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Grant’s Tracks

Exploring Edinburgh - Day 3 - The Royal Mile, Greyfriars Kirkyard & Newhaven Harbour

·2032 words·10 mins
Scotland

Morning - The Royal Mile and Edinburgh Old Town
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A classy Royal Mile street sign
A classy Royal Mile street sign
When planning my trip to Scotland, of course I researched “Things to do in Edinburgh”. It’s no surprise that the “Royal Mile” - a name coined in the 20th century for the sake of tourism by the way - came up in every list I saw. This street is described as the “historic spine” of Edinburgh’s Old Town and stretches from Edinburgh Castle to the Palace of Holyroodhouse which has been and still is the official residence of royals.

I’d walked from the east along “the mile” first on Canongate Street, then High Street from the Palace and the Scottish Parliament the day before, but before covering the western portion I veered off north towards Princes Street to catch a tram back to my accommodation.

 

St Giles’ Cathedral
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St Giles' Cathedral on a Easter Sunday morning
St Giles' Cathedral on a Easter Sunday morning
Today I covered that western portion towards Edinburgh Castle. By now I’d become completely accustomed to being surrounded by very old stone buildings, but that said, St Giles’ Cathedral still stood out as being impressively grand.

Founded in 1124, St. Giles’ is the “High Kirk of Edinburgh, Scotland’s National Church” and the “mother church of Presbyterianism”. This was a Sunday morning on Easter weekend so as I walked around the building I sensed that today it wasn’t merely an object of tourism to be admired / ogled / photographed. Instead this grand building was serving in its role as an actual place of religious worship, evidenced by ministers welcoming parishioners at the entrance. Although I don’t share the religious belief, as a tourist I felt I was intruding on the true purpose this building was meant to serve.

Greyfriars Kirkyard
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After checking out St Giles’, instead of continuing west on High Street toward Edinburgh Castle, I’d planned to turn south on Bank Street to visit Greyfriars Kirkyard (cemetery).

Greyfriars Kirkyard has been made famous for a couple of reasons. First, people want to visit the nearby statue of a small dog named “Greyfriars Bobby” just outside the entrance of the kirkyard. Bobby, a Skye Terrier, reportedly spent 14 years guarding his owner’s grave in the kirkyard before the dog also passed in 1872. It’s very likely the story surrounding Greyfriars’ Bobby has been embellished over the years; nonetheless the dog became a symbol of steadfast loyalty, resulting in statues, books, novels and multiple films about him.

Fame has also come to the Kirkyard via the Harry Potter series of books. You may have heard of them. Apparently J.K. Rowling wandered through the cemetery and used some of the names on the headstones as character names in the books. Thomas Riddle (Lord Voldemort - the big baddy) is the most popular example.

Memento Mori & Memento Vivere
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“Remember Death” & “Remember to Live”

(Click to see a larger version)

I enjoyed the quiet stroll around Greyfriars Kirkyard and as usual in most graveyards I visit, I was struck by the urge of humans to make some kind of mark on the world to be remembered. It’s a natural urge but in the long run misguided. Few face the reality of things better than John Keats’ simple gravestone in a cemetery in Rome. It reads, “Here lies One Whose Name was writ in Water”.

Rich people have the means to build larger, grander monuments to themselves and their families. Those without so much wealth can only erect simple gravestones. The grand, ornate gravesites are doing their job: they still exist, but it’s also obvious that large or small, all are fading and eroding with time.

Greyfriars Kirkyard Gallery#

(Click to see a larger version)

Grassmarket Square
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I headed over to Grassmarket Square to search for a geocache that I really wanted to find. After success there, I sauntered around a bit.

(Click to see a larger version)

Edinburgh Castle
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After finding a geocache at a corner in nearby Grassmarket Square, I headed along Victoria Street and then back to High Street to finish my walk around Old Town at Edinburgh Castle. By this time there were throngs of tourists in the area as you can’t help but notice in the pictures I’ve taken. At Edinburgh Castle I even took a rare selfie in service to a virtual geocache that only requires proof you were at the castle.

Near Edinburgh Castle
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(Click to see a larger version)

At that point I felt I was well done with traipsing as a tourist. I made my way down the steep slope along Ramsay Lane generally toward Princes Street where I caught a tram back to my accommodation. I half-thought I’d spend the rest of the day getting ready for the next day’s early-morning journey from Edinburgh to Glasgow and then to Milngavie where I’d start the West Highland Way.

But once at the accommodation and after a short rest, on the spur of the moment I decided I should make the most of my time in the city and that I should make one more excursion along the tram line to Newhaven Harbour with the idea it would be exploration without expending too much energy.

Newhaven Harbour
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The Edinburgh tramline serves a substantial swath through the central part of the city. I’d used the tram every day of my visit to start me off on planned walking routes. Now I wanted to take the tram all the way to its northern terminus at Newhaven Harbour.

Edinburgh Tram Line Map
Edinburgh Tram Line Map

The tram ride north was fun as I gawked through the tram windows like the tourist I was. As mentioned, over the past couple of days I’d gotten quite used to streets lined with old stone buildings, but during this ride it struck me that these old buildings weren’t just in the “touristy” parts of the city, they were everywhere as far as the eye could see. Of course that makes complete sense because in earlier times the sea was a place of commerce and a method of travel and therefore the harbour historically would have been a crucial hub of the city.

I got off the tram at the Newhaven stop and simply started walking toward the harbour. It was fun to simply walk and explore with no particular plan in mind. It was ridiculously windy though and the force of the wind seemed to get even more fierce as I decided to make a lighthouse along the shoreline my destination. I know now it’s called “Newhaven Lighthouse” and was originally built in 1869, eventually decommissioned in 1930.

(Click to see a larger version)

 

Newhaven Lighthouse. It doesn't serve as a lighthouse these days, but apparently shines coloured lights over the harbour at night.
Newhaven Lighthouse. It doesn't serve as a lighthouse these days, but apparently shines coloured lights over the harbour at night.
One of my favourite images from the afternoon excursion was of nothing grand nor picturesque. Instead it's a portion of a little round structure one passes along the walkway to the Newhaven lighthouse. Only later I learned this small structure is what remains of the original lighthouse which dates to around 1830. It's amazing to me how the sea water and wind have weathered and eaten into the stone over the past two hundred years.

That was the extent of my exploration in the area. Throughout the entire outing my attitude was that anywhere I happened to end up would be fun and rewarding, because it was all new to me. Plus for a prairie boy to be anywhere near a wide expanse of water is special. In this case the Firth of Forth, part of the North Sea.

After this somewhat spontaneous afternoon outing it was time to ready myself to embark the next day on a multi-day excursion that I’d been planning for and anticipating for months: the West Highland Way.

 

 

Gallery#

 

Grant S Wilson
Author
Grant S Wilson

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