The experiement

>>We have become professional foreigners in the course of our
cruising experience. It has been a simple matter of finding
a dock or anchorage and getting to know a new place: the museums
and historical sites on the one hand, the grocery stores and
chandleries on the other, plus everything in between. We have
received haircuts in eight languages and under eight foreign
flags, as well as the occasional bit of medical care in distant
places. Our system has been successful, and the key element
seemed to be staying in that new locale Long Enough. Depending
on the place, Long Enough might be a week or two, or a month,
or the winter. Then slip the dock lines or haul up the anchor,
and proceed to the next port.
>>>>
>>>>But Horizons is coming back to America next year and will
confine her cruising range in the future to the Atlantic coast
of North America, so some things will have to change. We were
wondering how we could scratch that chronic nomadic itch of ours
without sailing the boat to faraway places, and we thought we
would try out a new concept: renting an apartment somewhere or
another for a month's time, and flying there.
>>>>
>>>>Self-catering, they call it in the United Kingdom—buy groceries
and cook them at (the temporary) home, use the apartment as a
base for excursions. Get to know the place. We'll just go there
other than by boat.
>>>>
>>>>Scotland and Edinburgh
>>>>
>>>>We picked Scotland and Edinburgh because our travels in UK
had taken us as far as Hadrian's Wall but never the few miles
northward into Scotland. We have also been reading two prolific
authors who set most of their novels in Edinburgh. One, Ian
Rankin, writes police procedurals are so dark we need a color
darker than noir to describe their outlook; the other is Alexander
McCall Smith, whose characters experience and generally solve
their problems in an urban setting that is just as decent and
civilized as the characters themselves. Both of them can't be
right, we figured, so why not see for ourselves?
>>>>
>>>>Scotland is a nation with a population of 5 million and a
land area about the same as that of Maine. Edinburgh is its
capital, and its latitude is 5 miles south of the 56th Parallel.
(Moscow is 15 miles south of that same parallel, so you get
the picture.) And Scotland is its own country—drive an hour
southwards to Berwick-upon-Tweed (pronounced Burruck) in England,
and you and Toto know that you're not in Scotland any more.
The transition from a Scottish to an English population is sudden
and fairly drastic. (More later.)
>>>>
>>>>Scottish History
>>>>
>>>>We tried reading up on Scottish history to prepare for our
visit, and we distrusted our impression. It seems that for nearly
a thousand years this, that and the other king, lord and chieftan
engaged in an unending series of skirmishes and battles with
a view toward securing control over chunks of real estate that
were of modest value, and in the course of these never-ending
struggles the parties involved perpetrated amazing and deplorable
betrayals and cruelties upon one another. Our guided tours of
course confirmed that our impressions had been correct. It's
just that for the foreigner mastering the details is nearly impossible.
>>>>
>>>>Enough background—on with our Edinburgh September!
>>>>
>>>>The Flat and Environs
>>>>
>>>>We occupied 58a Cumberland Street in the New Town, a south=facing
basement apartment with a sitting room-kitchen combination on
the west side and a bedroom on the east, with a spacious hallway
and bathroom in the middle. The buildings across the street
are only four stories, so plenty of sunshine lights the place
between 10 AM and 5 PM. The kitchen and appliances are new,
and the landlords have furnished the flat with all the user manuals
and all the laminated maps anyone could need. Edinburgh looks
flatter on Google Earth than it does up close and personal, so
the vertical feature provides a lot of healthy exercise as we
walk from our base to the sights.
>>>>
>>>>At the west end of Cumberland Street we found The St. Vincent,
which became our local pub. At the east end two blocks away
is The Cumberland, a pub mentioned in the Smith novels—where
on Mondays one David Aldbury runs a Quiz Night. If you ignore
the widescreen TVs and the electronic betting machines, the interiors
of both pubs look like pubs looked a hundred years ago. At The
Cumberland, one quiz night we insinuated ourselves into a Scottish
team of three, and the next Monday we recruited a Scottish team
of two (Ian and Hamish, and we hope that's Scottish enough for
you). Both times our teams won, each time by one point and there
were obscure questions about North America on both nights so
our contribution provided the margin of victory. We are leaving
Scotland with a perfect record—not bad considering our utter
helplessness respecting such important categories as British
Top 40 hits from the '70s and British sitcoms from the '80s.
>>>>The nearby groceries are mostly Mom-and-Pop, with limited
selection, but just off St Andrew's Square we found a Sainsbury's
with perhaps 1800 square feet. Much better.
>>>>While locating 44 Scotland Street (an important address in
the Smith novels) we followed the path to a playground area and
soon found ourselves at a Tesco supermarket with some 8 to 10
thousand square feet, and all our needs were met. The Tesco
even has 15 feet of shelf space 6 feet high dedicated to Polish
snacks and junk food.
>>>>
>>>>But this is about the cruising…
>>>>
>>>>While we missed being in a marina for a season, we found
it easy to meet people and have a pleasant chat over a beer at
the pub, so that was similar to marina life.
>>>>
>>>>We always try to get to know the country we are in and in
fact wintered in Rome primarily so we could get to know that
city and see some of the non-coastal areas by train over the
winter. We thought a month in Edinburgh would be perfect because
Scotland is after all a small country. We knew we would be able
to take coach tours from Edinburgh and see most of the country
from there. Additionally, Glasgow was only an hour by train
so we were easily able to explore the other big city in Scotland.
>>>>
>>>>The best of the coach tours was clearly the three-day trip
we took through the Highlands and "over the sea to Skye." (Words
from a Scottish ballad we learned at Kemer, Turkey.) The tour
owner/operator, a fabulous storyteller named Bill delighted us
with stories his grandmother had told him, history and well chosen
folk and popular Scottish music. There were only 13 of us on
the bus, so we were able to bond as a traveling group quickly.
We saw castles and Loch Ness on our way to and from Skye, but
Skye, including Bill's memories of it as a boy, was the highlight
of the trip.
>>>>
>>>>We were able to spend a whole day on the island, and the
place Bill had chosen for us as a B&B was one of the pleasantest
B&B's we have ever stayed in, with full Scottish breakfast included,
of course. We had walks to high places and fairy rings. Unfortunately,
we discovered we are not quite as good walkers as we were eight
years ago in Turkey.
>>>>
>>>>Bill teased us, asked us if we weren't sorry we hadn't brought
our boat, as the waters around the Hebrides are gorgeous. We
were able to say matter-of-factly that we were not, but we do
think this would be a wonderful place to charter, where someone
else would be responsible for local knowledge. They do have
quite astounding tides in Scotland, which can only mean that
they have some very fast currents, too.
>>>>
>>>>We found the geology of Scotland quite grand, too. Scotland
was formed from pieces of two tectonic plates, one from near
the equator and one from the north, that smashed into each other
and the whole landscape is formed by those two masses butting
into each other and locking. Naturally, that kind of cataclysm
is accompanied by volcanoes, so you can find towns, including
Edinburgh, built on the rims of their craters, or containing
their cones. (We learned all this from the exhibits at the Scottish
National Museum in Edinburgh, a sort of Smithsonian all-in-one
located in two adjacent buildings—and it's free!)
>>>>
>>>>We were surprised to notice some parallels between Edinburgh
and, of all places, Barcelona. Both cities are national capitals
of countries that got swallowed by larger countries, and each
has its own distinctive and pleasing architectural style. Both
were prosperous industrial powerhouses starting in the 19th
Century, and both Scotland and Catalonia were productive of massive
cultural, intellectual and artistic accomplishments in their
respective national traditions. Edinburgh, like Barcelona, has
been designated a UNESCO World Heritage City, so the money that
has come in from the UN has been used to tidy up a city of quite
remarkable beauty and livability.
>>>>I think you remember hearing much the same from us about
Barcelona after we spent a month there. Barcelona was sort of
a mess until the Olympic money started flooding in during the
1990's. (This reflection omits any mention of Glasgow's considerable
industrial and scientific accomplishments; it's just that the
look and feel of the place evokes no memories of Barcelona.)
>>>>
>>>>We enjoyed Barcelona tremendously, as you may recall. But,
on balance, Scotland was easier. The one mile walk uphill each
morning was good for us, but we skipped it entirely on the very
few days it was really raining. Hurricane Katya made it to Scotland
but didn't really bother us in the least, which would not have
been the case if we were traveling with Horizons. It was much
easier to do our laundry in the apartment than dragging it to
marina facilities. All the appliances worked, all the time—something
of a luxury on a boat. The wifi always worked beautifully.
We got to see British TV shows before they make it to PBS.
>>>>
>>>>So there might be life after cruising, after all. On the
other hand, one of our friends said they had moored their boat
at the Firth of Forth to the north of Edinburgh after they sailed
the western isles and brought the boat through the Calendonian
Canal, so the cruising might be pretty good, also.
>>>>
>>>>We hope to have pictures up in Kodak Gallery in the next
few weeks. Send us an email if you want to see them and we will
invite you when they are up. I think you will be able to find
58a Cumberland St on VRBO, should you ever wish to rent in Edinburgh,
and we highly recommend RealScottishJourneys.com if you find
yourself in Edinburgh someday. (Bill, BTW, is thinking of buying
a boat himself perhaps in Florida, so that he can sail in the
off-season. We, of course, told him it was an excellent idea.)
>>>>
>>>>As a grand finale, we have the answers to the two questions
everyone asks about the Scots and Scotland: What do Scotsmen
wear under their kilts and how does haggis taste?
>>>>
>>>>
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