Bridge-Walking

Like most people, Alien Wally and Mags had only ever driven across the Forth Bridge before. Until the day they decided to get a different vantage point by walking across the bridge’s pedestrian walkway.


A combination of the weather bureau predicting rain later in the day combined with Alien Wally and Mags’ newfound early rising regime meant that the two were on the bridge at 6am one Saturday morning. The early hour wasn’t sufficient though to keep all the traffic at bay, and Alien Wally and Mags got to experience the bridge shaking, rattling and rolling as trucks and buses rumbled by. Now they just need to go back during high wind to experience the swaying….

Cramond Island

Alien Wally and Mags were left a tad red-faced after visiting Cramond Island a few weeks ago. And red-legged and red-armed. Not so much sun-kissed as sun-walloped-upside-the-head-for-not-putting-suncream-on. Oh well, at least it made a change from the freaky-deaky white glare with which they blinded everyone at the start of the trip.

Cramond is a suburb in the north of Edinburgh on the banks of the Forth. Cramond Island sits in the Forth itself, about a mile offshore, and can be accessed by means of a causeway that appears when the tide goes out. And when the tide goes out seems to be anyone’s guess as neither the Official Website Of Tides nor the Official Notice Of Tides at Cramond itself got it right. Nearly right, to be fair, but both off by about an hour (in different directions).


So while they waited patiently for the tide to go out, Alien Wally and Mags joined the throngs on the beach and did some paddling in the water. They fully expected their bones to shrivel up in panic as soon as their little toes touched the usually icy water, but they were pleasantly surprised to discover a balminess akin to the warm side of the ocean in Cape Town.