I'd done a lot of walking in my first few weeks in London, but in strictly urban settings. How wonderful to get out and do some real hiking, on trails that, though within sight of a large city, still had the feel of countryside....

Arthur's Seat is a nifty little climb right on the edge of the city. Here is my blog post describing our climb. And here are some more photos taken along the trail:

Of course, the views from the top are the thing. Several of my students hiked up the evening we arrived, in time to see the sunset. We didn't see anything as spectacular as a sunset, I imagine, but the morning air was fresh and we were very impressed all the same:

One aspect of the climb that the photo on the left can give you a slight taste of is the wind; I was being buffeted so much when I took this photo of Hal and Sally at the top of the climb that I was astonished the image wasn't blurred beyond recognition. (Doesn't Sally look like she's hanging on to the summit marker to keep from blowing off!?) And on the right, Arthur's Seat geology is superimposed upon Edinburgh's other most iconic objects: the Castle and the Monument:

Many more photos from our hike are in the Flickr set.

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