Fun in the Sand

Portobello Beach here in Edinburgh is a typical Scottish beach.  Often deserted and windswept.  Visited mainly by dog-owners and shell-collectors.  Used for sun-bathing* on those glorious, too few days of windless sunshine.  You do not often see much swimming going on along Scottish beaches, but they are still nice places to stroll along.

I took a very pleasant stroll several weeks ago and brought back the requisite shells and snapshots to add to my collection:

Portobello Beach - View to the northish?

View in the other direction.  :)

Some kind of gull - the only creatures I saw taking the waters.

Gotta love those Scottish skies.

My favourite view of the beach.

Of course, Portobello Beach is also famous because of Eric Liddell, of Chariots of Fire fame. I am a bit muddled as to whom can rightfully claim what, seeing as how Eric was born in China (albeit to Scottish missionary parents) and went to boarding school down south (while his parents were still in China!), BUT the family did seem to stay in Edinburgh while his parents were on furlough, and Eric eventually studied at Edinburgh University, where he, of course, did athletics.  This leads to claims that he trained on Portobello Beach.  I cannot substantiate these claims, but it does seem likely that he trained on a beach, given the opening scene of Chariots of Fire** and the closest beach to Edinburgh University (that I know of) is Portobello. Whew!

All in all, my stroll was very enjoyable as I took in the sand and the sun and the history.  One thing I can say for Scottish beaches is that you never feel crowded.  :)



*Sun-bathing attire here normally consists of rolled up trousers, bare feet, and a t-shirt.  Let's not get carried away and imagine that bare flesh is being exposed just off of the North Sea.

** Which was filmed in St. Andrews, but perhaps the film-makers were just as confused as I am.