We had our first glimpse of summer yesterday, and seeing as though I had the day off I decided to make the most of it. At a balmy twenty degrees I was able to actually venture outside in a T-Shirt and do a heap of Geocaching.
It's only a thirty minute walk to Craigmillar Castle, one of Scotland's lesser-known ruins but pretty much sitting in suburban Edinburgh. There were some people about but it was not as busy as you would expect for a sunny public holiday. I highly recommend a visit to this place if you're ever in Edinburgh, sure Edinburgh Castle is the most famous castle but it was somewhat spoiled once we got inside.
Craigmillar Castle was what I expected of this sort of visit, there was some history to the place and you could really get a feel of what it would have been like to actually occupy the castle. On top of that there was some spooky-creepiness going on. There seems to be a bit of a pattern forming of Justin going out by himself (Mel was working) and giving himself the heebie-jeebies. This time it was mainly due to the damn pigeons.
Visitors are pretty much free to roam wherever they please throughout the castle grounds (something Edinburgh Castle is lacking), first I went through the lower levels where there were cellars and prison cells. As I ascended the castle structure I found myself going deeper and deeper into pigeon country. I started to get the feeling that it was actually the pigeons who owned this place and I was their guest. They just watched me as I wandered around, looking at me as if to say: "you're only alive because I haven't killed you yet." Maybe that's a bit dramatic but you get the idea.
Being the curious sort of bloke that I am, I was sticking my head into all sorts of nooks and crannies. At one point I found a small chamber with a window and decided to stick my head in for a look. Once in there I turned around and found myself nose to beak with a nesting pigeon. This scared the absolute hell out of me, I expected the winged rat to start pecking my eyes out there and then. I let out a bloodcurdling yell/bellow/scream followed by an expletive at the top of my lungs. I'm sure the kids and families visiting the castle didn't appreciate this too much.
After that encounter I was a bit more careful about where I stuck my head. I finished exploring the castle and then started looking for caches just outside the grounds. I discovered some rather unpleasant vegetation around the place, as I rummaged around looking for the caches these plants really stung my fingers and my fingertips have had a pins-and-needles sensation in them ever since.
Well that's about it for now, we have a three day weekend coming up and we're hoping to get down to either Newcastle or Carlisle and check out Hadrian's Wall. I'll keep you posted.
Cheers, Justin.
