30th August - 21st September

Annika is also a huge Outlander fan, and the two of us took a train and bus one day to visit Falkland, home of Series One.
Falkland is a very pretty, small village, around an hour from Edinburgh. We spent a while admiring the place where Jamie stares up at Claire's window, (along with a surprising number of other tourist fans!) and went for a walk around to see the many flowers and stone houses. I wanted to look inside a gift shop, which turned out to be where a large portion of the filming took place. The owner and employees described how the film crew had removed all signs of modern life from the village- metal poles, car park markers, even spraying walls to "age" them back to the 1800's. It was a fascinating insight into just how much work goes into building a set, and every detail had been considered. For those visiting, The Cottage Craft Centre is the place to go for all filming information, and Tim is more than happy to show photos of the process.

We'd heard about an organic farm and cafe just outside of the Falkland, and were given directions to walk there. On the way, we happened upon a dog locked inside a car. Although it wasn't a warm day, both of us were concerned by it's barking, and we couldn't find an owner nearby. We did find a workman across the road, who promised to keep an eye out. As happens so easily in Scotland, we began talking, and the workman was also heading to the farm for lunch. He offered to give us a lift, and so half an hour later, we found ourselves in pleasant company at Pillars of Hercules. Yes, we also

found the dog's owner, who didn't seem too bothered, but appreciated our concern.

Pillars of Hercules is a farm, cafe, shop and campsite. The majority of the produce is grown locally or on site, and it's 100% vegetarian.
I ordered a burger, and can guarantee the place lives up to it's reputation.
The trip home was long and tedious. Busses and trains only leave once an hour, and don't necessarily line up in terms of connections. Falkland was a pretty and novel place to visit, but I don't see myself returning anytime soon if there is public transport involved.

My next "adventure", if you will, was a long run with my friend David, from the Edinburgh vegan runners group. We met at Greyfriar's Bobby, a statue of a little dog, with his nose rubbed by so many tourists the paint has disappeared. The legend of this dog is that he guarded his master's grave for fourteen years, until his own death in 1872. Apparently a tourist guide made up a story that rubbing Bobby's nose will bring good luck. The rumour took hold, and poor Bobby has a very shiny nose now.
David and I ran through the Links, a large park area, where I found statues of unicorns. Do statues count as unicorn sightings? I took photos as proof, just to be sure. Further along the canal, there were wild blackberries growing. We stopped to eat a few, and I could easily have stayed an hour and eaten many more. Fresh blackberries are amazing. Our run took us about ten kilometres back up to Morningside, where we stopped for lunch. Organic Delicious is a fairly new cafe, with gluten free falafel sandwiches, and cake. Did I mention cake? There were so many choices I ordered two slices, one for immediate pleasure, and one to share with Helen at home. White chocolate and raspberry was my favourite, but the lemon, olive and rosemary came a very close second.

That evening, with cake and falafel clearly not enough, I met up with another friend John to demolish some pizza. Back to Nova Pizza, home of vegan faux meat and cheese, and two take-aways later we were sitting in the car, overlooking the lake and St Anthony's Chapel. There were still people up the top of Arthur's Seat, even at 8pm; impressive given the total lack of lighting on the way down.
John is a local of Edinburgh as well, and drove me out to the Forth Bridge, which at night is lit up beautifully. We then took a short drive out of the main city, to a road with a magical secret. At night, the road looks like every other. Turn off the headlights though, and there are hundreds of coloured lights lining the side of the road. It's like driving along a Christmas tree! The lights are only visible without the reflection of car headlights, and we coasted along for a few minutes in silence, watching the road.

Around a week later, John took me on another outing to Stirling Castle. Originally dating back to 1110 and King Alexander, the castle museum offers an interactive review of its history, including Kings and Queens, archaeology, wars, invasions, and daily life. There was music playing, smells, (some pleasant, some not so much), costumes to try on, and even lessons on harp music. We watched a video about the original statues and carvings, learning how they were dated and identified with paint samples, taken from deep crevices in the sculptures.
There was a lot of information to take in, and we probably spent an hour in the first display alone. Stomachs began singing louder than the recorded orchestras, and, discovering the Unicorn Cafe on site had limited options for me, we went in search of food.

After lunch, I finally returned to the Wallace Monument, after the first, much shortened visit in August. We climbed all 246 stairs to the top, and I found myself standing up the top of a tower, taller than Pisa, but quite as high as the Eiffel tower. There were a few galleries on the way up. Each gave a different history of Scotland. One focused on war, and of course, William Wallace, the hero who won against the

English. Here I learned about the Battle of Sterling Bridge, which becomes all the more real when you see the natural bend in the river and the bridge, from the top of the tower.
The Hall of Heroes is dedicated to Scotland's famous men. There is a display of busts around the room, each one a poet, inventor, politician, or writer. The idea is that heroism goes beyond freedom fighting. Perhaps one day there will be some female success stories added to the display? In the centre of the room is the Wallace Sword, a 1.67m length weapon, displayed on Abbey Craig stone. The sword is in a glass cabinet, impossible to photograph without reflections, and quite impressive to see.

The Royal Chamber is a floor of information about the tower itself. Architecture, facts and figures, and a place to measure your own height against the Wallace Sword. Yes, the sword is taller than me, of course.
What really made the visit worthwhile, is the Crown of the monument. Designed in the shape of a crown, this giant curved shape is visible from quite a distance, and I tried very hard to capture the different angles, curves and shapes in a photograph. The view is amazing, and you can see right over the looping lake, and over to the castle.
Of course, it began to sprinkle with rain once we made the top, so we cut our visit a little short, and descended all 246 stairs, ready to head back to Edinburgh.