All business travellers to Edinburgh were routed into the city via Portobello Town Hall. Strips of dirty blue plastic poorly fixed to the hall’s internal steps announced ‘Welcome to Edinburgh’ hundreds of times in a tiny font. Once in the main room, the visitors were faced with rows and rows of traders’ stands, the majority of which offered homemade foodstuffs free of charge.

I saw an opportunity to pick up some cakes to take to J&G in Manchester. However, on close inspection, I discovered that (a) the goods were not very appetising and (b) the generous offer of free goods was limited to one cup cake per person. Regardless, I paid for a large iced cake from a woman on a stall at the far left hand side, then left the building.

Next on the agenda was a trip to the Forth Rail Bridge. I had heard that you could access it by foot. This proved too challenging for me. I lacked the strength to crawl through the narrow tunnel that had been bored through the hill to reach the structure at South Queensferry. I was also too frightened.