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Jim Letourneau's Blog

Retired Life

Investing, Technology, Travel, Geology, Music, Golf. I think that covers it.

Just move your legs like you're running...

I am seeing an unexpected side of Edinburgh. The dawn exposes the excesses of the previous day's Fringe Festival.  Garbage and broken glass are commonplace but by 8AM it gets cleaned up. Normally I  wouldn't notice as I am not a morning person.

For a few days, I was.

Day 1 in Edinburgh had me hitting up a Starbucks before 7AM. Eventually Julia and I made our way to Arthur's Seat.  At 251m, it is in the hard walk/easy hike range for most people. There were a few steep sections with loose rocks. Julia fell on the way down.

"Jim! Jim!  I fell!"  

I was off taking a picture and Julia wasn't in it. I was completely oblivious which made things worse. All I could say was "I'm sorry, are you OK?" I'm not a 30 year old paramedic so there wasn't much I could do.

Day 2 I opted to go far a long walk BEFORE the coffee fix. Young people trundling off to work were passing me quickly but the streets were otherwise very quiet. I headed for Arthur's Seat for the second day in a row. I wanted to try a different path. The hill was mostly dotted with a few early morning runners. A few were sprinting past me and I kept praying that there wouldn't be a team blasting past me on the narrow steps.  I could hear heavy breathing and an American voice shouting encouragement. His charges were dying on the hill. They weren't even able to pass me (I suspect the trainer had already sprinted them into the puke zone). I kept climbing and heard Mr. Trainer say "keep going that's it, now just move your feet like you're running". 

This time I found Hutton's Outcrop which was a nice surprise. I noticed an old quarry and a strange vein projecting out of the ground.  I thought it odd that it hadn't been removed. It turned out that it was Hutton's Rock. Just 100m further along was Hutton's Section. Being a geologist, it was pretty special to see this spot.