1X mountain hike= 1X deep-fried mars bar

Apologies for lack of postage! I had to get a colleague to post some pictures on Facebook so that I could use them (never will I be caught camera-less again!) to prove I DID actually climb Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh.

But more on that later.

This is Edinburgh, where I was lucky enough to be joined by my family.

Edinburgh has a big university where apparently some of the students still speak Gaelic.

It also has a Royal Mile,

a castle, and lots of history.

This can only mean one thing: my father points.

All day.

But occasionally I point too. I mean, who is that?

This is The Writer's Museum where the most interesting thing I saw was

Sir Walter Scott's rocking horse, which had one higher leg brace than the other, evidence that he suffered from polio at an early age.

Basically, the Royal Mile has lots of tiny streets leading from it, where people lived and worked. There are lots of ghost tours you can do which I'd highly recommend.

My folks stayed at the Balmoral Hotel, again, highly recommended.

Sharing the afternoon tea can lead to arguments, it's that good.

Speaking of food, The Witchery is arguably the best restaurant on the Royal Mile, and due to the yearly festival, the guestbook is full of interesting autographs.

When you walk the length of the Royal Mile, you walk past the Parliamentary building, which looks oddly like some kind of prison for cattle to me.

At the other end of the Royal Mile from the castle, and nestled in between two hills, one being Arthur's seat, is the Royal Family's official residence in Scotland, Hollyrood House.

Eric went to the top of Arthur's seat before me, while I was working. So these are a mixed bag of his photos, plus subsequent ones when I managed to get to the top with my friends. For some reason the pictures are tiny, but if you can see in one the white pillar, that's the top. It wasn't easy...

...and I decided I deserved to try one of Scotland's famed culinary delights: the fried Mars Bar.

And a cross section. Mmm.

Cholesterol in a greasy, chocolatey bar folks! It was, I have to admit, pretty tasty.