We were joined by Sheryl’s brother Phil and his wife Cheryl and together we made our way from Kings Cross Station in London early on the Saturday morning to Edinburgh by mid-afternoon. Engineering works in the north of England temporarily forced us onto a coach but the delay was pretty minimal.
Edinburgh impresses the moment you step foot out of the Waverley train station and onto Princes Street. The famous old castle on the hill at the top of the Royal Mile overlooks the gardens, a river centuries ago, and the old buildings are as impressive as you’ll find anywhere in Europe.
Central Edinburgh had been transformed into party central with fair ground rides on both sides of the gardens and buildings, lamp posts and trees were decorated with bright lights.
Our accommodation was booked and paid for a number of months ago and even at that early stage it was impossible to find anything in the immediate central area. We had eventually settled with The Holiday Inn just past Murrayfield which, for those of you that know the city, really isn’t that far away. Only ten minutes or so by bus which ran frequently from Princes Street.
The hotel was nice and even nicer was the fact that we pulled a cheeky one on them and squeezed four of us into a room with two single beds! That meant more money for more important matters, like eating and drinking.
(From Kings Cross to Edinburgh!)
Day One – The Torchlight Procession
After dropping our bags off at the hotel we pretty much headed straight back to town for a bite to eat before joining up with the masses for the opening night festivities. It was called the ‘Torchlight Procession’ and we really hadn’t read up much on exactly what it was but were pleasantly surprised to see literally tens of thousands of people with burning steaks parading down from The Royal Mile, across the gardens, up Princes Street and onto Calton Hill.
They were lead by a group of Scots dressed as Vikings who wheeled a Viking ship to the top of the hill to set it alight. It was great fun and I can most definately recommend attending a mass public burning if you ever get the chance!
After heading back down the hill we were entertained by a five minute firework display – Hogmanay was underway!
(Fireworks kick off the 2008 Hogmanay on Princes St)
(Burning Viking Ships on Calton Hill)
(More from Calton Hill, including real life Scottish Vikings!)
Day Two – The Night Afore
On our first full day in Edinburgh we decided it best to do the touristy thing and visit the Edinburgh castle. We spent a good couple of hours wandering in and out of the various parts of the castle like the old prison cells, the military museum and of course took time to admire the brilliant panoramic views of the city.
Afterwards we met up with Matt, Kim, Ray and some of their UK mates at a nearby bar.
Then it was off to the second night’s events – The Night Afore.
Some 20,000 people took to the streets in amidst a festival of music, street artists and some good old fashioned random monsters in animatronic suits! It was by far one of the most spectacular events we’ve been to – especially the massive inflated monsters cruising above the masses and controlled by several people down below.
It was off for a quick night cap with Matt, Kim, Ray & co. before slipping back to the hotel. After all, we didn’t want to peak on New Years Eve Eve.
(The spectacular views from up on the hill at Edinburgh Castle)
(A carnival of various music, performance and really weird monsters!)
(Line dancing and enormous inflatable monsters attacking people from the skies!)
Day Three – The Street Party
The only disappointment of the big day was the fact that Mary Kings Close, a series of underground roads from an era gone; built on top of what is now known as The Royal Mile, as the tour was booked out for two days. Luckily for Sheryl and I this meant we would be able to go on our last day before leaving for Glasgow.
With no glass allowed in the cordoned off area we decided it a good idea to buy some wine from a local wine shop and transfer it into plastic vessels. Two bottles of Dashwood Pinot Noir and two bottles of Montana Reserve Chardonnay were now in empty 1.5 litre bottles of water. As good as magnums really.
The rain began to lightly drizzle but the four of us still had a couple of bottles of Veuve to knock off to kick off the night. With shelter hard to find we were left with no choice but McDonalds. It’s highly unlikely that’ll ever happen again!
We slapped on our jimmy hats (the Scottish tartan hat with flowing ginger hair) and hit Princes Street. It was still early, around 8pm or so, but we picked a good spot half way down the street and started to have a drink. We got chatting to a couple of local guys who were using their four dozen cans of Tennents Lager as a handy little seat.
Phil and I had high hopes of making the following day’s newspaper. A photographer had asked for us to pose in our jimmy hats both kissing a female copper on the cheek. Of course we obliged but sadly the photo never made the rags the next day. I’ll say no more!
As the night wore on the street began to fill up and by 11pm it was so busy you could barely move. By now some 100,000 people were on the streets and ready for the big count down. As the countdown began I set the video camera running and it seemed completely unbelievable that literally as the clock struck midnight the memory card reached it’s limit!
The fireworks went off from up on the castle but the low cloud cover meant you couldn’t really see much. N’ay bother, as the Scots would say.
Shortly after 1am the streets began to empty out and by 3am most people, including us, were on their way home with the buses running late in the night.
(Our, ahem, magnums of wine...and the impressive castle on the big night)
(The jimmy hat crew trying their hardest to fit in with the locals!)
Day Four – The Day After
It was well into New Years Day and just about lunchtime by the time we rolled out of bed (well, three of us made it out…Cheryl!) and Phil, Sheryl and I wandered down the road to a pub across from Murrayfield for a much needed bite to eat and a soft drink (or Guinness if you’re Phil).
As you can imagine activity was fairly minimal after a big night but we did manage a tour of the Scottish Whisky Heritage Museum. The tour involved a brief education on the history of whisky and how it is made, as well as one or two samples. Sheryl and I aren’t huge whisky drinkers, especially not on New Years Day, so ours went to Phil who, with his fondness to a fine malt, tucked away nine little bad boys! Good effort.
We met up with Matt, Kim and Ray one final time (at a bar called ‘The Tron’!) shortly after and to our amazement Cheryl managed to make it out of the hotel after all!
The following morning we parted our ways. Phil and Cheryl left early to catch a flight back to London to get to work in time while Sheryl and I made our visit to Mary Kings Close, unfortunatel there were no photos allowed down below but we grabbed one from outside, before grabbing our stuff from the hotel and heading for the short 45 minute train journey to Glasgow to meet up with Nikki and Craig (photos from Glasgow, Stirling and The Highlands are coming soon!).
(What else would you expect but a great night in 'The Tron'?)
(The gang shortly before our goodbyes, and the streets below the streets - Mary Kings Close)
