Edinburg Scotland Travelogue, Dunbar and more

Annette and I were greeted at the airport by my mum and dear friend Mike Dunning. Between the two of them we were able to transport ourselves and all of our luggage, bikes and all, back to the Gavin abode. It was a warm welcome on a particularly sunny Scottish day. It has been a busy first week of our round the world adventure. Seeing family again after three and a half years has been both heartwarming and challenging simultaneously. Annette and I are staying out in the summer house at the end of the garden at my parents house. Its cozy and quiet and gives us a sense of privacy and independence that we appreciate. My Mum and Dads house is small when you add a few guests, but suits their needs perfectly. They have a Japanese theme garden that is extremely tranquil and puts all who spend time there at peace. We usually sit out in the mornings drinking coffee on the stone patio next to the pond and waterfall. The perfect place to greet the new day! My parents house is located on the south side of Edinburgh, 20 minutes by bus to the city center. It sits up on an elevated hillside overlooking the beautiful Braidburn Park, where all the locals walk their dogs. Five minutes in the other direction is the Hermitage, another heavily wooded park, filled with towering mature Beeches and Oaks. The Hermitage filters out at Blackford Hill and from this elevated vantage point you have unlimited views out over the entire city. We headed here on our first day back in Edinburgh, taking young Leo, my sisters dog with us for a good long walk. It was sunny and calm and the city looked splendid indeed. It is truly a beautiful city, deemed on of Europes finest and I get quite nostalgic gazing over the cityscape.

Annette and Leo on top of Blackford Hill.

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My folks also have a beautiful stone cottage overlooking the sea at Dunbar, a quaint, quintessentially seaside town. Dunbar sits 30 miles East of Edinburgh and has a small,centrally located harbor where the local fishing fleet pull in and berth. We spent the day here, enjoying the fresh sea breezes. Adjacent to the harbor, are the ruins of an old castle built in the 8th century, and at one time the temporary residence of Mary, Queen of Scots. All but the basic outline remain of what was once an impregnable fortress, inhabited now by a nesting colony of Kittiwakes (seagulls).

The combination of soft sandstone, salt air, exposed location and lack of preservation all contribute to this historic markers decline.(reminds me of Jimi Hendrix's 'castles made of Sand'!) Dunbar used to be a very popular seaside resort for the Edinburgh socialites back in the early 1900's. Complete with huge outdoors swimming pool that was built directly into the rocky shoreline just out of high tides reach. There is a golf course that overlooks the sheer cliffs to the West side of town. Main street accommodates the usual array of shops, the buildings are all made of the same sandstone that the castle was. Dunbar was home to the legendary figure John Muir, who was instrumental in founding the National Park system in America. He grew up here before heading westward. There is a beautiful shoreline trail close by called the John Muir trail and a Museum on the High Street that recreates his home life setting and chronicles Muirs significant contributions during his long career.

Thanks to
Dunbar Primary School 1997 3B class for these four photos

My Dad is an Artist, a painter and has his studio on the ground floor of their 2 story stone cottage in Dunbar. His paintings are essentially abstract, colorful interpretations with bold gestural shapes. He was down at his studio working away when we arrived there. His studio is definitely enviable, a space of about 40'x 40', with 16' ceilings and a bank of windows on one side.The upstairs apartment looks directly across the sea and it is always incredible to sit back and watch the weather systems blow in off the water. You can observe the squall lines as they traverse the dark green waters, and the skies are always filled with drama. From the kitchen window, off to the west, you can see the monolithic 'Bass Rock' protruding from the sea, home only to an unmanned lighthouse and sea birds. The Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival has just begun, a prelude to the main 3 week Festival which begins soon. It always attracts some of the finest Jazz musicians from around the world. To signal the commencement of this one week festival of music, there was a Mardi Gras event in the old town Grassmarket area. 7 or 8 Jazz bands played their various styles of music almost simultaneously from different stages set up along the length of this historic part of town.(All in all it was just another excuse for a drinking binge!) Mardi Gras conjures up images of real carnival atmosphere, fantastic costumes and inspirational parade floats. This was not so grandiose unfortunately, but more of a social event in the form of liquid libation! So we moved on, leaving my Dad to socialize with his pals while Mum, Annette and my Aunt Hilary cruised down the old 'Royal Mile' and absorbed the sights and transformations taking place within the city center. Down at the foot of the Royal Mile across the way from Holyrood Palace where the Queen stays when she is in town, is the site of the new Scottish Parliament. It already under construction and is significant for Scotland in many ways. Architecturally it will be a landmark structure as well as a marked departure for Scottish politics from decentralized policy-making down in London. Finally, a vestige of Scottish empowerment.....maybe, time will tell! We moved on to the new 'Living Earth' museum, another architecturally impressive piece, built using tenting construction, as in the Columbus center in Baltimore or the new airport terminal in Denver. The natural beauty of Salisbury Crags and Arthur's seat acts as a complimentary backdrop to the very modern fingerprint of this building and its significant exhibitions concerning our planet.

Check out
Edinburgh's
Royal Mile
At this web site

Sunday 30th July was spent in Princes Street gardens beneath the magnificent Edinburgh castle. There was a huge free Jazz/Blues concert taking place and thousands of people were out enjoying the gorgeous weather and listening to the different musical offerings. As the evening went on and the music took on a distinct Latin flavor, the whole open air arena was filled with dancing people while up above on the steep castle walls a drama unfolded. Two young boys tried to climb up the rock on which the castle sits with the intention of going further on up the walls and over onto the esplanade, where Elton John was performing. They obviously got to a high point where they were unable to go any further up, nor were they able to down climb due to the steepness of the rock face. So the Police and Fire rescue services got involved and they had to rappel down off the upper ramparts of the castle and rescue the lads from there. It was fun watching this episode unfold while enjoying the festivities below.

Edinburgh
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The Jazz Festival produced a couple of very memorable performances. First we saw Martin Taylor (pre-eminent British guitarist) at the Queen's Hall, featuring Eddie Gomez on double Bass (Eddie used to play with the likes of Miles Davis and Gil Evans). Wow what energy! The Queen's Hall is a wonderful venue with a lot of charm and character. Once a church with a very unassuming facade and equally simple and unpretentious interior. It was converted into a music venue about 20 years ago. The old church pews remain intact, serving as the seating, with the small shelves in front of you where the open bibles used to lay, now functioning as a place to sit your program or drink! Another converted Church hall was the venue for the next evenings performance. 'The Hub' presides in one of the upstairs rooms of the old 'Highland' Church, that is located 100 yards down the Royal Mile from the Castle Esplanade. Its a fairly small, intimate setting, yet its tall ceilings (at least 30 feet), convey a great sense of spaciousness. Scott Hamilton(saxophone) and John Bunch(piano) were the featured artists on this night. Both concerts were equally inspiring though quite different in character and style.

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This last group of photos were taken in and around Dunbar before we left Scotland.