Friday to Sunday 25 to 27 August

It wasn’t on our trip plan (carefully planned and curated over the months preceding our holiday), but we are learning to be more spontaneous and when Will suggested we spend a few days in Scotland on our way back to the UK from Iceland, we couldn’t resist.

Will and Emma love a singer called Fred Again, and he was playing in Edinburgh at the Connect Music Festival on the Saturday evening, hence their desire to go there. It was a complex logistical arrangement, with Dave and I flying straight to Glasgow from Reykjavik (at 6am!) and Will, Emma and Emilia flying back to London, then picking up their car and after taking Emilia to the train, driving all the way to Scotland! They picked up their friend Matt on the way through Bingham. We arrived at Edinburgh just before lunch, but they didn’t get there until nearly midnight!

During the afternoon, Dave and I did a bit of exploring of the beautiful city on foot. I hadn’t been to Edinburgh since I was about 10, so didn’t really have a memory of what it was like (all I can remember about Scotland was looking for the Loch Ness monster and singing “I’ll take the high road” with my family 😉 ) and was quite taken aback by how lovely it was, thanks to its rustic buildings, imposing central castle and its collection of medieval and classic architecture.

We also popped into “Howie’s”, the restaurant where my sister Bek and her then boyfriend (now husband) Karl worked about 30 years ago! My traditional Cullen Skink soup was creamy and very delicious, and Dave loved his beef burger.

After a bit of a rest (we’d been up since 3am), we ordered some groceries (delivered by Uber Eats) and had cornflakes for dinner! Will, Emma and Matt arrived just before midnight and I let them into the apartment block in my nightie, not completely happy about the trek down and then up four flights of very steep stairs!

The plus side to that many stairs is a great view – ours was of the castle no less. What a spectacular sight, and the bonus of fireworks each night (as part of the Edinburgh festival) was a treat.

Fred Again wasn’t due to perform till 9pm, so we had a full day with the kids looking at Edinburgh, including a castle tour, a visit to the Edinburgh dungeon and a stop off at a fabulous bakery for a pastie!

The Castle visit was my favourite, with lots of history and a great view, but you know your child has grown up when it’s you saying to them, “Do we have to look at and read about every single display?” 😉 😉

Sir Ian Rankin is a very well-known Scottish author, who has written numerous murder mysteries centred around his main character, Detective Inspector John Rebus. Dave loves the books and so we set off in the afternoon to see the place where Rankin used to live, Rebus’s house across the road, and even had a drink at the setting for many of the novel’s important conversations – the “Oxford” Bar, in ‘new’ Edinburgh (which interestingly is still more than 300 years old!). We do like a visit to the places of our fictional favourites!

I’d researched where to have an early dinner before the kids headed off to the festival and found a little Italian restaurant not far from where we stayed. Others had obviously researched too, and the place was packed! My seafood pasta was well worth the wait, and you will be pleased to know the kids did see Fred Again’s full set.

Will and Matt needed to be back in Bingham for a 2pm game of cricket, and so we were up and out of the apartment before 8am. Dave chose to take the train back to Bingham (five in the car for five hours wasn’t going to be fun) and I ended up driving the whole way back which I reckon was a good seat to be in… the view along the roads winding beside the coast and then through central England was beautiful!

Bingham 1sts won cricket, with the boys opening together (briefly 😉 ) for the last game of the season.