Walking

Sunday May 19, 2026

Edinburgh

Weather: more sun than not, showers (while we were at Edinburgh Castle) about 10 degrees.

This first picture is of a house for sale on the street where we are staying. Out of curiosity, I looked it up online to see the asking price: £940,000. But that means the vendor won't entertain offers lower than that. If you are interested in the house, you need to make an offer in the vicinity of ask + 20% otherwise, too bad, so sad. Apparently the seller has told her neighbours they "will be happy" with the price. 

We had two excursions planned today: Edinburgh Castle - jammed pack with tourists - and a tour of the Real Mary Close "underground city" - an area of Edinburgh 

Random architecture walking today.

This is a "California Lilac"

Edinburgh Castle is set upon volcanic rock high above the city with a fairly steep climb up to the front gate. Even though the location has evidence of occupation for thousands of years, oldest elements of the castle date back to around 900 AD. The castle changed hands a number of times over the centuries, which is amazing because it looks so formidable. There are endless displays inside and, while we spent about three hours inside, we barely scratched the surface. And even though we are here in "shoulder" season, it was absolutely jam packed. Often it was difficult to move amongst the exhibits because there were so many people trying to squeeze through narrow doorways. I did note that when we entered, signage indicated it was "sold out" for the day and to book online in advance.

Dog cemetery within the walls. The dogs had belonged to various commanders or regiments stationed at the castle.

Check out that caption from 1331.

Our next stop for the day was a walk straight down "The Royal Mile" road to "The Real Mary King's Close". For the record,  a "close" is a street and Mary King was a resident on the street in the mid 1600s. She was a young widow with four children who advocated for the community, had a seat on the civic council and was able to vote - uncommon for a woman of the era. The street was a narrow, steep street that had been covered, along with three adjacent streets, by buildings which were constructed on top of the foundations of old buildings along the close Our tour took us down into homes that had remained after the construction on top of the street. It was grim. Rooms with low overhead, dirt floors in places, fireplaces that did have chimneys but surely, smoke would have billowed in the rooms. This tour was less about "history" and more about "kitsch". We were not allowed to take pictures I'm sure because they felt that would diminish sales of souvenirs. 

At dinner, we talked about how we both wished we had planned longer for Edinburgh. It is a great walking city - and we have done a lot of walking, there are plenty of opportunities for excursions or just looking at architecture or the sites.

Entrance to Edinburgh Castle.

The Royal Mile, a road that stretches from Edinburgh Castle to the Palace of Hollyrood House, the King's official residence in Scotland.

Where's the Beef

Saturday May 16, 2026

Edinburgh 

Sunny with cloudy periods. About 12 degrees.

Sorry for the cliche. Aside from which, we know where the beef is located: it was in Japan but now it is in Edinburgh. 

We had a good day of walking around the central part of the city, starting with breakfast at a busy little cafe with five two-seater tables: two out and three in. We sat in one of the two out, which normally wouldn't be THAT exciting except today, we were sitting there eating breakfast OUTSIDE and I was chatting on the phone with my new best friend Hugo from the motorcycle hire shop in Inverness. I said as soon as he called me that I was out at breakfast so he promised to keep it short. I had emailed him about a few things before picking up the motorcycle next week: could we store gear with them, could they pick us up from the train station, stuff like that.

Hugo LOVES to talk. So, when he says "I'll be brief", that means 10 minutes to answer each questIon. I had emailed him four questions earlier this morning. Despite the fact that he had PROMISED, I had to endure a 40 minute conversation in why I did not need to pick  up motorcycle gear the day before picking up the bike.

But while Nan and I are sitting outside  enjoying our breakfast, a seagull swooped in and took a whole sweet bun off the plate of the gal sitting a few inches away from me.  SHE HADNT TAKEN ONE BITE. I was on the phone but it startled me: the seagull touching down on the table and grabbing the bun and flying away. The seagull carried the bun away and it landed in the middle-of busy Bruntsfield Place (busy street near here) and it looked alot like it was going to be instant Karma for the seagull however, the bird managed to dodge THAT bullet. 

Luckily for the gal sitting  next to us, the people in the coffee shop witnessed the entire exchange and promptly replaced the stolen bun.

Meanwhile, I had to tell Hugo as this was unfolding, that we had just witnessed a little crisis right before our eyes.

We walked for the afternoon down to the Surgical Museum Chamber of Horrors. This was not some cheap sideshow carny act but actual historic displays of anatomical examples of centuries old amputations and disections. It's gross and creepy, which is right up Nan's alley. It is the history of surgical medicine in Edinburgh going back three hundred years. I'll have to say that while i was revolted at what I saw in the museum, examples of what people had endured before current surgical techniques  I was very thankful for the sacrifice made by thousands who had suffered before us so that we could go through surgery with anesthetic and sterile tools.  BTW, photography was strictly verboten and to encourage people to comply, visitors are all given a bookmark with a QR code that has some pictures that you would not otherwise see. If you are just sitting there doom scrolling, I would suggest clicking the link above.

We were walking back to the B&B, scouting for a place to eat and we happened along Ishiku Wagyu Steakhouse. A  quick search revealed a 4.5 rating, so worthy of our attendance.

I can tell you we were both BLOWN AWAY by our dinner. it's not enough

to say that it was excellent. We both concluded that it was THE BEST STEAK WE HAD EVER EATEN. We had each ordered a 100 gram piece of Wagyu fillet. Now, I admit that a 100 gm piece is not very big but I thought "I'm 67 years old - how big a piece of dinner do I need? Well, I wasn't HALFWAY through dinner and I tracked down our waiter and said " bring me another piece of that wagyu steak!" As I took my last bite of the first piece, the second order was set down on the table, which I promptly split with Nan.

I told our waiter "Tee" to tell the chef our impression of the steak. As we left, Tee told Chef Luke we were leaving and he came out from the kitchen to greet us. I wanted to hug him (but I didn't). I think he was thankful for the feedback but I can tell you that I have never had a steak as tender as that one, nor as tasty. If you are in Edinburgh, you need to visit this restaurant. Even if you are vegetarian.

Feeling somewhat  euphoric with our dinner, we decided we would have a nightcap on our way back tgo the B&B. We stopped at Montepelier, a cool, shie-shie restaurant not far from where we are staying. Sadly, we had used up our Karma and were subjected to a disappointing nightcap.

Wee are in Edinburgh

We experienced the most death-defying drive since we arrived in Ireland today: the Uber driver taking us to the airport. The whole drive there, at no time was it clear which lane he wanted or what colour light meant "go". Red clearly meant "race". But whonis complaining? He got us there pretty fast and even though we left well in advance  of what we needed, his driving got us there with enough margin that we were able to sort out some complicated logistics checking in to Aer Lingus. As I checked us in , I was surprised that the process wanted me to pay to check Nan's suitcase. It had been so long since I  booked our tickets that i had forgotten that I only prepaid for one suitcase sincen initially, ee thought onesuotcase migjt be enough for us both. And no carry-on bags for either of us. But a gal assisting people through the process said "sometimes they charge, sometimes they don't" so we presented ourselves at check-in and, sure enough, no charge for the extra suitcase or carry-on bags. This is what you get with the deep-discount European airlines. Fortunately,  I HAD opted for seats, as opposed to standing room.

Since we are carrying our motorcycle helmets in out carry-on luggage, we had those to task us. We were flying on an ATR-72, the European equivalent of a Q400: an 80 seat 4 engine turbo prop airplane, and I can tell you space is pretty limited. My carry on  bag would not fit in the shoe-box overhead bin, nor would it fit under the seat ahead of me so I ended up taking my helmet out of the bag, putting it overhead and jamming my bag under the seat ahead of me. Even with the helmet out of it, my bag would only go in about half way. No big deal. The flight attendants, who had clearly seen it crowding my feet, were nonplussed. 

My knees, my bag between
my feet, my distress if we are trying
to exit the plane in a hurry.

The flight to Edinburgh was just over an hour. Once we taxied up to the area of the terminal, we were told to stay put until the captain got on the blowhorn and yelled out "women and chdren first!" For several minutes, passengers sat, waiting patiently. The flight attendant at the front could barely keep herself awake and as restless passengers started getting out of their seats and gathering their belongings - still no word from the captain - she just ignored the passengers. People were looking around trying to decide what they should do but Nan could see that people were exiting off the back of the plane. It might have been in a chute, for all I knew. 

Inside the terminal, we waited longer than it took to fly over from Dublin for our luggage to be released from captivity. No baggage handlers was our guess, though several flights arriving after ours got their luggage before we got ours. 

We took a cab to the B&B. At the airport we were told by airport staff it should cost around £37-£43 but it ended up being £53. I said "that's considerably more than the airport estimate" The driver told me "they don't consider the tolls or the traffic". What tolls? Uber, next time, buddy. Even though you gave me your card for a trip back to the airport.

We got to the B&B and our hostess let us in and then promptly told us her life story of woe. We stood in her lobby for 15 minutes or more hearing every tale.about her kids and ex-husband an how she wants to run him over with her vehicle but she lo es the vehicle and doesn't want to damage it. Running him over.

When we finally got away, we retired to our room for a few minutes then went to get dinner. The first two restaurants rejected us because they were full. The third said "of course!" Which made me suspicious but it was looking a little like beggars cannot be choosers.  Anyway, the menu looked good and we ordered shared Haggis Spring Rolls to start. Nan ordered Coq au Vin and I ordered Seafood Chowder. All three were excellent.

Haggis Spring Rolls. I have my doubts about this being "real haggis".

Nonetheless, this was the result.

The view from our window at the B&B.

A near by street.

Local graffiti. 

Karma DOES exist

Thursday May 14, 2026

Dublin

Distance traveled: 199 km

Cumulative distance: 2083 km

Weather: Showers, clear, cloudy, showers, clear, showers, cloudy with showers, clear with clouds, and hail. 11 - 15 degrees

This is the note that had been left on our car when
I had inadvertently left the tracking device on the hood.

Sorry to belabour this GPS tracker story but it just won't go away on its own. 

When we packed up and left our sweet hotel room at The Harrison in Belfast this morning, I just couldn't get over how someone could leave a note like this and then not turn in the tracking device. But clearly, none of the hotel staff had any ideas about its whereabouts. The hotel is an odd configuration: it is like four or five buildings all attached and doorways knocked out between each building so that guests and staff can move from one building to the next. When we were checking out, I asked about the history and we were told the owner had started out with an Airbnb, then bought the building and turned the various rooms into more Airbnb suites, then bought two more buildings, turned the place into a hotel then bought two more and now have 32 suites in total. But the mainfloor is a crazy maze of rooms, staircases a couple or three elevators, a dining area and some "ante rooms" that may have been storage. One room on the main floor has a piano because we heard somebody playing it this morning. Anyway, before leaving, I thought I would walk around all the rooms that were accessible to me JUST IN CASE the person who left the note had dropped off the tracker in what he thought was the reception and left. I had a thorough look but didn't seen any sign. We left the hotel and were about to leave and I thought I would go look at the adjacent building and see if there was anybody around that might have been able to identify one or both of the guys that had been playing football in the parking lot. There were eight apartments in the building and I rang the buzzer to every one but nobody answered so that was my last ditch effort and we were on our way. 

Our target was to see Newgrange and we had just enough time to get there, have a look around then make it back to Dublin in time to return the car before the auto place closed at 5:00 pm. About 15 km outside of Belfast, we stopped for diesel fuel and while I was inside paying, we had a phone call and it was the hotel where we had stayed: the tracking devide had been found in a customer's hotel room by housekeeping staff! We don't know the details but can only guess. The room was one of several that had been booked by a wedding party. The person who brought the tracker into the hotel was probably looking around for a person to hand it off and one of the wedding guests had been in or near the reception when there was no staff member there and said "I'll look after it". Then didn't. So we turned around and headed back to Belfast to retrieve the device. 

As such, if you are reading this page and haven't looked at our location on the trip, YOU BETTER DO IT RIGHT NOW! And now that I am feelling better about the whole thing, I feel a liitle more like post hotel room pictures.

After returning for the tracker, we were BACK ON TRACK and heading to Newgrange, a UNESCO site of an ancient (older than Stonehenge, older than the pyramids) burial mound. Since we were stilll avoiding the motorway and taking back roads, we ended up on the narrowest road of our entire trip so far. Hard to even call it a road. Maybe a lane. There was grass growing in the middle of it.

We didn't get pictures from the really gnarly part because we were too scared to take our hands off the door handles/steering wheel (both of us) or any other thing that seemed solid inside the car.

It is Troubling

Wednesday May 13, 2026

Belfast, Northern Ireland 

Weather: light rain in the morning and howling wind in the later morning and all through the afternoon. Sunny, for the most part..12 degrees.

We started the morning with coffee and granola in the hotel and then basically, at the last second, deciding we would do a walking tour of The Troubles, which is the name of the time when the people of Northern Ireland fought in a bitter civil war duuring the seventies and eighties. Our guide was an educated man (lawyer) with a perspective that didn't sugar coat the past but was hopeful for the future. He gave perspectives that reflected both sides of the conflict and acknowledged his views didn't sit well with everyone. Later in the evening we met someone whose viewpoint was quite in contrast and saw religion as the divinding line between her side and "their' side. It was sad, tragic and upsetting have two opposing points of view in the same day. I'm not going to get into it any more than this because it is complex. But it is far from over.

Parts of the city still close at night.

UVF stands for "Ulster Volunteer Forces"

The so called "Peace Wall". In the foreground, barriers prevent cars from using the space for passage. These are common in Belfast and are primarily to create bottlenecks. 

Tourists adding their own graffiti.

King Charles is not highly regarded here, despite his overtures to Northern Ireland because he is the commander of British military forces.

In the afternoon, we visited the Belfast Titanic museum, a wholly worthwhile venture. The museum is massive with a great amount of effort devoted to depicting life in Belfast around the time the ship was constructed, working conditions for the people who built the ship and sensitive displays around the tragedy. It would be possible to spend any amount of time in the museum, depending on your level of interest. We were there about three hours. At the end, there is an amazing display of the ship as it currently rests, a huge model of the ship and genuine articles from the ship, all currently on load from private collections. It was emotional.

The Titanic Belfast Museum

The Nomadic, the only surviving White Star Line ship.