Shortcut

This morning I had a couple of meetings in St Andrew's House which is a bit unusual on a parliamentary day. From Parliament, there's a handy shortcut we can use which involves a 15 minute walk through a close and up the hill coming out on the eastern side of St Andrew's House. I sometimes wonder how those who live in this very pretty close actually feel about a succession of civil servants and Ministers trailing in and out throughout the day!

On the other hand, this close seems to be on some kind of tourist trail as there's a small circular sign embedded into the ground at the Canongate end marking it on a PhotoTrail. That's the furthest end from where I took this photo & when I had a look from the Canongate end I think I made the right choice :-).

It is of course, the way the Royal Mile works - but not just the Royal Mile. I suspect a lot of tourists miss out on the delights of many small towns including Crieff, when they don't head off up the lanes, vennels, closes etc which litter our urban landscape!