Edinburgh Zoo

I was awake at 5.30 am but had slept most of the night which was a good thing as I had forgotten how tiring 10500 steps wending our way round the zoo up to the top of Corstorphine Hill was. It was cold but not wet so we were lucky.

It is about 5 hours drive round trip but it was worth it. What a coincidence - it is James’s 6th birthday and who should come into the zoo but #2 daughter and family. James got such a surprise to see us. We spent 6 hours walking around. James wanted to get to the fierce animals but when we got to the penguins first he was fascinated. There were a lot of Gentoo plus some King and Rockhopper penguins. They loved the tapirs, the wallabies, tiger, lions and otters. The panda woke up and we saw it chomping on its bamboo. Thomas and I had a detour to the birds which is a great interest of his.

We hadn’t been there since our youngest was 5, 37 years ago. The animals had more outdoor space now but there were no giraffes or polar bears which we saw then.

We drove round to the Forth estuary near Cramond Island. The cake was put in their car boot, birthday candles were lighten and we sang the fastest Happy Birthday ever before standing at a distance in the chilly wind to eat cake.

A great day!