On a Lothian bus

I was hoping to post a shot of the Tweedbank terminus of the newly re-opened Borders Railway line from Edinburgh Waverley today but I've been unsuccessful in uploading an image from David's computer, so I've had to make do with a shot of a Lothian bus on the way to Waverley station.

It was a great experience to travel on part of the long closed Waverley Line from Edinburgh to Carlisle which was re-opened this October.

From Tweedbank Station we walked to Abbortsford, home of Sir Walter Scott who wrote tirelessly and productively about Scottish culture but whose legacy seems to have been rather neglected in the past 100 years or so. What a monumental novelist he was as well as a poet. Where did the man find the time to write so many words by hand as well as do the day job.

Unfortunately, the great house was closed for the Christmas period but the visitors centre and cafe were open. The exhibition chronicaling his life was free and was exceptionally well done. Scott amassed enormous weath through his literary exploits only to lose it all when companies he'd funded went bankrupt. He vowed to pay back creditors by writing even more and by the time of his death had earned the equivalent of £5 million to pay off his £10 million debt.

The Borders Railway is a great railway, passing through some fascinating and desolate countryside on the southern section and is bringing new life to the towns and villages along the route. May be, one day, the railway will be extended on to return to Carlisle. There is already talk about making this happen.

On exiting Edinburgh Waverley Station we made for the Guildford Arms, always a popular watering hole just off Princes Street to enjoy a very good pint of ale before catching the bus back to Balerno.

The morning was particularly windy, but I went for a run up and around the reservoirs. Met other fools up there, but I at least was going the easier way with the wind behind me most of the way.