That's not the kind of sound you want to hear, especially not if it's coming from inside your knee. My left knee was exactly where this sound was coming from on a sunny day near the start of March. I ignored it, until I couldn't walk anymore. I went to the doctor, who told me not to cycle, climb stairs or climb mountains. Then I went to Edinburgh and ignored all of my doctor's advice when an American guy asked me: 'Wanna limp up Arthur's Seat with me?'

Arthur's Seat fascinated me from the second I arrived in Scotland. No, I could not bend my knee properly and no, I couldn't get up a single flight of stairs without being in agony. But I just couldn't say 'no' to Zach, whom I met on my first night in Edinburgh. He, and I kid you not, also had an injury to his left knee. We spent that night laughing about our situation, talked how much we'd like to climb Arthur's Seat and how we'd be pathetically limping if we tried. We laughed some more, then decided to climb Arthur's Seat the very next day. This was probably the very worst idea the both of us had in all five days of our trip, but we were stubborn. So early in the morning of the 24th of March, two limping figures could be seen on the slopes of Arthur's Seat. This is the story of how they made it to the top. More or less.

We started off trying to be smart. 'We could take the bus to the foot, so we won't completely ruin our knees before we get there,' Zach suggested. Of course I agreed to that, half-sensible as I am. Zach had a bus plan and we totally knew where the bus stop was - or so we thought. After walking up and down Victoria Street ten times, we still hadn't found it. Then all of a sudden we did find it, and our bus was already waiting there! So we sprinted as fast as our busted knees allowed us - and missed our bus. We sighed and decided to walk. Holyrood Park couldn't be that far away, right?


In fact, we had a relaxed walk down the Royal Mile and reached Holyrood Park without either of us dying from excruciating pain in the knee. I became excited. Really excited. I just wanted to run straight up to the top of that mountain. There was only one problem: which path were we supposed to take?
That's when we discovered that the Scottish aren't very fond of signs for hikers. And since being sensible about the bus had brought us nothing, we decided to walk up the first path we saw, a path that went almost straight up. I know, I know. Not the best move if your knee is hurting. But I was impatient and almost ran up the first few meters of the path.
We walked on and were faced with steep, steep stairs. Oh, and also a girl barrelling down the rocky side of the mountain, but she didn't seem to notice us and quickly disappeared behind some prickly bushes. Zach and I exchanged confused looks once again, then walked on. My knee cracked every now and then, but I ignored it as usual. Soon we were on a... let me call if a platform. Or a little field that was actually level. I couldn't help but twirl around, vlog and be way too happy there. I also decided that this was the perfect occasion to explain Zach the plot of Trainspotting. I did a bad job, mostly because I still haven't seen the end and I was way too distracted by the person who was watching it with me when I first saw it, but I made up for my lack of knowledge with pure excitement. I'm not sure how much Zach enjoyed this, because he soon asked me if my knee was doing okayish enough to climb the last bit of Arthur's Seat. My knee was not okayish, but I didn't tell him. I wanted to continue, but was a bit wary since I couldn't see a clear path leading up to the top. There was also still no sign telling us where to go, so we did what we shouldn't have done with two busted knees: Climb straight up the last rocky part! My knee was killing me, my feet were not happy in my sneakers anymore and my camera almost died crashing into a rock as I awkwardly climbed up and up.

x Envy

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