After figuring out where we were, and which way was up, we were ready to head out of town, and propel ourselves by our own two feet for a while. Kristin got a book of walks around Edinburgh, and we chose one that looked not too rough, and had a castle. That was very important. We definitely wanted to see another castle.

The first big walk we chose was from Penicuik to Roslin. Penicuik, I quickly learned, is pronounced more like pen-uh-cook, and not penny-quick. We hopped the bus to take us down to our starting place. Since we hadn't been south of Edinburgh yet, we didn't know exactly where our bus stop would be to get off, so we faked it, and only after we finished the walk did we realize we chose the right bus stop. We got off the bus near Kirkhill, and headed down the road to the old "disused" railroad, now in service as a walking path. This would be the course for the first chunk of the walk.

By this point, Kristin had also would up with a book of local wildflowers, so we were albe to get some practice identifying flowers as we went along. We were there late enough in the year to see many things in bloom, and early enough that the floral exhibitionism wasn't yet gone.

There were probably five specific types of flowers that were particularly noticeable: Dog Roses, XX Orchids, Foxgloves, Thistles, and Corn Poppies.

The Dog Roses are a great contrast from the more traditional roses found in flower shops and most gardens. The flowers themselves are smaller, with only one layer of petals, instead of the more expected many layers. For such an unassuming looking rose, the scent is quite unexpected and powerful.

The XX Orchids were just a surprise. The flowers themselves were perhaps only a half inch across, but they came in these little cone shaped bunches with dozens of flowers in a bunch. The flowers were quite delicate, colored lavendar with darker purple streaks on them. We had to hunt quite a while of zipping through the flower book before we could identify them as orchids. After we figure it out, it was quite obvious that they were, indeed, orchid shaped flowers. To see so many growing in the wild was a pleasant gift from nature.

Foxgloves actually aren't that fascinating flowers. They look kinda neat, but they're so plentiful you soon stop looking at them. However, their shape and size makes them into an ideal size for to become "bee hangars". The bumblebees around Edinburgh are huge - over an inch long, and quite fuzzy. The flower of a Foxglove is just barely big enough to fit one of these bees, but it seems to be how they get pollinated. Each bee cruises up, targets the Foxglove, and nips inside the flower, vanishing from sight. Wait a bit, and it backs on out of the flower and on to then next. It looks like the bee is flying home and parking inside the flower-shaped garage at the end of a day of work.

The last flowering distinction was the Thistle. The Thistle is Scotland's emblem, and grows all over the place. When in bloom, the flower is a brilliant blast of pinkish purple atop a spiked ball of green. The message that it sends is mixed - "I am beautiful, don't touch me". The color makes it one of the brightest flowers along the path. You couldn't miss it if you tried.

Corn Poppies were equally impressive as the Thistles. We'll get to them in a bit.

We continued onward towards Roslin. Leaving the railway walking path, we headed up towards our next stop, the Roslin Castle. It was a good thing we brought the guide book with us, or we never would have found it. Trails aren't particularly well marked, and their destinations are rarely shown at the head of a trail. We missed the trail we had to take next, because it had no markings at all. When we realized we should have turned off the road we were on, the guide book gave some markers (on the other side of the street) that showed us where to head next. The trail towards the castle started out heading down along next to a creek. The trail was borderd with thick green grasses, and we saw some brilliant spashes of yellow flowers off in the creek, but we couldn't get close enough to see.

After crossing the creek, the trail headed up a hill, ending with Roslin Castle on top. Roslin Castle is a castle that has seen better days. Throughout history, it was supposed to have been blown to bits and restored a number of times. By the 1980s, it was apparently in ruins and probably ready to fall on the next unsuspecting visitor. Somebody apparently got some cash, because the remains were fortified, and now part of the castle is a private residence, and the rest of the old walls can be tromped around by anybody wandering through the area. What's left of the old walls is still quite impressive, and you're left wondering what was inside these walls that attacking forces needed so many times.

Next stop, Rosslyn Chapel. The chapel is a bit of Gothic history in the middle of what seems like nowhere. Unlike the nearby castle, the chapel has fared better over the ages. The most distinctive thing about the chapel is the hand-carved stonework. The most intricate column is one called the Prentice Column. So the story goes, one upon a time the master stonecarver went away for some time. Upon his return, his apprentice had done such a fantastic piece of work that in a fit of jealousy, killed the apprentice.

Across the road on the way up towards Roslin, there fields sloped down the hillside, with some great patches covered in Corn Poppies. These flowers are about 3 inches across, and are a quite brilliant shade of red. The hillsides painted bright red and bright green from the flowers and the grass are gorgeous.

We made it to Roslin, and realized we had been out longer than we planned, and that we needed to eat. We thought there would be a choice of places, but there was only one pub that we could find. Luckily, pub food is pretty standard. If you can find a pub, it'll likely have something that you like. (And if you don't like pub food, you should probably live somewhere else!) It might have been the fatigue affecting me, but I think the macaroni cheese I had for lunch was some of the tastiest macaroni cheese I've ever had.

After eating, we realized it was getting late, the wind was picking up, and we were definitely ready to finish up. We thought we were still following the route in the guide book, but we missed a turn (that had no markings on it, of course), and probably got an extra mile or two of wind and traffic because of it. We eventually connected back with the intended route, and headed back towards Penicuik. We finally reached out starting point on the old railway path, and headed on the path the other way, assuming we had caught the trail too early originally, and that there was an easy way to get back a little ways up. We trekked back a ways, and didn't see where the trail was taking us, and eventually took a side path back towards where we thought the bus was. This route, of course, led us over the highest hills in Kirkill, and back towards the road we originally took down to our main trail. Just about when we were ready to collapse, we saw a bus coming. The stops weren't marked, so we didn't know which lines stopped nearby. The bus came, we waved to try and get it to stop, but the driver shook his head, and kept on cruising ahead. Well, almost. He stopped to let someone off at the stop just around the corner. I ran after the bus and just as I reached the back of the bus, it pulled away.

After some momentary anger, frustration, and internalized hostility, we hiked back to the main road, and finally caught a bus back into Edinburgh. It started out as a great hike, but was just more than we bargained for. We survived, hoping the next adventures would end without leaving us tramuatized. We never actually made it as far as Penicuik, either. It turned out we started and ended the walk in Kirkhill. Next time, we'll know.