The Old St James’s Centre, Edinburgh

Firstly, my heartfelt thanks and gratitude to you all for yesterday’s 5 year milestone. I have replied to all of you who made comments but lost track of those of you who gave away one of your hearts for me yesterday. That’s the most favourites I’ve ever had, so thank you all.

So this is blip 1825 +1 with normal service being resumed. A long walk into Edinburgh from Kingsknowe where we’d parked the car. Followed the Water of Leith for a short distance before joining the Union Canal and the John Muir Way into the city. That’s the second John Muir route we’ve been on having walked a very short portion of the John Muir Trail in Yosemite in April 2016. I’m full of admiration for John Muir both in terms of his writing and his tireless work in creating National Parks in the USA and to conservation generally. A true iconic Scotsman.

We walked down Princes Street, passing by the old St James’s Centre , on route for John Lewis for a lunch of soup and scone with coffee. The demolition of the Centre forms today’s blip to record what the site looked like at its worst. More construction congestion inflicted on Edinburgh; it seemed like only yesterday that the city was in turmoil caused by the installation of the much criticised tram system. The scale of demolition is quite frightening, monster machines, huge trucks and very deep holes being dug.

We had a quick look around the Christmas Market which is still going, up to 6th January. Didn’t seem quite right somehow to see all that Christmas stuff after the New Year.

Walked up to Maquood’s ethnic store to obtain some spices and the like for Barbara, a quick look in M&S before calling it a day and catching the 44 back to Kingsknowe to pick up the car.

The extras are from the Union Canal and the restaurant on the fifth floor of John Lewis’s looking down Leith Walk.