Revisiting Wild Wet Monday

 The first Monday of my trip (August 9) held wonderful things in store, things I was REALLY looking forward to. I started a post about this earlier in my journey, a post I had to cut off after only 3 photos (and by the end of this you'll know why I didn't have the strength to finish).  I finally have time to revisit it, so here goes.  I've always been drawn to the beauty of the bridges over the Firth of Forth.  Before I had ever traveled to Scotland I saw a picture of the Forth Rail Bridge, and I was fascinated by it.  I'm now aware that it's a UNESCO World Heritage Site, so it's not surprised that I've found it attention-grabbing.  The picture above is of the three Forth Bridges, a picture taken on a previous trip as David and I were flying in. I've always wanted to get a closer view but have never had opportunity, as this is some distance from Edinburgh itself.  On this visit I had the time to take the train to South Queensferry in order to take a boat tour under the bridges and also out to Inchcolm Island with its 12th-century abbey.  The first part of the journey involved taking a train from Waverley Station in Edinburgh, then walking from the train stop in Dalmeny down to South Queensferry.

The path was confusing (at first), but beautiful, and it eventually opened out onto the street just next to The Hawes Inn, a centuries old inn that is actually mentioned in Robert Louis Stevenson's book Kidnapped, which takes place in this area.

The weather conditions weren't great for taking pictures, but I hoped that would improve.  Weather is quite changeable in Scotland, so that was a reasonable hope.

We all headed down to the dock to hop on the boat - rain intensifying and umbrellas popping up.

And the weather just kept getting worse.

I know that Scotland has a reputation for being rainy, but even the natives were complaining.  I was told later that it was the rainiest day they had seen for weeks, if not months.  Back on land, streets were flooding, and my host expressed being glad he had a Land Rover because he didn't know if he would have been able to do the driving he'd had to do that day if he'd been in a smaller car.  And THAT was the day I was out on the water!

We made the journey under the bridges.  Needless to say, I didn't get any decent pictures.  I paid extra to get to stop off on Inchcolm Island to do some exploring.  It is the home of a 12th-century abbey and also bunkers from the time of World War II and also a tunnel that runs from one side of the island to another - a genuinely amazing place and immanently explorable.

As we neared the dock we passed a smaller island known as Inch Gnome Island.

The abbey was really beautiful and, though ruined, was still in pretty good shape.  Since it had been on an island its stone could not easily be plundered.

Normally I would have been all over this place and then all over the rest of the island.  Instead I found a room closest to the center of the abbey that still had a roof on it, and I paced back and forth and jumped up and down trying to try to generate some body heat. I also kept looking at my watch hoping the boat was going to come back soon.  There aren't many other options when you're freezing on an uninhabited island!  I don't think I had ever been this cold and wet-through in my life, despite at one point having lived in a state where it snows during the winter and gets down into negative numbers for temperature!

All I could do to stay OK was to recite to myself the next steps:

1) Get on the boat

2) Walk back to the train station

3) Take the train

4) Walk back to the flat

Good-bye Inchcolm Abbey, hello interior of boat.

I did venture out again and try to get bridge pictures, for whatever it was worth.

Finally back to Waverley

Some readers might recognize this train station from a scene in the movie Avengers: Infinity War.

So now I was through 3 of my 4 steps to get back to the flat - just walk now from here to there.  Amazingly I had the emotional energy to care about what I was seeing and took a couple pictures of the exterior of the National Portrait Gallery.  I saw a pretty cool engraving for which I would like to know the meaning of the symbolism, and, though I'd been here 4 times before, I saw the Napier statue for the first time, which was a cool find for me.  I may not have been able to identify him just from the statue, but I recognize the family crest below him.

I'd sure love to take that cruise and island tour under better conditions, but given the unpredictable nature of weather in Scotland, I don't know if I'd risk it again!  It took a toll.  

I think I ruined my shoes, which were the only pair I took with me (and this was only Day 3).

My fingers still looked like this half an hour after I got out of the rain.  (They've never looked like that even when they've been fully submersed in water for over an hour!)  I'd never before thought I might get sick from being too cold too long, but I was really feeling the cold deep down in my lungs - sure wouldn't have been good to end up with a cold at this time of  COVID pandemic - would certainly have people giving me the evil eye if I ended up coughing!

And this is what my passport (that had been buried deep in an interior pocket of a very large purse) looked like after this journey!

The good news is that the next day was bright and sunny, and it was pretty astonishing to drive, in beautiful weather, across the top of the New Forth Road Bridge that I had been cruising underneath the day before in such adverse conditions - but this glorious bridge crossing is another story for another post.

Look at that gorgeous sky and gorgeous bridge!  That's what's next!