The first snow of 2024 has arrived!

This morning didn’t look all that promising weather-wise. It was raining and looked gray overhead. I checked the weather, which said it wouldn’t go down below freezing, and snow would be unlikely. Tosh!

I noticed, on closer inspection that in fact the rain was a little more floaty than usual and was being picked up under the street lights a little more significantly than it otherwise normally does. I got togged up, unsure what to expect, and headed out. It was technically snow, nothing particularly exciting. It was more like extremely cold rain with a bit of snow mixed in.

Down to St. Mary’s Cathedral it was though, one of my favourite buildings in Edinburgh by far, which was rather nice, but very cold. I popped back home again. But to my surprise, it very much kept going! Up until now, nothing was lying, but around a quarter to nine, suddenly pavements started getting a little dusty. Intrigued, I popped out again, this time with the camera. By the time I had finished listening to the Archers and had got into my waterproofs, the rate had really picked up. It was a rather thick covering of around an inch.

I tootled up to the canal with the camera and took some photographs:

By this point, the camera wasn’t much appreciating the cold so I took it home to warm up and dry out, and continued on my walk. I went via St Mary’s again (which was significantly more snowy and beautiful), then up to Charlotte Square and George Street (where I ended up inadvertently ice-skating, and most definitely not on the ice rink which has been installed there!). From there I descended to Prince’s street, taking in the most magnificent view of the castle and the hill upon which it sits. It looked like great quantities of icing sugar had been tipped on it from above, the contrast struck between the deep brown of the damp rocks and the brilliant white of the snow was striking.

Down to Prince’s Street Gardens thence it was, where I enjoyed the light installations, and walked up to the castle via Edinburgh’s steepest street (I believe), Ramsay Lane. At the top, I walked onto the castle forecourt and tried to look around, but the snow falling made it difficult to see anything. By this point I felt like I was becoming a snowman (and the wax on my jacket was starting to freeze, so in a way I was!) and I made for home again.

What a lovely morning that was. I’m sat with a nice warm hot chocolate as I relate this, and listening to Victor Hely-Hutchinson’s Carol Symphony and feeling very wintery.

Tagged as: outdoors edinburgh snow photography