Having first checked that our travel insurance and visas were up-to-date, and that we'd had all the requisite jags, Spurtle has been travelling south this week in search of adventure.
We've been photographing the sights as we went along, with mixed results.
A view of the Pentlands seen through the monument to Dugald Stewart (above) worked well enough.
However, this carefully composed study of a robin, which sat motionless, only feet away, for a good ten minutes, was disappointing. Somewhat baffled by having rendered foreground, middleground and background all out of focus, and the subject itself transparent.
We had better success with the small flock of chattering Italians who scared the bird off. They found that the most enjoyable way to ascend Edinburgh's steep slopes involves teamwork.
In Princes Street Gardens West we noticed, for the first time, the intriguing door in the high Baronial substructure of the Allan Ramsay monument. We'd like to know what's in there. It may be where aching Parks staff go to relax knotted muscles in a bubbling foamy jacuzzi, or perhaps it contains the floral mechanism of the floral clock. If you know, please tell us.
The steps up to the Mound were beautifully sunlit and shadowed.
The Castle's dizzying diagonals looked great against this afternoon's clear sky ...
... as did the clear-cut sphinxes and a young Queen Victoria robed like Britannia above the Royal Scottish Academy.
What delight to see new growth bursting from the ground in St Andrew Square. Soon, this whole area will be a symphony of purples and browns and more browns.
Lovers of Edinburgh would do better to cast their eyes heavenwards. This city still has one of the finest skylines in Europe.
