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Category: UK

April 2021: Edinburgh: Water of Leith Walkway (Halfway Interlude)

19 April 2021 RandR.scot Europe, Scotland, UK

Repositioning to Slateford ‘On the Level’ Think of this as the interval in my four-act, Water of Leith adventure. It occurred to me that it might be fun to return

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April 2021: Edinburgh: Water of Leith Walkway (Part 2)

18 April 2021 RandR.scot Europe, Scotland, UK

Colinton Village While modern Colinton is a substantial suburb of Edinburgh, its original heart on the banks of the Water of Leith is known as Colinton Village. It is an

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April 2021: Edinburgh: Water of Leith Walkway (Part 1)

14 April 2021 RandR.scot Europe, Scotland, UK

Introduction The Water of Leith is the closest Edinburgh gets to having a river flowing through the city centre. In saying that, I’m thinking specifically of the relatively short section

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April 2021: Edinburgh: Three Southside Transformations

11 April 2021 RandR.scot Europe, Scotland, UK

On the first day of easing of the winter lockdown, when the Scottish Government exhortation to Stay at Home became Stay Local, I rode Lothian’s number 23 bus to its

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March 2021: Edinburgh: Walking the Newhaven Tram Extension

25 March 2021 RandR.scot Europe, Scotland, UK

Horse-drawn, cable-hauled, and later electric trams operated on the streets of Edinburgh during the period 1871 to 1956. The final vehicles of that era were in the style of their

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Jan/Feb 2021: Edinburgh’s Winter Lockdown

2 March 2021 RandR.scot Europe, Scotland, UK

With yesterday’s emergence of the UK into ‘meteorological spring’, now seems a good time to give a pictorial review of Edinburgh’s experience of the latest Scottish lockdown. This began on

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December 2020: Christmas Cheer(s) in London

20 February 2021 RandR.scot England, Europe, UK

Arrival The last trip of 2020, and for an as yet indeterminate period thereafter, was once again to London. Outbound travel was on Sunday 13 December. The first two nights

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September 2020: Biggar & Lanark

8 December 2020 RandR.scot Europe, Scotland, UK

Biggar The small South Lanarkshire town of Biggar (population 2,300) is less than 30 miles from Edinburgh city centre. That’s just a one-hour bus ride, half of which is spent

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September 2020: Two Galleries and a Georgian House

7 December 2020 RandR.scot Europe, Scotland, UK

That’s what I managed to clock up over just two days in September, albeit two days that were separated by a weekend. Scottish National Gallery (Friday 11-Sep) The Scottish National

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July-October 2020: Edinburgh Lockdown Easing (Phase 3)

4 December 2020 RandR.scot Europe, Scotland, UK

As we have already seen, Phase 3 of lockdown easing brought the reopening of indoor hospitality from 15 July, which facilitated various day trips, quickly leading to a North of

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September 2020: London

15 November 2020 RandR.scot England, Europe, UK

Our base Our London base for this visit was relatively unusual: the Holiday Inn Express, Limehouse. It certainly didn’t represent IHG at its finest: the neighbourhood was slightly dodgy, it

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August 2020: The Lake District

31 October 2020 RandR.scot England, Europe, UK

My Northern England road trip ended with a pass through some of my favourite spots in the Lake District, breaking my own rule that it’s normally best not to visit

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August 2020: Lancaster

28 October 2020 RandR.scot England, Europe, UK

The relatively small, but venerable city of Lancaster (population 52,000) is situated in northwest England. The name is derived from ‘Castle on the (River) Lune’, an explanation that imparts a

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August 2020: The town made famous by the Covid-19 crisis

12 October 2020 RandR.scot England, Europe, UK

Background I suppose I must have come across the name Barnard Castle prior to the year 2020: I know for a fact that I have driven the A66 several times,

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August 2020: North Yorkshire (Alphabetical) Neighbours

26 September 2020 RandR.scot England, Europe, UK

By the beginning of August, I realised that it had been over four months since I last spent a night away from home. Day trips are all very well, but

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August 2020: A Quick Look around Haddington

25 September 2020 RandR.scot Europe, Scotland, UK

The small market town of Haddington lies 17 miles east of Edinburgh, just off the A1 and near the geographical centre of the East Lothian council area. It is the

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August 2020: An Hour in North Queensferry

23 September 2020 RandR.scot Europe, Scotland, UK

I found myself at a loose end one Saturday afternoon and decided to jump on a train to North Queensferry, a mere 15-minute ride from my home station of Haymarket.

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July 2020: Day Trip to Peebles

22 September 2020 RandR.scot Europe, Scotland, UK

The attractive small town of Peebles (approximate population 8,500) stands on the River Tweed and lies just over 20 miles south of Edinburgh, in the Scottish Borders council area. Until

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