Urban Images: Edinburgh in August

Edinburgh Castle from the Rooftop Terrace, National Museum of Scotland

August is Festival time in Edinburgh and the only time of the year when I spend much time in a city. During the Festivals (I've lost count of how many different ones there are) Edinburgh is bustling, confusing, entertaining, overwhelming, exciting, inspiring, exhausting.

The Bluebells and Barbed Wire logo of the 2014 Edinburgh International Festival

This year was a more serious festival time than usual as we went to several shows and talks relating to World War 1 and war in general, which were the themes of the International Festival. Of these events a talk by historian Margaret MacMillan on the complex causes of WWI was illuminating while Ganesh Versus The Third Reich was a disturbing, thought-provoking and challenging play.

The James Plays by Rona Munro were the highlights though. The writing, acting and production of these three plays about the Scottish kings James I, II and III were all stunning. This is a major work. The plays are on in London in September. I recommend them to anyone who likes theatre.

There were some shows with outdoor themes at the Festival Fringe and I went to ones on John Muir, the Three Peaks of Yorkshire and George Mallory and enjoyed them all. You can read my thoughts in the October issue of The Great Outdoors.

Away from the shows I did spend some time wandering round the city looking at the variety of people and places and taking photographs. Here are some of my pictures.

A Diverse Skyline

Reptilian monsters? Not worth a glance.

You can buy anything

Or anywhere really

Venues everywhere

Posters everywhere

Cranes or monsters?

An odd corner

Philosopher David Hume wonders what has happened to his city, to the left Jehovah's Witness cause a miracle - an empty space on the Royal Mile

Crowds

Caleb's List & Arthur's Seat

As usual when visiting Edinburgh for the Festivals last month I took a few hours off from the shows and exhibitions and street theatre to wander over ‘the mountain in the city’, Arthur’s Seat. In previous years I’d just found a way up to the summit, studied the view and the people, then ambled back down admiring the rocks and the plants and the birds and feeling happy to be away from busy streets for a while. Maps and guidebooks weren’t needed or carried. This year was different though. 

One of the books I’d read during my Scottish Watershed walk back in June and July was Caleb’s List by Kellan MacInnes, a book that is part personal story, part history and part a guidebook. It tells the story of mountaineer and geographer Caleb George Cash who, back in the 1890s, published a list of hills visible from Arthur’s Seat, and also has route descriptions for ascending those hills. Interwoven with Caleb’s tale and the guidebook details is the author’s own story and how discovering and climbing the ‘Arthur’s’ as he names Caleb’s hills, has helped him to cope with having AIDS.  The author is unflinching about the latter and there are some graphic and disturbing descriptions of living with this illness.

As well as route information for the hills on Caleb’s List the book has a description of a walk over Arthur’s Seat and I decided to use this on my last ascent, following the description on my tablet. This took me below Salisbury Crags, where some would-be rock climbers were almost getting stuck, and past Hutton’s Section, an important geological site, then up to the crowded summit where it was wonderful to see so many people enjoying the sunshine and the experience of being on a rocky hill. With Caleb’s List to accompany me I learnt much about Arthur’s Seat and its environs – previously all I knew was that it was the remnant of a volcano and was in Edinburgh – and saw parts of the hill I’d not visited before.

Caleb’s List is an excellent book, well worth reading even if you have no intention of climbing the hills described. Caleb Cash himself is an important if neglected figure in the history of the Scottish outdoors and the author’s personal story gives the book an emotional power unusual in a guidebook.

Next month, on the 4^th, I’ll be taking part in an event at the Portobello Book Festival in Edinburgh with Kellan MacInnes called ‘Wilderness Writing’. I have no idea how this will go but I am looking forward to meeting the author of Caleb’s List.

Urban Landscapes: Edinburgh at Night

I’ve been down in Edinburgh for the Glenfiddich Spirit ofScotland Awards – a very glitzy affair rather outside my normal sphere but enjoyable none the less, especially when Michael Forbes – the man who stood up to Donald Trump – won the Top Scot Award, a really wonderful moment. I now expect Trump to denounce and insult Glenfiddich, the Scotsman, the people who voted for Forbes, everyone there and probably Scotland as a whole. I was there as a nominee for the environmental award, which was won, and rightly so, by Alan Watson Featherstone of Trees for Life (which I have supported for many years). I did get a bottle of Glenfiddich to take home, which was very nice.

Edinburgh was preparing for Christmas, which seemed to involve the erection of some garish, not to say tacky, fairground rides in the Princes Street Gardens that clash horribly with the architecture and generally rather strict feel of this part of the city. The new additions also created some interesting shapes, especially after dark when flashing lights appeared and many of the tawdry and distracting details vanished into the night.

At this time of year darkness is the norm anyway, with less than eight hours of daylight. Wandering round the city as the last light faded I was very taken with the contrasting colours of the lights and buildings, some warm and welcoming, others cool and distant. Edinburgh took on a magic lost in the harsh light of day. Over the shoulder of Calton Hill the white orb of the full moon and the bright dot of Jupiter rose into the deep blue of the sky.

Edinburgh in Festival Mode

Photos taken while wandering Edinburgh during the Festivals, all with the Sony NEX 7 camera and most with the Sigma 30mm lens, which is ideal for street photography.

Essential refreshment

Menus & Rain

Venues are Everywhere

Grecian Lighting

New Usage

Johnny Blues

Poster Man

Optimim on the Royal Mile

A Meeting of Minds

Empty Space, Crowded Space

In the Grassmarket

Artwork

Famous Son

Conversations

Edinburgh Fringe on Arthur's Seat/ Images of Arthur's Seat

One of the great joys of Edinburgh is the miniature mountain of Arthur's Seat. Anytime the traffic, crowds, buildings and urban intensity become too much you can wander up this rocky volcanic remnant and feel a touch of the wild. Usually you can escape the festivals too. But not this August as every day during the Festival Fringe, whatever the weather, comedian Barry Ferns is up there with his show This Arthur's Seat Belongs To Lionel Ritchie. On a sunny day it's a pleasant if surreal way to spend twenty minutes. In a storm it could be quite bizarre. To enter the 'venue' the audience passes through a wooden door frame then Ferns entertains with gentle humour, audience banter and some information on just where we are - sitting on top of a 350 million year old volcano. Then it's back through the door and the show is over.

There's no dashing off to the nearest bar or cafe though. There isn't one. Instead you have the crags, flowers, grass and sky of Arthur's Seat. Any outdoors lover who finds themselves in Edinburgh should go up there. I spent a few hours wandering round this surprisingly complex little hill reveling in the unusual feeling of being in wild nature yet with a city spread out before me.

Images of Calton Hill, Edinburgh

One of the joys of Edinburgh is that there are hills inside the city that you can escape to when the hard stone and incessant traffic of the urban environment become overwhelming. Arthur's Seat is the big one, a volcanic remnant with the feel of a real mountain. But when there's only an hour or two to spare Calton Hill with its curious collection of edifices is a wonderful place with soothing trees and grass and widespread and wonderful views. These photos were taken on Calton Hill late one afternoon during my recent trip to the city.