Today we docked on the River Clyde in Greenock, for our tour to Edinburgh. As they say in the classics, even the best laid plans can go awry, and today was the day. I had booked a tour for 8-10 passengers in February with Scenic Scottish Tours, with the final numbers to be confirmed 48 hours before. On Tuesday, I typed an email to the company to confirm our numbers (we had 9 people) but by mistake, I hit the wrong key and typed 6 passengers. The instant that I hit the send button, I realised my mistake and sent another email to cancel the first one and make sure that he had the correct number. Since I didn’t get any reply, I sent another email on Thursday just to confirm that he had received my email and to make sure that we had a vehicle suitable for 9 people, still no reply!!
I didn’t sleep worrying about the possibility that he didn’t get my email - you guessed it - he turned up with a vehicle which could only seat 7 - when I explained that I had sent 2 other emails to confirm the correct number, he said that he didn’t check his email very often!!! How can you run a tour business and not check your email!!! Not a very good start to our day!!! While I was very embarrassed and annoyed, Arnold and Philip stepped up and offered to stay behind and make other arrangements - I was very unhappy about it, but the remaining seven set off determined to make the most of the day.
Hint number one for tour guides - check your email regularly when you are dealing with clients who are paying to use your services - there can be last minute changes which you may need to know about!!
Soon after leaving the port, we stopped for a photo at the castle where William Wallace was betrayed to the English - have you seen the Braveheart movie? We drove for almost and hour and a half to Edinburgh, driving to the top of Arthur’s seat, a wonderfully located hill in the centre of town, with exceptional views of Edinburgh - the hill is criss crossed by hiking trails, and although it wasn’t very hot, the hills were alive - well used by the locals, walking their dogs, jogging and enjoying picnics.
After an orientation overview of the city from this lookout, and photo stops, we headed down the hill to Hollyrood Palace - the Queen’s official palace in Scotland - luckily she was still in England, so we were able to explore the public rooms - so full of the history of the royal family in Scotland - great tales of Bonnie Prince Charlie and Mary Queen of Scots as well as many others - if only these walls could talk - the scandals they would reveal!!
In the grounds were the ruins of Hollyrood Abbey, built in 1128 - it was the site of the coronation of James 5th and Charles 1st. The grounds surrounding the palace and abbey were superb, everything was flowering in full colour as the Queen is expected to arrive for her summer holidays in the next week.
Our next scheduled stop was the museum of Scotland, but a quick discussion in the van, and that plan was quickly scrapped in favour of heading straight to the castle - which we had first seen from the top of Arthur’s seat. Although our tour guide Robert kept telling us how lucky we were that it was so hot - this was a great summer day in Scotland - we were feeling cold and the sky was overcast and very gray, threatening to rain at any time - the buildings are very old granite rock structures, many covered with moss - so with the dark sky, the total effect was dark, brooding and gloomy - reminiscent of Wuthering Heights!
We headed up the Royal Mile to the castle after a warming cup of hot chocolate and a traditional scone - for our visit to the castle. There was a long queue for tickets so we waited about forty-five minutes before we had the tickets. There was a quick pickup line for pre booked internet tickets, but unfortunately our guide never mentioned this in all our emails back and forth to set up the itinerary.
Hint number two for tour guides - if possible, advise you clients to pre-purchase tickets online - you want them to get the most out of the limited time they have in your city - that is what they are paying you for - to guide them around your city in the most convenient way!!
Once we had our tickets, we had a lovely leisurely time exploring the 12th century castle which is perched on the hilltop in the centre of town - a perfect position to observe any marauding enemies - the embattlements, cannons, prisoner of war cells, War Museum, Dragoon guards quarters, and St Margaret’s chapel with its wonderful stained glass windows dating for the 10th century where a wedding had just finished. The famous Edinburgh Military tattoo is being set up in the forecourt of the castle - so we had to walk through the scaffolding to get to the entrance - I have only ever seen it on TV and it looks spectacular - the finale is a lone piper on the battlements above the castle playing the bagpipes - and then fireworks over the castle - shame we didn’t have an overnight stop!!
We headed back to explore the Royal Mile - a street which is the old heart of Edinburgh - full of old shops, souvenir shops, markets, artisans and craftsmen - with a little pub on every corner of course. We had lunch at the Deacon Brodie cafe - where the stone archway in the kitchen dates from 1420. While waiting for our meal, we explored the mural on the wall which depicts the life of Francis Brodie - the cafe is in his original workshop. The tale goes that he was a cabinet maker who was so skilled that he was elected as ‘Deacon of the guild’, a respected position in early Edinburgh. On his death, his titles passed to his son, William, who had the title but not the conscience of his father - be day he was a craftsman and a city councillor but by night, he made copies of the keys to all the local businesses where he has installed cabinets and came back to rob them. Ironically, he was arrested and sentenced to death - and hanged in the gallows which he had designed and constructed for the city council while he was a councillor. He designed and made a special neck brace which he thought would save him from hanging - it didn’t work!!
I had my photo taken with William Wallace - he had a sign which said 'The true bravehearts are leukaemia victims - he was a real character so it was great fun!!
After a bit of souvenir shopping it was time to head back to our meeting point and return to Greenock and the ship.
Arnold and Garry have made a bit of a tradition of finding ‘local headwear’ in each port and wearing it to dinner - tonight they turned up in traditional Scottish tam-o-shanters- you be the judge!!!
The Scottish tourist board at Greenock was wonderful - making us very welcome - with traditional dancing and bagpipers - as well as samples of scotch whisky. They lined the wharf and waved flags as the pipers played when the ship sailed - a fabulous atmosphere!!
The last time a member of my family was sailing from this port - it was aboard a convict ship bound for Van Diemen’s Land never to return to his homeland - and he only stole two cows. Who could have imagined that in six generations one of his descendants would be lucky enough to be leaving the same port on a cruise ship, sailing around the world!!
PS - Arnold met up with some friends who were hiring a taxi and joined their tour to Loch Lomond and Glasgow, so he also had an enjoyable day.... although I was upset that we didn’t get to share our Scottish experience together.
Tomorrow we are off to Dublin...... where Irish eyes are smiling.....
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