Scott and I decided to head back to Edinburgh, Scotland on a recent weekend. We had already been to Edinburgh Castle and The Palace at Holyroodhouse, and explored St. Giles Cathedral. This time we opted for a boat trip on the Firth of Forth with a landing on Inchcolm Island. Inchcolm Island was advertised to be teeming with wildlife including seals and puffins. I really wanted to see the puffins, and we thought exploring the island would be a pleasant way to spend a morning. The ruins of an abbey, Inchcolm Abbey, stand predominately on the small island. The earliest relics date from the 10th century, and the abbey has held full abbey status since 1235. This island's location in the Firth of Forth made it both a target and an important link in the defences of the country right up to the second world war. This abbey is the most well preserved abbey in Scotland. Scott and I enjoyed an hour or two wandering through the abbey and climbing on the hillsides. We did see lots of pigeons and seagulls, but no puffins. We were told that they were on an inaccessible side of the island, hunkered into the rocks away from the seagulls. On our cruise through the Firth of Forth we did see lots of huge seals, or water slugs, as Scott likes to call them.
This bridge spans the Firth of Fourth. It was opened in 1890 for the railroad. When it was constructed it was considered an engineering marvel. The bridge took 6 years to build and there are 6.4 million rivets in this bridge, one of which is gold, struck by the Prince of Wales. Even now, up to 200 trains cross this bridge each day.
 |
| The boat to take us to the island and the abbey. |
 |
| A sleepy seal catching some fresh air on a buoy. |
 |
| Inchcolm Abbey |
 |
We passed these seals on our return trip to Edinburgh. There were at least 20 of them, some stretched out on a rocky island in the Firth, while others swam around looking for a place to get out of the cold water and onto the rocks.
|
|
Love the Abbey. Sorry you did not see the Puffins - always loved those in the San Diego Zoo. Still love the travel log. I am sure you are looking forward to Dan and Jamie arriving in the Fall.
ReplyDeleteKaren
Emmm, Cindy, Inchcolm is not in England, it's in SCOTLAND!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAnd as many as 200 trains do NOT cross the Firth of Forth Bridge each day, I don't where you get your information from!
ReplyDeleteActually Conor, that information came from a brochure we picked up. If you are interested I believe you can verify that number on Wikipedia as well. As for Inchcolm being in Scotland, the very first sentence of this blog post identifies Edinburgh, Scotland as the site of our adventure for this particular entry. You are welcome to continue to read our updates and enjoy the blog, but please keep in mind that we are not a travel or tour company. Just a husband and wife who have been relocated to England (yes, the country!) for a few years. We are taking advantage of our weekends and bank holidays to do a bit of traveling in Europe and use this blog to keep family and friends apprised of our adventure. Thanks for your comments.
Delete