Edinburgh Castle

Hi all,

Yesterday (26th Sept) we visited Edinburgh Castle and walked the Royal Mile. The castle is mostly set aside as a museum now and is quite well preserved. It cost £11 to enter and a further £3 for a audio guide. These audio guides are used all over Europe and the UK. We saw them in the Vatican and used them at Stonehenge.

The castle was very interesting, and very cold; probably around 7 degrees in the shade and much lower in the wind. The Crown Jewels of Scotland are kept here (sorry no photos allowed) and there is an interesting story about how they were hidden to prevent them from falling into the hands of invading armies. The Scottish War Memorial is also in the castle grounds and we found the Fox and Barnard names on the list of fallen during the First World War.

Last night we stayed in perhaps the oldest building being used as a YHA in the UK. We chanced upon it while looking for a town with a laundromat (a rare commodity). It is located in Edmundbyers, and was built in the 1600s and has had many uses of the years. The YHA bought it in 1936. It is run by Bob and Janet, two lovely people who were very accomodating. We were able to get a 3 person dorm room to ourselves as they we not very busy.

We drove to the town of Barnard Castle today and visited the ruins of the castle there. This was quite interesting as the original castle was built in the 1200s. We took some obligatory photos and video footage and then started driving further south.

Cheers,
Paul.