Saturday, January 17, 2009

Mud on Arthur's Seat

In my little room with faded pink walls there's a window with ugly polka doted curtains and through this window I can see what people walking through the streets of Edinburgh can see most of the time, a big hill, or small mountain, known across the land as Arthur's Seat. Wikipedia and my guide book are both confused about the origin's of this name, so I'm not going to attempt to explain it. However, being the good tourist that I am I did climb the 251 m (823 feet) beast.
Now this may not seem like an incredible feat, and I've been told that it can be climbed in 30 min., but let's face it I don't exercise. Now add Scotland's powerful wind and some mud and you get the following epic story.

We were four at the bottom of this hill/mountain and the weather was beautiful. We started climbing. Kept climbing. Still more to go. The wind kept blowing, my hair turned into a mess and my fingers lost feeling. We finally got to the top and the view was indeed beautiful, through flying strands of hair. Took some pictures (which I'll try adding later once I get them), oohed and ahhed at the view some more and finally started making our way down.

I thought climbing was supposed to be the most difficult part, but not when what you're climbing is steep and muddy. I had a couple of narrow saves using Saturday Night Fever dance moves to help me balance but the inevitable happened. Aurora and Maria you called it. I finally fell. I didn't get a bruise, but I did get a lot of mud. Everywhere. And then I was able to walk back across town with mud.

And then a bike ran into me.

So far a very productive day and more to come from Edinburgh. Cheers.

3 comments:

Maria said...

alas, it was fated to happen. but i think you topped all our falls. bien fait.

Aurora said...

i agree with Maria. my bruise is turning a beautiful mauve right now.

Anonymous said...

Julia fell in the mud when she and I climbed it!