On to Edinburgh ~ Castle on the Hill

Wednesday, November 2, 2016 ~ by Amy

Today would be our last full day in the United Kingdom. Our feelings were mixed. On the one hand, we were sad to leave. There was so much unexplored territory and it was unlikely we'd ever return. On the other hand, we were eager to continue our trip in Finland where we would be visiting family and not having the stresses of driving, getting lost and getting out of scrapes.

We drove straight north from Penrith, England on the A74, a nice multi-lane highway. Before long we were seeing signs for our entry back into Scotland.

Another sign we kept seeing was for Gretna Green, a village just over the border of Scotland that is known for marriage elopements going back to the 1700s. According to Wikipedia, a marriage act in England and Wales tightened up restrictions on marriage, allowing a parent to cancel the plans if they didn't approve. The couple could then travel over the border to Gretna Green and get married. Boys could be as young as 14 and girls just 12. The marriage could be preformed by anyone, even the village blacksmith!

Turn off to Gretna Green, just over the Scotland border

One thing that they have in the UK on major highways that I haven't seen in the US is rest areas that have gas stations, coffee shops and fast food. There are different services on either side of the highway lanes and a walking bridge over the highway so you can access both sides. Most of our travels throughout the past two weeks have been on narrow, rural roads but when we were on the bigger highways, we took advantage of these service areas, especially for a coffee at Costa Coffee. Today we ate lunch at one and got a coffee for the road. When I pulled my coffee out of the cup holder, I realized how much more comfortable I had become with left side driving in the past couple of weeks. At the beginning I didn't even dare take a hand off the wheel, much less drink coffee.

Wind turbine propeller at a rest stop

For the last third of our journey we were on a secondary road with just one lane each way. It was more winding and much slower, but with pretty scenery. Again we were blessed with beautiful weather and driving conditions. As we neared Edinburgh we skirted the Pentland Hills Regional Park and the trees were ablaze with color.

As we drew near the city, I pulled off at a gas station to fill the tank.  We really hadn't eaten much junk food on the trip so far but for some reason we went a little crazy.  

Soon we were plunged into the dark, downtown streets of the City of Edinburgh, with all its crazy one-ways, roundabouts, pedestrian only streets and trucks parked randomly here and there.

Our goal for the day was to get back to the city in time to visit the Edinburgh Castle. They closed at 5:00 and the last entry for the day was 4:00. We caught a glimpse of the castle as we drove up the hill to the main parking lot. 

Glimpse of Edinburgh Castle

Alas, they had closed all of the lots to everyone except tour buses. We drove back down and proceeded to traverse the city, looking for parking. 

Finally I spotted a short spot on the side of the street that had metered parking. After a few false starts, I managed to parallel park rather nicely and set out to find a meter. It took coins only and 3 pounds were required for one hour. I only had one pound and some small change. I could have cried. So close, but so far away. By that time it was close to 4:00 and we would have had a half mile walk up the hill even if we found parking so we just gave up.

Edinburgh Castle

Our next goal was to get rid of the rental car. But first, we drove to our Airbnb for the night, Louise's “snug”, on 24 Queen Street, where we'd spent our first night. There was no legal parking available there so I had to stay with the car while Alyssa hauled all of our luggage down the street, up the stairs and into the apartment. And since I was parked in an illegal zone, she had to hustle.

Once we'd emptied the car, we set out to find the rental return. We had a marked map provided by Europcar but it was so tiny, I couldn't read it even with glasses on. So we had to rely on the gps instead. I wonder sometimes if the people who program those things have a vindictive streak in them. Maybe they sit around and get their kicks thinking about two slightly clueless girls driving in circles around strange cities on the wrong side of the road. Possibly. Anyway, this GPS took us off of a busy intersection onto a road that, while there was no sign indicating it, was apparently “pedestrian only”. How did I figure it out? By the glares and incredulous looks of people staring at us. Since the only way out was not “through it”, I had no choice but to back into traffic. I opened my window, made eye contact with the drivers and put up my hand indicating that they had better stop. They did, and after a few very sweaty moments, we were on our way again. We finally found the road to the return lot, creatively named, “New Street”. Only problem was, it had a barricade in front of it because it was under construction. We pulled off and parked in a loading zone and dug out the little Voda phone. Thankfully it worked and we were able to reach Europcar. I recognized the guy as they same one who had rented the big Mercedes to us. He was probably shocked to find out we were still alive, but calmly told us to drive around a few blocks and find the other end of “New Street” and enter there.

After driving around and around through about eight underground garages, we finally parked the car and happily got out of it. Alyssa pointed out an office that claimed to be for car returns. Stepping in, I saw a couple of unmanned computers and a guy off to the side, dressed in a mechanic jumpsuit. He didn't so much as acknowledge us. We stood for a while and then I asked Alyssa, “Why are we here?”, thinking that we were in the wrong office. The guy came to attention then and smiling and pointing at his head, said, “Umm..maybe alzheimers? Can I help you with something?” I told him that I was returning my car and he said he'd be glad to help me with that. I think he might have come up with a more professional greeting. Then he asked how the car worked out for us. I told him that it was fine except that when we had tire problems it took four hours to resolve it, despite my having paid extra for rapid assistance. He sarcastically said, “Ooh, four hours!” in a pitiful tone. I thought about asking for the manager but suddenly just wanted to be done with the whole thing. I ignored his childish attitude and soon we were on our way up into the Waverly Train station, our access to the above-ground world.

Disappointed that we hadn't been able to tour the castle, I told Alyssa that we were going to go somewhere for a nice dinner instead. By the time we'd navigated the ins and outs of the station though, I wasn't as enthused about looking for a restaurant. Then right in front of us was a Burger King. I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to fast food. As in, I don't usually eat it unless there is nothing else available. But suddenly, it looked rather appealing. So I ordered some kind of Italian chicken sandwich. It would have been good if they hadn't put BBQ sauce instead of marinara.

After supper we walked through the downtown to 24 Queen Street and spent the rest of our evening sorting through our luggage and preparing it for the next day's flight to Finland. We'd acquired quite a stash of groceries as well as a few souvenirs. Then we climbed up into the loft for our last night of sleep in the United Kingdom.