Today I went to a Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award ceremony at Holyrood Palace. Some of the local D of E team were also there and we had a very pleasant time; I had a nice chat with Cheryl in the car on the way through. The weather forecast was foreboding but we were very lucky and it stayed dry for us. Prince Philip has recently announced his impending retirement (at age 96!) so this will probably have been the last time that he attends the ceremony. When the prince was chatting to our group, the Scottish news presenter Jackie Bird asked him if he was looking forward to retirement & he said "Well I'm not in my coffin yet!" He is very sharp!
After a convivial lunch with my colleagues (we were all having a laugh and Cheryl said to the others about me "She's always like this on the expeditions!" very fondly) I walked up the Royal Mile to the Castle. As it happens I saw a programme about geology just the other night, which described the hard volcanic plug on which Edinburgh Castle stands. This plug split an encroaching glacier many thousands of years ago, and forced it to deposit its debris behind it, resulting in what is called a "crag and tail" formation, looking a bit like a tadpole. So the Royal Mile sits on the ridge of the "tail" as it slopes gently down towards the Scottish Parliament building and Holyrood Palace. As I strolled backed down the hill after a reviving coffee, I mused on the ancient rocks beneath my feet.
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