Day 19 – Edinburgh Festival

Port Seton to Edinburgh, 18Km

Today it was not about the journey but the destination. The JMW did it’s best to pretend I was out in the wilderness, zigzagging off the main road into every patch of urban wasteland that it could find. There was even a short stretch of bleak coastline but the crushed cans of beer and plastic bottles of energy drinks told the story that I was within reach of Scotland’s capital city, Edinburgh.

The Edinburgh festival is happening. I didn’t see it because I’m in a guest house somewhere away from the action. I’ll investigate later in the hope that I can consume some culture but although I’m here for 2 nights, my time is tight. Tonight I’ll be in the local pub to watch the football and tomorrow, Her Majesty the Queen has invited me aboard the Royal Yacht, Britannia. I could decline but it would be good to see the ship and maybe get a glass of bubbly. It’s also very close to the Botanical gardens and I never miss visiting them.

I should mention that I stopped in Musselburgh this morning. You’d imagine there’d be a lot of seafood shops and there were. I came off the JMW because I received an alert from the Costa Coffee app to say I was close to their Musselburgh store. So after the day’s coffee, I explored the town and discovered a statue of an archer which the council had recently commissioned. The figure has fired a number of arrows across town and you can try to find them. It commemorates the Musselburgh Silver Arrow trophy, 1603, which is the oldest sporting trophy in the world (good fact for pub quiz fans). And talking of which, it’s time to get to the pub for tonight’s match.