Reception was warm, friendly, efficient and informative. The lobby is huge - and it was filled…read morewith different kinds of sofas & chairs. The cafe makes a great decaf soy latte - and the views of the climbing walls are fantastic from the cafe. The lockerrooms are pretty nice - clean and lots of space (no bumping into people as you change or access a locker). The coin-return system used by the Edinburgh Royal Commonwealth recreation system is great - just leaves you with a key to keep track of though (at the Royal Commonwealth pool - the key is on a bracelet). The climbing gym itself is huge - I wasn't prepared for this from the pictures - there's no way to do it justice. The 25 m wall just goes on and on! There are walls that are at a slope (like slab climbing) and corner problems with shelves for mantling and problems you have to jump onto - which we don't really have at my local climbing gym chain (Touchstone). The materials used for the walls and the jugs/pieces are much more abrasive than what we have at my local gyms (though ours could just be worn). Everything is color coded as well - you have a climb with all the same color pieces -- it's much simpler that way, though at night - the kind of lights they turn on make all the red-colors blend together (ie, is that purple or red? I can't tell now that the lights are on!). The ropes they use are different, too - esp on the 25m top rope routes - much stiffer (for obvious reasons) and overall, the ropes all seemed to be heavier and stiffer. If you're used to having to "prove" you know how to belay - EICA just has you sign a waiver that says "I'm a grown up and I know what I'm doing and won't sue you if I'm an idiot" - no belay test, no belay card - have at it, kiddies! On this visit, I didn't get to try any of the outdoor climbing - but I'll work on my lead climbing classes and certifications this winter so I can travel and climb outdoors more next year. I hope to visit England again - and want to see more climbing gyms - I've heard there are some in old churches (ie, crazy high walls and indoors).

I went there recently for a meeting not a climbing experience, but what I could see was amazing. I…read morewill definitely be back to conquer the vast amounts of climbing possibilities and challenge my fear of heights! Its a place for adults and children. Lots of space inside and outside for parking. There is a cafeteria where you can eat, converse and indulge. I am sure they are offer memberships, so why not give it a try. Just one thing - you might need a car to get there. Not sure about the public transport as its a bit outside of Edinburgh , near Ratho Station.

So...I'm being a climbing spectator today! And yes the actual climbing part is awesome, but I'm…read moregoing to review the cafe as that is where I'm spending my time. For a small cafe in a sporting centre it's very good. The hot chocolate was nice, as was the latte, but nothing special. The paninis how ever were very yum! Hit the spot for sure. I couldn't decide between the Brie, Apple and cranberry or the salmi and cheese, so we got both and halved them :D yum yum! Not much fuss but tasty! We then shared a slice of paradise cake and my goodness! One of the best coconut cakes I've ever had :D nom nom! The staff are lovely, and the cafe space quite open plan and useful. Complete with a log burning fire *yay* toasty!

I've been hearing about bouldering a lot recently, and then a friend suggested a trip for her…read morebirthday. Yes please! I actually wasn't really sure what it was, and pictured that there would be more boulders and less walls. It is in fact just rock climbing without ropes and on shorter walls. The Climbing Academy seems like a cool place. It's a big space with a proper cafe serving sandwiches, cakes, lots of drinks etc and lots of seating as well for parents/observers. We were doing a 1 hour induction session which cost £10 including shoe hire. All you need to boulder is some kind of comfortable gym gear, and to hire the shoes. Super snug shoes with grippy soles to help you climb. I kept my socks on, apparently it's better to go without. Mmm, not when I'm hiring them it isn't. We were shown around the centre and the novelty of jumping on the squishy flooring never got old. I imagine if you fell from the top it would still hurt, but it was nice having padding to break your fall (seing as I'm used to falling while on skates onto a basketball court). Climbing was relatively straightforward. Apparently you're meant to start from a seated position on the floor, but due to my lack of upper body strength, that just wasn't going to happen. You follow the coloured grips on the wall and can challenge yourself by advancing through the colours. I think I just stayed on purple and black though because I was a bit rubbish. The instructor was really helpful and encouraging. As were the people I was with, so it was a good atmosphere. It was really fun climbing stuff, although my hands and arms were really sore really quickly. If you keep going you build up callouses, I'm not really sure about that. The hour went by pretty quickly. I would definitely go back, and the only reason this isn't 5 stars is because I feel like I wasn't really there long enough to experience properly. A fun way to spend a mate's birthday!

I like this because it has lots of different things to do and I love there pizza and chips meal…read moredeal for 2:50 it is amazing with the McDonald's fries .the best part is that it has a person in it and it has water. The thing is it doesn't have a time and it dosent have a capsule so why call it the time capsule that's why I gave it 4 stars ‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍

I used to come to the Time Capsule every Saturday morning between the ages of 9 - 11. This was when…read morethey held the childrens ice-skating, where you could skate around and they also held a little dancing on ice disco where the leader showed us some moves and we had to copy. After this wild workout everyone got a little paper bag full of tuck shops sweets, it was great! After the ice-skating my dad usually took us to the swimming pool, the river rapids were my favourite part and I could swim here for hours. I particularly remember the scary red dragon statue and the cave men who looked down on your when you were swimming round the pool, one of them was wielding a spear which I have to admit, was a little bit scary. They also have a huge play area with ball pools, slides, climbing walls - it just looks amazing. Unfortunately, my parents never let me go here and I feel that I've missed out. At the moment the play area pool is closed for major refurbishment, who knows what it will look like when it's finished? I think I might take a trip back soon for good old times sakes. A fantastic day out for all the family!

Top notch place! I'm not from around here, but the staff…read morehere made me feel very welcome. The routes are awesome and there are many different walls to choose from with a very diverse set of problems for all skill levels. Definitely coming back here!

Ryze is my favourite of all trampoline parks. It's utilised better, it's organised better and it…read moreoffers a lot more than say Gravity or Jump In. Although it is a bit far out and hard to get to, it's our favourite.

So much fun and not just for kids. It's a huge warehouse that is full of trampolines…read more Because they had issues when they first opened they make you watch a video before you can book tickets, fill in a disclaimer, and then undergo an in person briefing before you can get on the trampolines. It's all common sense and about not trying things that you don't know how to do. They have loads of lockers to store your stuff in while playing that you need a pound coin for. They also have cubby holes for non-valuable things if the lockers are too small. Make sure to arrive about 15 minutes before your session to allow time to do all the above. Once you get on the trampolining area you can play dodge ball (it's really hard to pick up balls while bouncing), bounce on trampolines or my favourite the foam pit area. There are several fun things in the foam pit area, trampolines that you can jump off into foam, a slack line, ropes, and a really high bit to jump off into foam. It's super fun and you will be embarrassed at how long it takes you to crawl out of the foam. There is a cafe and relaxing area upstairs if you have those that don't want to take part but I think pretty much everyone can do at least part of it. It's quite tiring so an hour is more than enough unless you are super fit and love trampolining. I'm planning to go again and work on jumping off the high bit without squealing. You know like the 6 year old in front of me did.

They have several climbing walls in varying difficulty, a skywalk and a drop. In our time slot we…read morewere just two people and the very friendly guide let us try the climbing walls before we headed towards the skywalk and the drop. It was real fun, but we don't really expect to be able to lift heavy things tomorrow. The skywald has different challenges, but you can always avoid the hassle by just gliding along. It felt completely safe. The drop is a 15m fall: you just step into the void and after a short free fall you are decelerated into a soft landing. We can only recommend that!

Go Ape in Aberfoyle is AWESOME!!! The basic concept of Go Ape is that you are to complete a giant…read moreassault course which has been built high up the forest. There are tunnels, rope ladders, wobbly bridges and all sorts! The piece de resistance is of course, the two zip wires. Sorry, make that Britain's two longest zip wires! As expected you are given a safety briefing and all the necessary equipment before you are set loose! I went to Go Ape on a team building day with my work colleagues and at the time I found the safety briefing alarmingly, well, brief! The instructor explained the equipment to use and let us have a practice go on obstacles which were lower to the ground before we actually got to the 40ft high course itself. All in all this only took about half an hour. However once I was up there (waaaaaay up there, it is so high!) I realised that they had told us everything we needed to know and there were always staff on hand if we were struggling at any point. I would recommend you book your day at Go Ape in advance because the course can only hold so many people at once so there is no guarantee you'll get to go on it. Also it always helps to try and book in for a day when the weather is going to be decent! I found Go Ape to be sufficiently challenging. I am not particularly daring but I'm not a total wimp either and I found that the course gave me a good adrenaline rush but wasn't so terrifying that I couldn't complete it. The highlight of my Go Ape experience was watching my boss go down the flying fox screaming, "aaarrrrggghhhh my baaaalllls." Now that is what I call team building!

Funtastic! I have been dying to try Go Ape for approximately 7 years and finally went last week…read morewith some fellow tri club nutters (including one who was terrified of heights) and it did not disappoint. You are set up for the whole experience by starting with a long zip wire across the valley to spectacular views. There are then four sites of steadily increasing 'difficulty' from tight ropes to crawling through barrels to stirrups, all strung up in the trees (and of course harnessed and attached to a safety rope) and with a zip wire ending each site. I have cycled up Dukes pass and past the David Marshall lodge many a time and was really impressed that you can't see anything from the road so it doesn't marr the landscape. The crowning jewel for me was not the longest zip wire in Scotland (not the longest in Britain anymore!) which was your last aerial experience on the way back to the start (amazing as it was) but the big tarzan swing on site 5 - a definite leap of faith with a (relatively) huge drop before the safety rope catches you and launching myself off left me shaking for the next few minutes! Next time I'm going backwards....

We were booked for a family session which was an hour of instruction and a shot on some of the…read morewalls. Our instructor Mark was excellent, particularly given that the group was 2 adults and 2 teenagers - he kept all of our attention, and ensured that we were all safe and competent, and weren't going to let each other accidentally plunge to our deaths/severe injury. I felt very safe the whole time. I don't know much about climbing, and what particular features or challenges that you'd look for from a climbing centre, but this place looked pretty awesome to me. Because it's in an old church, the climbing walls are really high, and there's loads of them, with all sorts of different gradients, and a big overhanging wall too. There's also a bouldering area in the basement. There was a cafe, which wasn't open when we were there, but looked like it provided some nice healthy options - there was a choice of smoothies which caught my eye. I thought an hour wouldn't be long enough, but even though I'd only done 3 climbs, my arms were pure burst by the end, so it was actually plenty of time. I'd love to go back here and practice some more.

Fancy strapping yourself into a harness, wearing some tight shoes and attempting to scale an ever…read moresteepening pinnacle? No its not Thursday night is fetish night, its the Glasgow Climbing Centre. Opened since 1994 and still going strong, the climbing centre offers a fantastic opportunity to do a bit of rock climbing in a dry and safe environment. Whether your using it as a pro looking to stay sharp or as a complete amateur trying it for the first time, there are routes to suit of abilities and nerves. Priced a little steeply at over £7 a pop its still a fantastic facility and a chance to do something that's not just cool but is amazingly good for your health...if the heights don't get to you that is! With other facilities such as a cafe, new since the last time i went, and a shop for all your climbing gear needs, this place is top notch. Oh and dont worry that you'll ever get bored climbing the same routes (around 270 combined top rope and boulder problems) as they are changed every 3 months by the resident team of trained spider monkeys kept in the basement, a spectacle in itself!!

My relationship with yoga is strictly casual; it's a challenge, something I enjoy, something I know…read moreis good for me, but even though I've been seeing it for a while, I'm not quite ready to commit, financially or emotionally. Hell, I don't even own a yoga mat. Given this attitude, the Bristo Yoga School suits me fine. Classes are cheap, drop-in, and may be as small as four or as big as twenty depending on who turns up. Here, you can do fun stretching followed by even more fun relaxing without feeling obliged to immerse yourself in the nuances of Indian philosophy, or the difference between Iyengar, Hatha and Ashtanga (which I have never understood). Nor, in the classes I went to with Lisa, was I ever expected to perform any extreme poses, such as standing on my head, balancing on one little finger and such, which came as a great relief. I suspect (in fact I know) that more serious practitioners would be less impressed by the casual set-up of the Bristo Yoga School, but it's perfect for people me, the Sunday drivers of yoga.

I don't currently go to regular classes at Meadowlark but I do attend some drop in classes,…read moreworkshops and special events. Meadowlark has an excellent range of classes for everyone from beginners to daily Mysore classes. The studios are light, warm and clean. The changing rooms are a little small if the class is full and everyone is using them but most of the time it's fine. I have found all the teachers and reception staff to be friendly and welcoming. For me the studio is just a little too far out the way for both home and work for me to do more classes here but it's certainly one of the places I'd recommend for trying yoga. They are opening another studio in March and I'm looking forward to trying aerial yoga in it.

When I was in Glasgow on Wednesday 17 July 2019 , the Kelvin Hall International Sports Arena was…read morehousing a T-rex exhibit. Banners along the streets marked that the critter skeleton was in town and observable at Kelvin Hall from 18 April 2019 through 31 July 2019. I was a little confused as the exhibit hall looked to be part of an indoor sports arena. It was a wee bit of culture shock for me, and I was like - am I in the right place. Sure enough, a worker at the front desk pointed me towards the exhibit. The T-rex was pretty neat and had a lit-up informational display approach. Is it glow in the dark ink or an electronic display, or just really bright ink... Walking around in the exhibit was easy as the floorpan was well designed for human bipedal locomotion. A gift shop by the exhibit hall exit provided physical offerings to remember one's experience(s) by.

I was all set to give Kelvinhall three stars - partly for being such a beautiful historic building…read more(from the outside), and partly for the nice staff who work there. That was until last night, when I discovered that the water in the taps in all the changing rooms is apparently not fit for human consumption. W-w-w-w-hat?! In a sports hall? Where there is no access to water that is ok for drinking (apart from in the gym). I visit Kelvinhall twice a week and have been drinking the tap water for around a year ... I was horrified. You'd think they'd put up a sign at least? Apart from that, Kelvinhall is closing for refurbishment sometime this year so don't expect anything flash at the moment. Here's hoping they do something nice with it for it's reopening (and sort out the water!)