Seabirds and a Yacht

I awoke this morning to the sound of rain hammering down. Finally the weather that I had expected for the whole week was here. Thankfully I had packed all my winter woollies so out came the thermal underwear, thermal gloves, thermal scarf and thermal beanie!

My plan for the day was one of a maritime nature firstly to go to North Berwick to see some seabirds and secondly to do a tour of the Royal Yacht Britannia.

To get to North Berwick I had to catch a train. I got the receptionist of the hotel to explain the shortest route to Waverley Station and set off. It was freezing cold and wet but the walk at least warmed me up. It didn't take too long to get to the station and I managed to buy myself a return ticket and find the correct platform. The train pulled into the station almost as soon as I had arrived on the platform so I could at least sit inside in the warmth to wait for departure.

The journey to North Berwick was only thirty minutes but travelled through some really lovely countryside. The crops of rape were all in flower providing a lovely splash of yellow. I tried to take photos but the rain drops on the windows made sure that the photos were no good at all!

On arrival at the station in North Berwick another factor was added to my discomfort - a howling icy wind! I didn't know exactly where the Scottish Seabird Centre was so kind of just roamed around until I found it. The Seabird Centre doesn't actually have any birds itself but it does have a whole lot of webcams at the birds' colonies so visitors to the centre can watch what the birds are up to without disturbing them at all. There is also a lot of information given about the different species. Of course I was really only there for the puffins! I got to see some of these cute little birds haggling over a nesting burrow and generally doing what it is that puffins do - sit around! I really enjoyed the visit! After that I needed something to warm me up so stopped at a local tea shop which had hot freshly made soup available. That gave me a bit of courage to wander around a bit. Here are some of my photos from North Berwick.
 Bass rock where the puffins breed
 North Berwick
 Celtic cross in North Berwick
 St Andrew's Old Kirk
 Bass rock through the rain
 The Scottish Seabird Centre
 The old church and graveyard
 One of the other bird islands

The flowers at the station

After lunch I caught the train back to Edinburgh for my next tourist attraction - the Royal Yacht Britannia. I had a look at the map and it didn't look like it was too far from Waverley Station to the Ocean Terminal so I decided to hoof it down there. What I didn't take into account was the miserable weather! The rain was pelting down and the wind howling so it really wasn't pleasant. It also didn't help that I could not find my way for the last section. The first person I asked for directions could not speak any English! The next person was a bit better, also from Eastern Europe but at least he gave me the general direction and I did find it. Not too many photos along the way because of the weather.
 Lord Wellington on his horse
 Just a building I thought was interesting
 The Playhouse
A little patch of South Africa

The self-guided audio tour of the yacht was absolutely superb! I have decided that for my next birthday I would like a yacht like this so start saving everyone LOL!
 My first view of the yacht
 The bridge
 The view from the bridge
 The well worn captain's chair - the only chair in the bridge as he was the only one allowed to sit
Communication to the rest of the vessel 
 The signal flags locker
 The queen's Rolls Royce Phantom V
  The queen's Rolls Royce Phantom V and me :-)
 The vessel's bell and some other ancient thing - sorry can't remember what it was except that it was old and decorative
The rum barrel - the crew's daily rum ration was given out from this barrel 
The private lounge on the sun deck 
 A well stocked drinks cabinet
 The queen's bed
 Prince Phillip's bed
 The only double bed on the yacht. It was installed for Charles and Diana's honeymoon
 The photo next to the bed
 The officer's lounge
 I bet Jo didn't think I would find a monkey for her!!!!!!
 The officers' dining room where dinner was served every night
 A place setting
 Where all the china crockery was kept
 Where all the silver was kept - the silver pieces were apparently polished every day!
 The state dining room. It took three hours to set the table!
 A place setting
The queen's office 
 Solid gold lamp fittings!
 Prince Phillip's office
 A reception area
 A reception area
 More alcohol
 Where the kids did jigsaw puzzles
 The sitting room
 The non-commissioned officers' pub
  The non-commissioned officers' lounge
 The crew's quarters - no space and no privacy
The warrant officers' pub - this definitely wasn't a dry vessel! 
The warrant officers' lounge 
The post office 
 The operating theatre
 The doctor's office
 The laundry
 Washing machines. The royal washing was done on a different day to the crew's washing to make sure it was kept seperate.
An immaculate engine room and it apparently looked like this when it was actually running

After this amazing tour I decided to head back to my hotel. Walking was completely out of the question so I found a bus that went most of the way. I just had a little walk to the hotel and managed to take a few more photos.
 More buildings that interest me
 Jenner's Department Store
Scott's Monument - hopefully I will get closer to it tomorrow

So that is it from me for today. I hope you enjoyed all the photos.

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