The B&B was a bit disappointing at first. We had expected to be the only guests, but the owner had also rented out her own bedroom. We never saw the others and they left the next morning, but it led to some confusion for us at first about whether the bathroom was for us alone or shared. Our bath was across the hall, but as I said we never saw anyone when going to the bathroom.

We also knew in advance that the TV was in the lounge, but we hadn’t realized that this was the owner’s personal lounge. We felt awkward going in there when she wasn’t there and if she was there too, so we just did a lot of reading at night.

The good points are that the room is bright and comfortable, we have supplies to make hot chocolate, coffee or tea and a supply of Scottish shortbread and a bowl of fruit.

We settled ourselves in, changed to cooler clothes and then set out in search of lunch. I had researched restaurants in advance and we headed for a place called “The Baked Potato Shop.” However, it was not very appealing because it was take-away only. We were going to take-away anyway and just find somewhere to sit, when Graham saw the man behind the counter lick his thumb. Disgusted, we left and went to a place we had passed to get here called “Ariba.” I had fish and chips and Graham had a baked potato with tuna and sweetcorn.

Our B&B Owner, Robin, had recommended the open-top bus tours, so we did that next. We got talked into the combination ticket. It lasts 24 hours and is good on all 4 bus companies, each with their different routes. The one we chose to do had free headphones so that you could listen to the commentary in any of at least 12 languages. That was really nice because we could hear very well. It just meant that the video taping we did doesn’t have the commentary. We did the complete loop and really enjoyed it. You can hop-on and hop-off, but we chose not to. We then walked from Waverly Bridge toward the castle and browsed in shops along the way.

One place we went in was the Scottish Woolen Mill exhibit and Edinburgh Tattoo office where we saw a short film about the famous Edinburgh Tattoo. At the mill we saw tartans being woven on huge looms.

Finally we walked back to our B&B via the very beautiful Princess Gardens. These gardens used to be a loch at the foot of the castle in ancient times and all the town’s sewage flowed into it. This supposedly is what makes the flowers bloom so brilliantly.

We rested in our room for 45 minutes before walking to another restaurant I had researched. This one was much better. Henderson’s Salad Table is a vegetarian restaurant with excellent food. You order at the counter so it is very informal. It felt a bit pricey to us because of the exchange rate between the dollar and the pound, but the food was delicious. I had a goat cheese tart with carmelized onions and salad and a date bar for dessert. Graham had mushroom risotto stuffed in a courgette. Instead of dessert, he chose chunky vegetable soup.

Our pre-booked Ghost and Ghouls walking tour was next on the agenda. This tour by Mercat Tours and we had ambitiously booked the extended version that included a drink and more ghost stories in a pub after the walk. We kind of regretted this as we were really tired. The walk itself was good fun and not scary for us even though we did go underground to some old haunted cellars. Our guide, Jodie, was good and we heard a lot of stories. The pub at the end of the tour was unfortunately a bit of a dive. We had a private room in the back lit by candles only which was atmospheric, but the front of the pub did not look inviting and the pub didn’t have diet coke, only regular. One family on our tour had taken 2 other tours that day and they were sharing a spooky photo on their digital camera with everyone. It certainly looked as if a ghost had been present – very spooky.

Our 24 hour tickets for the tour bus were still good, so we took a different bus today that took us all the way north to the coast in the suburb of Leith to see the Royal Yacht Britannia. We didn’t get off, just looked at it as we stopped nearby. Instead we continued on the bus until it reached the west edge of town near the Palace of Holyrood. We got off here and explored the Palace gift shop and courtyard. We were not interested in going inside the palace itself.

Then we walked around the corner to “Our Dynamic Earth.” This is a museum/attraction that traces the earth from its creation until the future. You learn about volcanos, winds, tides, conservation, etc. In the film at the end, the audience is given choices to make about how to proceed such as “do we release oil reserves or spend money to find new resources?” After the audience votes using buttons, time jumps ahead a decade or two and you are presented with a new choice based on a prediction of what would happen after your 1st choice. It was all very interesting.

From here we meandered up the Royal Mile towards the castle. We stopped and browsed in shops along the way and visited a free museum called “The Peoples’ Story.” This was an excellent museum all about how the people of Edinburgh lived in earlier times.

We stopped for lunch along the Royal Mile at a place called “Graham’s.” Graham had the vegetarian haggis sandwich! He really likes the vegetarian version. I had a cheese and tomato sandwich on really nice ciabatta bread.

Our next stop was a tour of “The Real Mary King Close.” While waiting for this tour to start, we were sitting on the base of a monument when I suddenly noticed there were men with really big television and still cameras swarming just in front of me. They were all aiming at a car that had pulled in just a few feet away. Apparently this car was here to pick up someone important and I quickly got my camera ready. However, after 20 minutes, we had to go to our tour and the mystery person still had not appeared. We were outside of a government building so it could have been a parliament member.

Anyway, the tour we were waiting for started at 3pm. This tour takes you underground to view a warren of streets and houses that were not torn down when the building that now sits along the royal mile was built. Instead they used these old houses as the foundation for the new building. Because Edinburgh is built on 7 hills, they basically covered over the downhill bit and made those old streets like a closed up cellar. As we toured, they tried to make it spooky, but the really interesting part was how horribly dirty life was in the 18th century. With no indoor plumbing, people collected their waste and twice a day “dumped” it out of the windows calling out “Gardy loo” (a corruption of the French for watch the water). The hilly streets acted as gutters and all the mess traveled down to the Loch which is now the much fertilized Princess Gardens. People even had special attachments for their shoes to help raise them above the muck when they walked down the streets. Imagine how smelly and slippery it must have been.

Our last stop was at the top of the hill known as the Royal Mile – Edinburgh castle. Unfortunately it was now 5pm so we only had an hour. It is a great castle with fabulous views but still feels overpriced. We saw as much as we could before it closed and wished we could have seen more.

It was now 6pm. Regretfully we acknowledged that it would be logistically difficult to get back to the B&B, have dinner and return to the Grassmarket area for the Ceilidh dance. Our feet were very tired so we decided to give up the dance. Instead we walked toward Calton Hill and discovered a set of steps called “Jacob’s Ladder” that took us up from Calton Road to Regents Terrace. There must have been 150 steps or more. Not the best thing for our tired feet! We then traveled around the base of Calton hill to The Omni centre where we found the Tapas restaurant we wanted to try for dinner. La Tasca was good but noisy and we enjoyed our meal that included mushroom croquettes, veggie Paella, Tortilla Espanolla and garlic bread.

Now that our feet were a little rested, we decided to walk to the top of Calton Hill. No steps, just a steep paved path to get to the grassy top with stunning of the city in all directions. In addition the top of this hill is peppered with various monuments such as Nelson’s monument, the old Royal Observatory and an unfinished replication of the Parthenon.

Again, like yesterday, we worked our way up the Royal Mile. Today we had lunch at O’Briens – a very nice sandwich shop. Robin, our landlady at the B&B had insisted we needed to go to Gladstone’s Land. This national trust museum was 5 pounds to get in and turned out to be very worth the price. We had a tour (we didn’t expect this) and learned all about life in Edinburgh in a tenement house. We learned that the better off you were the lower down in the house you would live and we learned about life within the houses.

We had next planned to visit the Scotch Whiskey Centre near the castle to get a tour on how Whisky is made, but they wanted almost 9 pounds to do the tour. For 2 people who wouldn’t want the “free whiskey” at the end of the tour, this was too pricey. We feel it should have been free for non-drinkers.

After leaving the centre we walked into the town to find fish & chips which we took back to the beach to eat. There was a 18 hole putting course or links next to the beach and we played that afterwards and then had an ice cream and explored the town. Finally, we caught the 4:20pm train back to Edinburgh.

Back at the B&B, we paid our landlady (as we knew we’d be leaving very early the next day) and walked back into Edinburgh for one last look around and to find some dinner. This time we reached the Royal Mile via the North Bridge because we’d never gone that way before plus it eliminated a couple of hills. We had trouble finding somewhere that appealed and ended up with pizza at Garfinkels.

We had planned to make the drive to Sidford leisurely. Our first stop was a pub called the “Botany Bay Inne” where we had lunch. We both had the Ploughmans which was overpriced but was huge. It was at least 5oz of cheddar, crusty bread, pickled onions, coleslaw and salad.

Our second stop was Chessil beach. This is a multi-colored pebble beach arranged in shelves. You can’t swim here, but the beach is very dramatic. We went for a walk but I was wearing sandals and it was difficult because I kept getting pebbles in my shoe.

From here we drove a bit further to Morecomblake just past Bridport where we found the Biscuit factory and I bought my Dorset Knobs (yeasty, crunchy, sphere-shaped crackers).

Finally we arrived at our destination at 4:30pm. Graham’s parent’s holiday chalet is called Stoneleigh and is located in Sidford, Devon. When we arrived, his parents were already there waiting for us. After a short visit we freshened up and then we all drove into town to get fish and chips which we then took to the next town over, Sidmouth. We ate our meal on a bench overlooking the sea next to a beautiful garden.

We had to inform Graham’s parents that they needed to pack an overnight bag and they had to direct us to the Victoria Hotel where lunch was planned. What they didn’t learn until later was that we had all paid for them to have a night in this elegant hotel with all the special treatments such as fluffy robes, chocolates, fruit, flowers and a spectacular view of the sea from their balcony.

Everyone was able to make the celebration lunch. It was Graham’s parents, their 5 children and all 5 spouses/partners and all 9 grandchildren. First we all visited for awhile in a private lounge in the hotel and had drinks. This was followed by a 3 course meal in a private dining room which was really delicious. Afterwards we took a mountain of photos in all sorts of combinations of people out on the green lawn overlooking the sea. Lastly, coffee or tea was offered for the adults while the children played outdoors.

Graham’s parents were checked into their room before we left, but they came with us to go back to Sally’s for more celebrations. At Sally’s we had a special cake again to celebrate the 55th wedding anniversary and 80th birthdays of Graham’s parents. The cake was actually 2 square cakes (one for each birthday) linked by a bridge that said “Happy Anniversay.” The icing was slightly dusted with green to represent a golf green and both cakes were sprinkled with items that represented their 55 years together such as golf clubs, a bible, rolling pin, vegetables, etc. Then there were 9 figures of children around the edges for each grandchild. We all sat outside in the sunshine talking, playing charades and lawn games and enjoying each other. Graham’s uncle Bob (widower of Graham’s Aunt Joan) and his lady friend, Joy, also joined the party.

I finally took my turn driving when we left Sally’s and I drove Graham and myself from Ottery St Mary to Sidford. It was fine and I was very proud of myself.

Before that however, we had yet another party to attend. Today’s party was a Slade (Graham’s mother’s family) Family Reunion that Sally organized. First we had to go to a grocery store and get our contribution to the pot luck – potato salad. Again I drove and then I continued to drive us back to Sidmouth to pick up Graham’s parents and then I drove us all back to Stoneleigh so they could change their clothes.

Next David drove us to Rousdon Village Hall where the party was being held. This time it was all of Graham’s siblings and spouses/partners/kids again, plus all of Joan’s siblings and their spouses/partners/kids. In all there were 68 of us. The pot-luck food was delicious and of course there were many more photos taken. We also had a baby picture contest on which we did abysmally. We only got 14 right out of 38!

After the party was over, David drove us by Rousden church where he and Joan got married and then we went back to Stoneleigh. We met up with Brian and his kids Brendan and Georgina and after packing all of our bags into our car, we followed Brian to Budleigh Salternton Beach. We were going to swim (Brian and kids did swim) but not only was the beach pebbled again (miserable for your feet) but there were signs warning of thieves. I was afraid to leave our valuables in the car or on the beach unattended so Graham and I stayed on the beach.

Back at Brian and Louise’s house we had a nice dinner Louise had prepared and by the time we had eaten and cleared everything away, it was 10pm so we went to bed. We were staying in their new en-suite bedroom on the 3rd floor. Even though we had to sleep on air mattresses, it was very comfortable.