnic with the 20's & 30's group in the church. It was a nice time (with a few sprinkles thrown in) of playing frisbee in the park and chatting while we ate our lunches. They seem like a great group of people and I look forward to getting to know them better. Sunday night was another hike up the Salisbury Crags. This time I looped around the lower trail and then hiked up to the top again. It is such a great hike with unbelievable views, this might just become a regular hike every Sunday night. I do believe it is one of my favorites.

Now onto the exciting adventure that happened on Monday - I decided to bike down the Union Canal from Edinburgh to Falkirk - 32 MILES AWAY and back again! Yup, you read that right, 64 miles in 1 day. Perhaps I was a bit over zealous? :-) The trip was a lot of fun. It was really neat to be riding my bike through the countryside along the canal. Riding a bike doesn't afford the easabilty (sorry, made up word) to take pictures though, so there really aren't a lot of them. I got to ride over 100 foot high aqueducts overlooking rivers and roads and I also got to meet a few interesting people. One little old man almost jumped in front of my bike to get me to stop so he could tell me about the little ducks that were getting carried off by the seagulls. The hardest part was 7 miles before I got to Falkirk when I ran into a thunderstorm. It was nasty. I managed to wait the worst of it out under a bridge with a runner, but then after the brunt of it passed it continued to sprinkle and the trail was just all mud. By the time I got to Falkirk, I was covered in mud - what a sight was I!

Falkirk is a popular point to ride your bike to because of the Falkirk Wheel. This wheel is a massive structure that takes the canal boats from the Clyde Canal and swings them up 3 stories high to get them onto the Union Canal (since canal boats cannot go uphill, its necessary to do it this way to link the 2 waterways) It really is a neat thing to watch. So, once I arrived in Falkirk and warmed myself up with some hot coco, I was on the trail again. But, of course the rain followed me, so I gave up a few miles down the trail and hopped on a train back to Edinburgh. I was never so happy to sit down on a real cushioned seat and just relax. A well deserved supper at the Earl of Marchmont finished out my evening and completed my day.

No deep thoughts for this post I'm afraid - too many stories to tell. Perhaps in later post I will start my ponderings again :-) I have quite a few bouncing around in my head, but I think my adventures are a bit more interesting than my rantings. See you all later!