North Queensferry

Where would you like to go today was the question on his Lordship's lips this morning.

I suggested that North Queensferry would be an interesting place to visit, with the thought of a blip of course, ever present in my mind.
How often we pass over it on the high bridges over the Forth, and wonder what it's like down below in the little streets hugging the shore.

I thought I'd never ever been there, but of course I had, before the road bridge allowed us to cross the water without the use of the ferry.
But that was a long time ago and the pier that was used as the ferry terminal meant that the endless queue of cars heading north or south bypassed the heart of the town.

What a lovely surprise then, we had. It was quaint and quiet, without the hordes of tourists, which throng the streets of South Queensferry, and with the towering rail bridge dominating the huddle of house old and new beneath it.

We climbed the 24 steps up the little lighthouse built by Telford in the year dot with its Argand lamp and Stevenson reflector sphere.

It gave a constant light by means of a wick and whale oil and was directed at Hawes Pier on South Queensferry to light the passage of the ferries. It's now of course defunct, but there is a little exhibition in a hut next door with a map of all the Stevenson lighthouses in Scotland (hundreds), and the history of the ancient adjoining pier named after Margaret the wife of Malcolm Canmore, a King of Scotland in the 11th century.

After the obligatory coffee in the "Blither by the Bridge' coffee house, we sat on a bench admiring the view and were joined by a delightful young mother with her four small children.

I asked if I could blip them and gave her a blipcard to prove my credentials, whereupon she said she had heard of Blipfoto and was actually nine weeks into the ten week OU course in Photography. I wished her well and suggested she join the Blipfoto family. I hope she does.

Isn't life surprising when you least expect it?

Oh and to put the cherry on the cake so to speak, his Lordship by dint of scrabbling over seaweedy rocks and climbing walls managed to find an interesting piece of driftwood for the patio. What a man!

This is a view looking over the Forth to Port Edgar the yachting marina on the outskirts of South Queensferry, so beloved of Pensioner'.

Edit- It appears 'pensioner' has his boat at Granton. Oh well, it was a nice try.