This morning was very overcast early on threatening rain but
the day in fact was fine. Perfect for a cruise on the Firth of Forth.
What was not perfect was a continuing problem with our room
at the Almond House Lodge in that the central heating radiator which is turned
off, taps and gurgles continuously throughout the night. It’s like water
torture in that there is nothing we can do about it.
And we haven’t even mentioned the first mornings breakfast
which we tried for £12 and neither of us could eat. Oh, well
it is only a 2 star hotel. We are back to making our own from now on.
After our own breakfast prepared by Mick, we left the hotel
and followed the GPS across the Forth road bridge to North
Queensferry where our cruise boat was picking us up. Normally
cruise passengers are picked up at South Queensferry
except when there is a cruise liner in port and today the Queen Elizabeth was
in town.
As we were a little early, we decided to go into the Royal
Albert pub near the pier for a coffee and had a nice chat with the lady who
served us. She gave us some good advice about going into the city of Edinburgh which was not
to take the car. She gave us directions on catching the train from Dalmeny in
South Queensferry and getting off at Edinburgh/Waverley station which is near Edinburgh Castle.
We could also park the car at the station for free,
brilliant.
After coffee we caught the Forth Belle with a couple of
dozen others who were waiting at the pier and went up under both the Forth road
and rail bridges to have a look at the new aircraft carrier that the Brits are
building. They are also building a new road bridge as the existing one needs
major work. They are in the process of pouring the foundations of the piers.
The new bridge will be ready in 2016 and there is quite a
bit of discussion as to who will open it. The Queen opened the existing bridge.
We then travelled back under the bridges. The road bridge was
surprisingly noisy as the traffic passed overhead.
Just through the bridges the Cunard liner the Queen
Elizabeth was moored. It was a very impressive ship and is Cunard’s newest
ocean liner reflecting modern elite ocean travel. It made its maiden voyage in
October 2010 after taking just 12 months to complete. It has a passenger
capacity of 2000.
We then sailed on passing a couple of little islands which
were the home to a variety of seabirds and some seals before arriving at
Inchcolm, an Island steeped in history and housing a very old priory.
Here, those that wished could disembark to spend about 90
minutes on the island. They would then be picked up on the next trip. Lyn and I
decided not to land we had other plans for the afternoon and there was and
extra £6 which to pay for a landing pass which went to a body managing the
island.
We then returned to the pier seeing more seals and passing
very close to The Queen Elizabeth.
We then drove back across the bridge to the Dalmeny railway
station and caught the train into town.
We immediately caught the Big Red Bus to get a whistle stop
tour before alighting in the city centre right in the middle of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival crowds.
The place was packed but Lyn, who is not keen on crowds, was
persuaded to join the throng as there were many shops selling among other
Scottish themed items, beautiful Cashmere clothing made in Scotland.
After spending a couple of hours mingling with the crowds
and being bombarded with flyers to go and see various artists perform in the
festival, we were worn out and went back to the station to catch the train back
to the car.
Whilst walking through Edinburgh
to the station we found a Chinese restaurant offering an all you can eat menu
so we thought we would have an early dinner until we noticed that because it
was Friday, the cost per person had been raised from £11 to £15 each. We
decided that was extortion and went and caught our train.
Mick’s choice of a
location for our hotel was, as it turned out a perfect choice because despite
it being rush hour, the car trip home took about 10 minutes.
For dinner we went to our usual haunt, Toby’s Carvery, which
offers a selection of pork, gammon
(ham), turkey and beef (or all of the above) with 7 different vegetables for £5.99.
A bargain.
Almond House Hotel
We didn't know that Scotland had it's own bank notes! I wonder if they work in England?
The MS Queen Elizabeth is a big one with a tonnage of just over 90,000 so its about 12x bigger than the Brittania, which of course is only a yacht. It cost Cunard a cool 350 million Pounds to build which seems quite cheap to me. It was built in about 6 months, incredibly quick in this day and age.
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