Let's Have a Wee Tour, Shall We?

Hi everyone.

Thanks for checking back.  Today's post I thought should be a bit of a tour of our neighbourhood.  This is in no way an inclusive photo tour, and I will be posting more along the way.  At least it is a start.

So, this is our street, looking toward Dalry, which is lined with shops and businesses.  The huge chimney stack is from the now defunct Caledonian Distillery, which started its life in the 1850s.  It is now a listed building (or whatever a chimney would be called).

And, looking the other way, up toward Caledonian Crescent.  If you look closely or enlarge the photo by clicking on it, you may notice a church to the left of the end of the street.  It is now flats, and seems to me to be a nice place to have a flat!  By the way, both photos are taken from the ends of the street, so it isn't as long a road as it may look.

Around the corner along Caledonian Crescent, you come across the Dalry Public Baths, which is a Victoian Era swimming and bathing house.  It now has the pool and a gym, so if we were inclined to get into some shape other than rotund, we could go here.  Certainly in Edinburgh, there aren't many of these old baths still around, so it is nice to have it in our neighbourhood.

Well, you may be saying, that all looks very urban and paved, but where do you go for a nice walk?  How about along the Union Canal?  No more than 10 minutes away, as the terrier walks, is the start of this canal that, if we were inclined, would lead us all the way to Glasgow.  It once was a major transport link between the two cities and the bodies of water along which they sit.  As you can see, it is used by canal boats and a lot of walkers, joggers and cyclists.  We think we are very lucky to live nearby.

 

 

For those viewers who have worked or are working in libraries, here is our local branch.  Quite the imposing looking place it is as well.  I haven't been inside it yet, proabably because it looks so damn imposing.  Not really, it is just that we don't have proper ID for them yet (sound familiar??).  I actually hope it is as interesting inside as it appears from the outside.  Just a side note - Sean Connery is from this area (Fountainbridge) although I doubt he lives here any more.  Just a hunch.

A little something we are considering buying!  It is for sale, but we haven't been able to find a list price.  Drat.  This was originally a college for the blind and has been used as an educational building for years.  It is now empty just waiting for some enterprising buyer.  A fashionable B&B perhaps?

And then there is the castle.  While you could argue that it isn't really in our neighbourhood, it only takes us about 15 minutes to get there, so in some senses it feels close enough.  If you have ever visited it, you will know that it feels less like a castle than a small city, as it covers a huge amount of its perch atop its volcano.  It contains the Crown Jewels and the Stone of Destiny (not to be confused with the Stone of Dentistry - sorry, inside joke!).