Hi Marsha and Blue. How are things in Prince Rupert?

They are currently filming Fast and Furious 9 at the foot of Arthur’s Seat. That is what we put on our schedule for today – the climb, not the film.

The walk started down The Royal Mile and went through some beautiful gardens.

At the bottom of Arthur’s Seat, there was the camp for the movie shoot. We had seen some of it on the other side of the hill during our Spooky Tour two nights ago.

Heading up the hill we saw we had to take one route as the other one was closed.

It was a really beautiful walk. The hill has people walking all over it. Several hundred people a day must make the climb.

The wind gets stronger the higher up you go. But the views are magnificent. Those are people down there.

The fall heather is coming out and there are large areas of it on the hill. There is also a lot of gorse on the hill. Barry has named it Scottish cactus. It’s deadly.

Our adventurous little buddy spotted some love locks on the chain railing near the top, and he wanted to hand out a fine, but we talked him out of it. He’s on vacation after all.

It was really windy and rocky at the top.

We went down the other side of the hill. A couple of Scots at Roslin had recommended we try an old pub in that area. On the way we came across some archaeologists doing a dig. They refused the offer to take their photo. They are looking for evidence of terraced farming on Arther’s Seat that could go back to the Bronze Age. It’s a local initiative with archaeologists from a private company as well as St. Andrew’s University. The excavations were deeper where they were.

We found the pub with the help of Mrs. Google. It’s in an area called Duddingston. Lovely little community.

The pub is the oldest surviving pub in Scotland (started in 1360) and the Queen visited here in 2016. She left her chairs.

The food was really good. Especially the tempura mushrooms. we chatted with a couple from Australia who are on the cusp of opening a gin distillery there.

I never remember to take pictures of the food before I start eating. Reassembled as best as possible. Sorry.

On the way back we walked through Holyrood Park and miles of the University of Edinburgh.

We stopped at the Supreme Court and listened to a Brexit case about the proroguing. There were about twenty lawyers with a panel of three judges, They didn’t allow pictures.

Then we stopped in at the Divinity School to see the inspiration for one of JK Rowling’s characters. Was it Dumbledore?

After dinner we hung out in the Groove Lounge and reviewed our upcoming walk. We are really trained and ready after today!

Keep smiling.