Lockdown week 5 - Thursday

Today we were wicked and took a bus into town. We needed a change. But we wore gloves and didn't sit anywhere near the other three people on the bus. We got off in Princes Street and walked through the gardens, which were - somewhat to our surprise - open.

The gardeners have been busy.

The Castle isn't a single building, but lots of them, added over hundreds of years and huddled together on the rock, making interesting shapes that look different as you look at them from various angles. The oldest is St Margaret's Chapel, built around 1130.

The trees look beautiful in the sunshine.

Then we plunged down towards Stockbridge. There were cars and people - just not very many of them.

Then we walked along the river in the Dean Village.

Can you see the Castle in the distance?

Now we're in the New Town.

 
We came up briefly from the river bank into Dean Village again. Mr L observed that the door of this house is very low, with no doorstep; obviously the road has been built up over the years round the house.

The same is true of this one - so much so that the door has been blocked up and a new one made round the side.

The inscription over the original door says: "GOD BLESS [ILLEGIBLE] OF EDIMBRUGH WHO BULT THIS HOUSE 16[ILLEGIBLE]. There are no spaces between the words, which adds to the difficulty in reading it.

And then back down to the river again...

and home. These new flats must be rather nice - in a very peaceful position.

Just over five miles today.

Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish First Minister, said today that we may have to continue living like this till Christmas or even beyond. I think I shall be rebelling (only slightly, and carefully) before then.