2026052728: Edinburgh. Wednesday was our last full day of the Spring 2026 trip. We flew home on Thursday.

For Wednesday, the last full day of our Spring 2026 trip, John had booked a morning city tour with the intriguingly named “Gains Murdoch“. Gains has a PhD in Scottish history (University of Aberdeen) and his website said that he would ensure that any group that he lead would get “the real historical background. No gimmicks, no hyperbole, but an authentic walking tour.”

No “kitsch-in-a-kilt”.

Gains was not kidding. We spent three-and-a-half fact-filled hours with him; he took us into many places we had never visited and places we had walked past without noticing. His tour was smart. Fast-paced. And he was willing to go off-script to accommodate our interests. Hover over the images in this gallery to learn more.

(Observation: The GreyFriars Bobby statue is a very popular destination. He was a good boy.)

The Royal Mile (where we left Gains) is tourist madness. Seriously. Bagpipes. People. Buskers. Not as crazy as London, but … there is a prettier side of Edinburgh than “the Mile”. So, we toddled back down the hill a wee bit and took ourselves into our first cathedral in a week: St. Giles’, also known as the High Kirk of Edinburgh, one of three cathedrals in Edinburgh.

Remarkable in the cathedral (remember, we had just spent a month in the grandeur of British cathedrals – and their Evensongs – so it wasn’t exactly a fair comparison) were the monuments to the Order of the Thistle Ceremony, female heroes (e.g. Dr. Elsie Inglis, see the photos in the gallery below); Robert Lorimer – Scottish designer; Scottish nurses, and Sir James Young Simpson who successfully pioneered the use of chloroform for pain relief during childbirth and surgery.

Fun fact: in addition to Sir James Young Simpson, many Scottish inventors have fundamentally shaped global healthcare, with innovations ranging from the first mass-produced antibiotic to modern ultrasound scanners. Their breakthroughs remain the backbone of modern medicine. 1853: Alexander Wood invents the hypodermic syringe, allowing for the precise administration of drugs directly into the bloodstream. 1921: Along with Canadian surgeon Dr. Frederick Banting and his medical student assistant Charles Best, Scottish physiologist John Macleod co-leads the team that isolated insulin at the University of Toronto, sharing the 1923 Nobel Prize for medicine for this life-saving drug. 1928: Sir Alexander Fleming invents penicillin. 1958: A team at the University of Glasgow produces the first practical diagnostic ultrasound scanner, fundamentally changing obstetrics and medical imaging. 1960s: Sir James Black develops propranolol, the first commercially successful beta-blocker, which is still widely used to treat heart disease and high blood pressure. 1995: Ron Hamilton invents disposable contact lenses.

We didn’t hear an Evensong, but small group of choristers were rehearsing for a concert they were performing later on in the day.

Remember to hover over each image in the gallery if you’d like the stories behind them.

Next up, we felt the need for fortification so we re-visited The Guildford Arms for where John had his last cask ale of the trip and we split an order of fries. He seems to have radar for cask ales and we had visited this pub when we’d first arrived. It’s pretty special.

From there we walked to the Portrait Gallery. What a treasure that place is, not only for its contents but for the design of the building itself. From their website: “Once inside the building, the Main Hall proves a breathtaking introduction to Scottish history. Along the first-floor balustrade runs a massive processional or pageant frieze that depicts many famous Scots in reverse chronological order. Starting with Thomas Carlyle, it was designed as a ‘visual encyclopaedia’ and includes figures such as David Livingstone, James Watt, Robert Burns, Adam Smith, David Hume, the Stuart monarchs, Robert the Bruce and Saint Ninian. The artist, William Hole, also painted a series of large-scale murals on the first floor. Like the frieze, these paintings of scenes from Scottish history are … a part of the fabric of the building.”

The gallery is actually massive, and we spent quite a while in it admiring the diversity of portraits, some photographic, some painted, some sculpted. I think my favorite painting was of the noted Scottish coroner/forensic anthropologist, Professor Dame Sue Black who is somewhat of a cult hero. Check out her portrait in the gallery below. It is haunting.

And by now it was day’s end. We were delighted to discover The Pakora Bar, a family run business founded by three brothers from Edinburgh. The restaurant features their mother’s phenomenal pakoras and curries recipes, and she is head chef. The food was spectacular as was the view of Arthur’s Seat out the front window.

Our bellies full of bhaji, curry and papadum, we walked back up the hill to Adagio Aparthotel (again, we loved that hotel, highly recommended), and called it a night because…

Thursday morning we walked to the station and took a train to a tram to the airport. So efficient.

I flew from Edinburgh’s Turnhouse Airport to Heathrow to Toronto. My flight was seriously delayed getting out of Edinburgh so although I made it onto my flight to Toronto, my luggage did not. Air Canada’s nifty App advised me of this while I was in the air, enroute to Pearson, so somewhere above Montreal I filed a luggage report and Air Canada promised to get my panniers to me the next day.

The upside of all of this was that I had absolutely no luggage to collect or trot home from the airport, so immediately I jumped on the incredibly lugubrious UP Express train to Union Station, took the 503 Kingston Road Streetcar home from King Station, and enjoyed the walk through the neighbourhood to our house, all hands free! I showered to rinse off the “Eau de Boeing”, walked around the gardens here, admired the urns that Brian had planted (he’d stayed in the house while we were away), and then jumped in the car to pick up groceries – milk, OJ, bread – for the next morning.

Meanwhile… because he had used points to book his flight, John was flying from Edinburgh to Zurich – !!! -and then on to Pearson, landing two hours after my flight landed. When he got to Toronto, he collected his bags, and then simply waited for the next AC flight from Heathrow to arrive. Voila, there were my two lonesome red panniers.

The downside to all of this was... John now had four panniers to manhandle home. His preference is to take the TTC all the way from Pearson to Kipling Station, then subway across the top of the city. When he was 15 minutes from Main Station, he texted me, I met him there and drove him – and all of those panniers full of dirty laundry – home.

Soon, things were back to normal here. Laundry churned, folded and put away. Susan Henley welcomed us home with a loaf of her exquisite bread for John and a bouquet of freshly picked rhubarb for me. I was happy to get back into the garden (see photo), we reacquainted ourselves with our Dumont (vs. ICE) trikes and found a newly opened trail, and John’s already planning our Fall 2026 trip.

Spring 2026 trip: 24 rides. 1212 kilometres, from St. Albans to Edinburgh. We LOVED it.

This what John did with Ben, then Will and Rob, then Nick, then me, via train, ferry and bike. March 25 – May 28th.

Travellers’ tip: Stop often. Take time to talk to strangers. Notice the small stuff. If you have to, circle back and take the photo you should’ve taken. Pack less than you think you’ll need. Take risks. Eat haggis. Go ahead and order the STP.

Observation: none of our trips would be possible if John’s sister Claire wasn’t here to make sure that his 95-year-old mother Marny was well-supported. Thank-you, Claire. We appreciate you very much.

Curious about where we’re headed next? It’s hilly at the end.

Hint: remember how we whinged about being cold, frequently wet, and battling headwinds? I wouldn’t trade a moment of it. However, in September we’ll pick up the bikes in Edinburgh, cycle to Newcastle. Take a ferry back to Amsterdam and then head almost due south – look at those elevations!!! – finishing in a hotel within walking distance of Les Halles de Lyon, Paul Bocuse.

I plan to eat my weight in cheese.

Have a wonderful summer, friends!!!

P.S. Patti wrote this blog. Having planned our entire next trip, booked all accommodations and plane fares and ferry rides, opened the pool and changed the snowtires on the car, John is now busy rewiring the model railroad in the basement.