Some Hill Place Hotel, Edinburgh

GARETH DEIGHAN takes the high road to Edinburgh and finds it is a city full of charm.

EDINBURGH has always been a popular place for weekend breaks. And this particular weekend break proved why. Electing to drive because of the train fare, the wife and I chose to take the car for the 120-mile journey. Not far, you think. And in terms of mileage, you’d be right. But in terms of time, it is very, very far away.

I should have known to be honest with you. As a youngster, mainly because my mother is a Scot, we would often travel north of the border for weekends and weeks away with family members; and it always took ages to get there. Admittedly we were travelling to Wick.

I had suspected, though, that the roads leading to the Scottish capital would have got faster. I was wrong. It’s a lovely route up with lots of see but, be warned, when you are travelling from the North East it takes a long, long time. Especially as we were trying to get up there for a footie kick-off at 12.45 pm. We arrived at the hotel with little fuss. Our directions, courtesy of route finder, worked rather well.

Ten Hill Place has car parking but not much, and we were directed to a local NCP car park which, incidentally, was cheaper than leaving the car at the hotel. The hotel is fairly small, with no restaurant; but there is a bar and the rooms are spacious and well appointed. It is also around five minutes’ walk from the Royal Mile, which puts it in perfect position for the tourist.
After the longer than expected car journey we were late and went straight out to watch the match in a bar. The receptionist in the hotel was very helpful and seemed to know exactly where we could find the kind of place we were looking for.

Following the game (a disappointing draw) we took the chance to explore a bit of Edinburgh and hopped on a tour bus. Yes, it was red and people pointed and laughed as we were upstairs in its open-top part in November, but it was interesting. And, being of an ever-so-slightly lazy disposition, the bus helped us see more of the city than we would have done on foot. That evening the hotel staff again proved helpful as another polite and knowledgeable receptionist booked us a taxi and wished us a lovely time for our night ahead. We weren’t disappointed. After finding a lovely restaurant on George Street in the city, we went to the Opal Lounge (an alleged haunt of Prince William) and found many Prince William types: boys with floppy hair in shirts and jumpers, girls in super short skirts who loved to dance.

It made for an interesting night. Back to the hotel and the comfortable room with the large bed made for a welcome sight and a very good night’s sleep.

Niagra Falls New York - Must Visit Location

The Niagara Falls - among the largest, most impressive and best known falls in the world - lie in the extreme north-west of New York State. Here masses of water from Lake Erie plunge over an almost 200 ft drop to flow into Lake Ontario. First described and sketched by a missionary, Louis Hennepin in 1678, they attract over 12 million visitors a year.

The masses of water are used to produce energy. The present hydroelectric power stations have a total output of 3 million kW. Before the falls were harnessed to produce electricity, water poured down at the rate of almost 1,300,000 gallons per second. A Canadian-American agreement of 1951 on the joint use of the water guarantees a daytime flow of just under half that amount during the summer and just under a quarter at night and in the winter.

Formation The origins of the Niagara Falls go back to the Ice Age, when the river, flowing at a higher level than today over a limestone plateau on the Niagara escarpment, dropped down to the level of Lake Ontario near the present-day town of Lewiston. Then, as a result of retrograde erosion, the falls rapidly moved upstream. Over the last 3000 years they have moved back from the Rainbow Bridge to their present position. The pace of erosion depends on the volume of water going over the falls; but at present rates it can be expected that within a few hundred thousand years the Niagara Falls will be close to the American city of Buffalo.

eography The masses of water from Lake Erie thunder over a horseshoe-shape rock wall 700 yds long at the Horseshoe Falls, which are in Canada, and, a short distance north-east, over the straight American Falls, 360 yds long. The frontier between the United States and Canada runs along the middle of the river.