We’ve had a big busy week-and-a-bit, moving around to different places and catching up with friends. It’s been great, but I’m behind on my blogging, and have had to refresh my memory as to what was happening two weeks ago! When I last wrote, we were heading into our final few days with the dogs. Happily there were no last-minute dramas, and we all welcomed their family back on the Thursday.
The big news, however, is that all my positive posting about Sheffield drew the attention of the @HelpSheffield account, who then interviewed me for their podcast! It was a really fun chat about our time in wonderful Sheffield, and you can listen to it here:
We had a couple of nights in a hotel in central Sheffield – it was a nice place with friendly staff and a really good (cheap!) cafe, but our room was so tiny that when I was working at the desk Regan had to clamber over the bed to get to the loo! I did most of my work out in the cafe and was really feeling the absence of the 4 bedroom house with dedicated study!
It was great to stay in the centre of the city – I think it was a bit quieter than usual as we seemed to be in a student area but they were all away for the summer holidays. The weather was perfect and once our working (half) day was done we went for explorations and adventures! I walked across town to the ruins of Manor Lodge, which is one of the places Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned by George Talbot and Bess of Hardwick. Sadly I couldn’t get inside the fence, but I wandered around a bit – there are a number of fireplaces visible so I wondered if any of those three sat warming themselves there. It was a BIG house by the looks so perhaps not, but it’s fun to imagine anyway.
I walked there via the Cholera Monument, which looks out over the city, and the view reminded me of looking out across Wellington from Mount Victoria. The monument is for the people of Sheffield who died of cholera, and in particular the ‘master cutler’, John Blake, who died within hours of getting sick, and was buried the same day. Cholera is a terrible disease and I wonder if we’ll see more cases of such illnesses in this vaccine-hesitant world. Sigh.
It was a hot day so I decided to bus back, and had a fantastic chat with an old Greek lady at the bus stop. She was delighted to learn that I spent a summer as a waitress on Rhodes island back in the 90s, as her sister lived there in a nunnery for many years. She regaled me with stories of hanging out with hippies in the 1970s and of her Irish husband. Yet another bonus of not having a car to worry about is the opportunity for brilliant chats with interesting people!
We went out for dinner and a couple of drinks and the city felt relaxed and summery. Also looked like it might soon get a bit rowdy as everyone had been drinking in the sun for hours but we scootched home before that happened! We had an amazing Ethiopian feast which was served on a lovely soft bread as a plate, that you ate along with all the toppings!
Saturday morning saw us on the train to Edinburgh, which was busy of course, as it’s summer holidays plus the festival is on! Hoping that once the school holidays are over the trains will be a bit less packed. It was a good trip though, and SUPER EXCITING going up the east coast and seeing Lindisfarne and Berwick-on-Tweed – not long till I’m on the island! Lots of excellent accents getting on and off the train at each stop.
We arrived at Waverley station, Edinburgh, and I was immediately and completely overwhelmed by the sheer number of people! We hadn’t planned to go to Edinburgh during the Festival, but that was just how timings worked out with house-sits. We couldn’t work out why accommodation was a thousand dollars a night (I’m not joking) until it dawned on us. Happily our lovely friend Aud was able to host us in her cute flat in Leith, and we were so grateful to be in Leith (about a 20 minute bus from the CBD) as it meant we were away from the madness.
Travelling with our bags is a whole lot of not fun, and I’m kind of wishing I’d brought a good old backpack rather than a bag with wheels. My bag has a backpack harness too, but it’s too heavy for me to carry like that as I’m still pretty ginger about my back. Anyway, I’m very glad to have Regan’s help to get it on and off buses, and it’ll be a lot easier once the last camping trip has happened (which is Regan doing a bow-making course next weekend) and we can send all the camping gear home. We are dragging around a tent, bed roll, blanket, sleeping bag, and a small pillow, and pretty much all of those things end up either in or on my suitcase, so I’m really looking forward to sending it all home! Oh yeah and don’t forget the yoga mat – that also gets rolled up inside my bag… but will NOT be coming with us to Sweden!
We went down to the Water of Leith and had a catch-up and a couple of bevvies with Aud and her man George. It was glorious to bask in the evening sun and tell funny stories about travelling and our mis-spent youth! Luckily it was only a very few bevvies, as we were off to a bouldering gym in the morning. It’s like indoor rock-climbing but you don’t go super high so don’t need to fanny around with harnesses and ropes. There’s a very thick landing pad if you fall (but don’t fall). Gyms are not places where I tend to feel either relaxed or comfortable, but everyone was pretty chill. I felt like a giant awkward spider and was, frankly, terrible at bouldering, but I enjoyed watching all the good people climb, and I’d do it again (but at a quieter place where nobody can see me lol).
The amazing weather continued and we walked up Carlton Hill and then braved the crowds on Princes Street and in the gardens. I’ve never seen so many people and don’t know if I could live in Edinburgh again with that happening every year! I remembered that living in Edinburgh had put me off pipers, and felt bad that we were dragging Aud and George into the melee.
We ended the day with a lovely walk along Portobello Beach in the evening light. The beach was PACKED with people but it was a lot less intense than Princes St. Lots of ice-creams and bbqs. It didn’t gel with my memory of living in Edinburgh but it was lovely. The next day it was grey and cold and I finally felt like I was in Edinburgh – I just hadn’t felt right when it was hot and sunny!
We worked in the library down the road and then threw ourselves into the fray again in the CBD. I stopped to watch a street performer who then roped poor Regan into helping him with his (not great) show. Had had a “Simba moment” where he had to lift a small child up. It was weird and cringe, but Regan took it like a champ. Within an hour I remembered that living in Edinburgh had also instilled in me an irritation with street performers, but by the end of the day that had festered into a now-possibly-lifelong hatred of jugglers and fire-eaters. They all had the same patter, and all spent a good third of their act demanding money from the audience. I couldn’t wait to get away.
We visited the main gallery and checked out the 1800-1950 (I think) artworks, as I figured that was my best chance for Pre-Raphaelite works. There were some great pieces, and my highlight was four HUGE embroidered panels by Phoebe Anna Traquair – absolutely breath-taking. Had a nice coffee and cake in the cafe – very nice but crowded and expensive like everywhere. Then we went our separate ways and I went to St Giles’ Cathedral (see the pic at the top of the page) which managed to keep it’s dignity and sense of calm – and also some excellent glass to gawp at.
Home for a rest then bus and a walk out to meet Aud and George and our friend Beardy Dave at Holyrood before walking up to the top of Arthur’s Seat together. Embarrassingly, for someone who used to live in Edinburgh, I had never climbed Arthur’s Seat – back in the day I was a very dedicated smoker and non-exerciser! I got my exercise from dancing all night a couple of times a month and that was all I wanted. I looked with a mixture of scorn and horror at people jogging, and the idea of walking up the seat was somewhat interesting but not something I’d ever seriously consider doing. But times change, and that’s the great thing about growing up and growing old – I can leave unhelpful attitudes behind 🙂
Another work morning at the library then another trip to town, this time to the museum. You’ll be unsurprised to learn it was very busy… but happily the nerdy stuff I’m into is way less interesting to the mob than the old cars and expensive shoes they were all crowding around, so I was able to avoid the really busy areas and haunt the basement area where all the Pictish Stones and Roman things are kept. Bliss.
We then braved the crowds to get to the Last Drop pub, where our mate Mo used to work; we did this so we could toast him, I could bore Regan with stories from the old days, and I could experience the very weird sensation of time curling back on itself as the pub looked exactly the same as it did 30 years ago (at least as far as I can remember, but my memory isn’t that great!).
Fighting our way through the crowds to the bus my temper rose and rose, and then as we tried to board the bus the streams of people going past were blocking us from getting on. I very nearly lost my shit completely and wanted to scream JUST LET ME GET ON THE FUCKING BUS but happily a gap appeared and we got on. Holy moly, never again will I visit during festival. Ever.
A very “bracing” walk with Aud and Belle (a.k.a. Thug Dog!) to the lighthouse at Leith and then we watched the fascinating but painfully slow process of a cruise ship leaving dock and heading out to sea. It was like some kind of man-magnet, with every chap who walked past stopping to watch. And yes, us too of course! Suitably frozen, we went to a lovely warm pub and had a nice drink and a chat before heading home.
We were on the early afternoon train so worked a couple of hours then decamped to Waverley station to work another hour or so before getting on the train. The 20 minute bus ride became a 90 minute trip and I was painfully aware that I was yet another tourist with a stupidly enormous bag, irritating the locals. I want to stick a sign on my bag that says “I’m travelling for 7 MONTHS, not just a long weekend!” to try and explain why it’s so big! But anyway, the locals are all sick to the back teeth of the likes of me, sign or no sign. Time to move on.
More bag drama, as there was no space for my suitcase in the luggage rack and the train was full, so I had to shove it in front of my seat and then kind of curl up on it. After a while I went for a walk and found a buggy stashed in a different area so moved that to one side and pushed my bag in next to it – hurrah! Getting off the train and through the station was also pretty stressful, so it was great to get to the hotel. Travelling days are a bit hard for me, and so by extension are they hard for Regan too. But yep – looking forward to not having to drag the camping gear around! Of course then I’ll start filling my bag with all the amazing books I’m coveting at Waterstones, so I think I need to just resign myself to the fact that travel days will be hard but happily we don’t have too many of them.
The hotel was cool and we got an upgraded room so nobody needed to crawl over the bed to get to the loo! Very very central and quite intense outside – lots of traffic and people and occasional drunken yelling (not us). We popped down the road to Morrison’s to get some bits and bobs for a basic dinner and then zoned out in front of a documentary about Japanese pottery. As you do. It’s been a big week and we were feeling worn out but keen to explore Manchester. But that’s all for next week!
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I will leave you with this VERY weird video of Sanders snoring whilst lying upside down. TURN THE SOUND UP:
The Wayfaring Path 
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