With the temperature at -2.5 centigrade and being confined to the house at present I once again look back at the trips and outings undertaken in Spring and Summer 2013. At time of typing I have taken over 11,000 pictures from Jan to November 21, many of which I have not edited or uploaded. With the enforced grounding due to chest infection I am taking the opportunity to address the lack of blog updates during spring and summer. On our return from our Spring holiday river cruise (see here), we arranged an Intrepids Day out to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh. The gardens 
are a popular visitor attraction, especially during Spring, Summer and Autumn days. There is no charge to walk around the gardens, but there is a charge to go round the Hot Houses. Wikipedia has this to say about the Gardens “The Edinburgh botanic garden was founded in 1670 at St. Anne’s Yard, near Holyrood Palace, by Dr. Robert Sibbald and Dr. Andrew Balfour. It is the second oldest botanic garden in Britain after Oxford’s. The plant collection used as the basis of the garden was the private collection of Sir Patrick Murray, 2nd Lord Elibank, moved from his home at Livingston Peel in 1672 following his death in September 1671[2] In 1763, the garden’s collections were moved away from the city’s pollution to a site on the road to Leith, and the garden moved to its present location at Inverleith in 1820. The Temperate Palm House, which remains the tallest in Britain to the present day, was built in 1858″. With over 70 acres the gardens cover a large diversity of plants and habitats all landscaped into attractive walks. 
