May 1st 2015 walk - Pilrig House to Holyrood Park

After a year long hiatus, during which the Referendum on Scottish Independence September 18, 2014, and the following Genereal Election May 7th, 2015 both occurred, I got a second-hand Olympus EOS camera with fish-eye lens, and this walk was my first outing with it.  It was a beautiful sunny day and the blossom was at its best.  I walked from a friends house near Pilrig House heading toward Arthur Seat area and Holyrood Park, past Pilrig Church to Holyrood Palace, and the 'face' in the Crags which I mentioned many times previously.  A flowering cherry to start:

Pilrig House:

It would be nice to get a photo from the window in the last of these!  The first line I found in the landscape geometry goes from this house directly through Pilrig Church towards Holyrood:

and across the road from the church is the Boundary Bar, for a few years City Limits but back to the original name:

This spot was found to be a major point in the Edinburgh grid previously described.

A walk along Albert Street and up Easter Road with the Crags beyond and the church at the top also part of the grid to Abbeymount and the Turret, one time a pub now a cafe:

And one of the main reasons for the walk was to get this picture:

depending on how high the new building ends up this view may be lost.

and down under the railway bridge to Holrood:

nice gates but dos anyone see what I see beyond?  Later it 'may' become apparent, lol.  Walking on is a fine unicorn which I use in the header above:

IR5 = King James 5, of Scotland,

and one of the Abbey ruins as we go:

Just round the corner to the Parliament, Dynamic Earth and Sailsbury Crags:

and a first glimpse of the gorse in bloom!

walking into the park and something I have seen for a few years now, but continues to force itself  into my perception and is a integral point in the geometric grid of Edinburgh:

I wonder often how many see it, especially the MSP's sitting gazing out of their windows.  Depending on the time of day and the light it is more or less apparent, but usually recognizable when once seen especially at this distance.  Walking on towards it:

during the referendum campaign and the recent General Election many gatherings where held there and I also wondered how many folk saw this.  The Radical Road slopes up left to right just below the feature.  In fact two people can be seen approaching the feature, giving a sense of scale!

and a couple more with some blossom:

and up the afore-mentioned Radical Road, built by unemployed Paisley Weavers in the early 1800's.  Unemployed due to their radical beliefs, hence the name.  A work scheme proposed by Sir Walter Scott.  The story of the 'radical' weavers and the 'Martyr's' who were found guilty of sedition and transported to the 'colonies',  Gerrard Palmer Skirving Muir and Margorot, commemorated on the Martyr's Monument in the Old Tolbooth Cemetry, the obelisk which can be seen from the North Bridge and Jeffrey Street.  A great song by Adam MacNaughton and sung superbly by Dick Gaughan on his Redwood Cathedral album tells of Thomas Muir of Huntershill, who was transported fourteen years, escaped and died in France:

the Martyr's Monument is to the left, Nelson's Monument is centre and the Old Tolbooth jail and St Andrews House to the right.  Below is the Radical Road:

this is the feature up close, looks like nothing from here:

and a couple of views back down the 'line' through the Palace and a few shots of the Parliament and Calton Hill:

back down the road and further into the park Arthurs Seat comes into view:

some of the gorse blossom:

St Margaret's loch:

St Anthony's Chapel with a bit if fish-eye with a contrail:

and lastly spotted in the carpark, remember this was a week before the election!  And Yes I voted SNP:

fabulous day, a nice walk and my 'new' camera!