NT2573 : View from the Scott Monument - North Bridge and Waverley Station
taken 13 years ago, near to Edinburgh, Scotland
The Scott Monument (see Link ) is a 61 metre high monument on the edge of Prince's Street Gardens. It is Grade A listed. Link .
Being in the heart of the city the views are excellent, if you can manage the winding steps.
Waverley Station is Edinburgh's main train station. Covering an area 25 acres, it is the largest mainline station outside of London. Waverley forms the northern termini for the East Coast Main Line and the Edinburgh branch of the West Coast Main Line.
The station is situated in a steep, narrow valley between the medieval Old Town and the 18th century New Town. Princes Street, Edinburgh's main shopping street, runs along the northern side of the station and there are bridges at both ends. North Bridge, a three-span iron and steel bridge built in 1897, passes high above the station's eastern section, and Waverley Bridge, to the west, provides one of the three main entrances to the station. The other entrances are the northern entrance via Waverley Steps from Princes Street and Market Street to the South.
The station was originally developed in 1854 when the North British Railway Company joined three existing railway stations on adjacent sites together. It was expanded in the 1890s to handle increased traffic after the opening of the Forth Rail Bridge. Waverley is now operated by Network Rail and currently has 18 platforms in use.
Link Edinburgh Guide
Link Wikipedia
Link plan of the station
Although the Salisbury Crags form a familiar and prominent part of the view of Arthur's Seat, they are not, geologically speaking, related to the rest of Arthur's Seat at all!
They are the remnants of a sill of analcime-dolerite, formerly termed teschenite, which was intruded deep underground into the sandstones which underlie the Arthur's Seat volcano, long after the volcano had become extinct. Later again, earth movements tilted the whole structure so that the sill, like the lava flows that make up the volcano, now dips at 25º towards the east. The exposed scarp is up to 46 metres high, but it was quarried from about 200 years ago, and in places the present line of the scarp is well back from its original line.
The slope below is talus or scree, that is, loose pieces of rock which have fallen from the rock face and rolled downhill.
The crags, and especially the faces in the quarried parts, have been popular for climbing, but climbing is now controlled by the ranger service, and mostly takes place in the form of bouldering, resulting in trails of white chalk dust across the quarry faces.
The broad path round the foot of the crags is called the Radical Road. It is said to have been so named because it was paved by unemployed weavers after the 'Radical War' of 1820, a spell of strikes and unrest among artisans and skilled craftsmen seeking improved working conditions.
There is some doubt about the origin of the name Salisbury Crags. It has been suggested that they were named after the Earl of Salisbury, who accompanied King Edward III of England on an expedition to Scotland, but a more likely explanation is Lord Hailes' suggestion that is it from Anglo-Saxon and means a waste or dry settlement.