Peter & Karen Pecksen

Edinburgh House Sitting

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peterpecksen
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Here we are well ensconced in a beautiful home in Edinburgh (not the one above, that’s Edinburgh Castle) with our first proper rainy day since arriving in the UK. It simply invites a bit of introspection.

Looking after this beautiful old Lab has brought us to an incredibly scenic area just a short bus ride from everything Edinburgh has to offer. Everyday it is either a walk along this epic canal (it even has aqueducts!) or exploring a forest and hilltop with views stretching out across the city. Life is good.

Through Karen’s diligent work online we were able to meet up with some fellow retirees and enjoy a couple of meals with them. They are at the beginning of their house sitting adventures and had a lot of questions for us and it was wonderful to be able to share some of our experiences in the hope that it could help others in their goals. It also prompted us to take a look at where we are and appreciate how fortunate we have been.

One day we chose to walk along the canal right into Old Edinburgh. Such a lovely way to explore the area.

I asked Karen to tally up a couple of our stats to get an idea of our activities as we celebrate 9 years of retirement this week. It turns out this is our 60th house sit and since we started housesitting we have had the privilege of living in others peoples homes for just over 77% of the time. Not a bad stat if I do say so myself.

Edinburgh is a lovely place to celebrate this anniversary, with so many cool things to explore. We have been up and down the Royal Mile (1.8 miles actually) many times, from Edinburgh Castle to Holyrood Palace.
This city is resplendent with spires. The Tolbooth Kirk, or The Hub is located just down from the castle and is certainly one of the most striking.
Both Karen and I love wandering around old graveyards and Greyfriars Kirkyard is certainly one of the old ones, having been established around 1620. Currently however its two most notable features are the statue and corresponding tale of Bobby the Skye Terrier and the fact that the idea for many of the names in the Harry Potter books were obviously obtained from headstones in the graveyard.
We were fortunate to be able to have a walk around the inside of St. Giles Cathedral a couple of days after Queen Elizabeth II had laid in state there. It is a beautiful building and takes little imagination to understand why she liked going there.
Edinburgh Castle is a bit of a must do when you are in Edinburgh, and the Scottish War Memorial on the grounds is well worth the time to visit.
St. Margaret’s Chapel is the oldest surviving building in Edinburgh at 900 years old. Just imagine the tales those walls could tell as Edinburgh Castle grew and the sieges and battles it would have witnessed. It only fits about 25 people but it has an aura that cannot be denied.
Of course we have diligently been working on visiting as many pubs as is possible. The White Hart Inn is reputed to be the oldest one in Edinburgh.

With another week and a half at this house sit we are looking forward to many more walks and many cuddles with Milly as well as exploring a few more corners of Edinburgh. We might even mange to pop into one or two new pubs.

Comments

3 responses to “Edinburgh House Sitting”

  1. Avatar
    Anonymous

    Fascinating and great photography thanks for sharing your adventures!
    💕

    Reply
  2. Avatar
    Anonymous

    I absolutely loved it there, so many great things to see and do!

    Reply
  3. Delena Avatar
    Delena

    Love your blogs and photos top notch. Keep them coming.

    Reply

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