Edinburgh

We had decided on a trip to Edinburgh today so after another hearty breakfast at the Harbour Café we caught the bus to Berwick. We were already an hour late having missed our planned bus and the bus we did catch was late so we narrowly missed our connecting train but that gave us time to walk the Berwick town walls and discover what we'd missed the first time around. The walls themselves and the bits around them are well preserved and I imagine houses by the wall go for something of a premium.

Anyway we walked back to Berwick station to catch the train. As we got on a familiar face appeared. It was Ted who skippered the boat I went around Mull on last summer and he had his wife Jane with him. This sort of coincidence is staggering: we were only there because we'd missed our train and when the train they were on pulled up at Berwick there we were outside the window for Jane to spot.

They were having a week off before a seven week run of back to back bookings so they had been down to visit relatives in the south and were now heading back to their home on the Clyde. So I introduced Jenny and we sat with them for the forty minute run into Waverley and had a good chat about sailing matters.

After that I spent a day taking Jenny around some of my favourite bits of the city. We had coffee and cake at the café below the National Gallery, a wander around the Museum of Scotland (sadly most of the old part is closed at the moment for a major re-furb), a walk down to Royal Mile to look at the Scottish Parliament building and then back to Waverley as the rain started to catch the train back.

On the way back I spoke to Beth who has been camping on the other side of Scotland for the last week with Jake (something I've kept quiet about here until now for obvious reasons). She had had enough of the midges and was ready to head home so it was decision time for me: did I stay with Jenny and take the train home later or get Beth to pick me up on her way home?

Jenny and I talked it over. The forecast suggests we're likely to be stuck here until Saturday at the earliest and the next port of call, Anstruther, is poorly connected so this looks like the right place to make a crew change. We did discuss whether she should come home with us for a few days but she's decided to stay aboard and wait for a new crew to join her at the weekend. Beth meanwhile is going to collect me sometime tomorrow.

So yesterday's excitement turned out to be the end of this sailing adventure for me. We've gone a long way and I've enjoyed sailing with Jenny, with whom I've never sailed before, a lot so I hope this won't be the last time.