Edinburgh from Rosyth, the city across the Forth

There are grander ways to start a cruise than from a naval dockyard, but there are few with a better view. Rosyth lies on the north shore of the Firth of Forth, and from the water there you look along the firth to three great bridges, one from each of the last three centuries, and across it towards Edinburgh. For anyone in Scotland, or the north of England, it is the cruise port on the doorstep, and it comes with a capital city attached.

None of the cruises in this piece calls at Edinburgh. They sail from Rosyth, and Edinburgh is the city on the other side of the water. The point of this article is to suggest that it is worth adding a day there, before you sail or after you come home.

The dockyard on the Forth

Rosyth was built as a base for the Royal Navy in the years before the First World War. The Admiralty announced the plan in 1903, building began in 1909, and the great basin, with its docks, was finished in 1915. It has been part of Scotland's maritime life ever since, and in this century the dockyard has had one of its most remarkable jobs: the Royal Navy's two Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers were assembled here. Historic Environment Scotland describes it as the largest Royal Navy facility outside the south of England.

You will not see much of that from a cruise ship, but you will see the bridges.

Three bridges, three centuries

The oldest is the Forth Bridge, the great railway bridge that opened in 1890. UNESCO, which inscribed it as a World Heritage Site on 5 July 2015, describes it as the longest multi-span cantilever bridge in the world. It was the United Kingdom's twenty-ninth World Heritage Site, and Scotland's sixth.

Beside it is the Forth Road Bridge, a suspension bridge that opened in 1964, and which was, at the time, the longest suspension bridge in the world outside the United States. And beside that is the newest, the Queensferry Crossing, a cable-stayed bridge that opened to traffic on 30 August 2017 and now carries the motorway across the firth, taking the traffic that had outgrown the road bridge. It is described as the longest three-tower cable-stayed bridge in the world, and while it was being built its cantilevers, reaching out 322 metres before the deck sections met, were certified as the longest ever built. Three bridges in a row, from the age of steam, the age of the motor car and our own, have been called the most impressive concentration of very large bridges anywhere in the world, and the water is the best place to see them from.

The city across the water

Edinburgh is a short journey from Rosyth, across the Forth, and it repays every hour you can give it. The Old and New Towns of Edinburgh were inscribed together as a World Heritage Site in 1995, for the contrast between them. The site covers about 1.75 square miles and some 4,500 buildings, which is a lot of heritage for one day. The Old Town is the medieval city, running down from the castle along the Royal Mile to the Palace of Holyroodhouse. The New Town, on the plain to the north, is its opposite: a planned Georgian city, built between 1767 and 1890 as a series of seven new towns, one after another.

A day is just enough for a first look. Walk up to the castle in the morning, come down the Royal Mile, and cross into the New Town for lunch and an afternoon among its streets and squares.

Cruises from Rosyth

Fred. Olsen's five-night Coastal & Cultural Scottish Isles sails from Rosyth in August, with Troup Head, the Moray Firth, Lerwick in the Shetland Islands, Stornoway and the Duncansby Sea Stacks on its itinerary.

Fred. Olsen's five-night Norwegian Fjords Bank Holiday Break sails from Rosyth in April and calls at Olden and Skjolden. A second five-night Fred. Olsen sailing from Rosyth, listed under the same title, Norwegian Fjords Bank Holiday Break, sails in May and calls at Olden and Åndalsnes.

Whichever you choose, try to be on deck as the ship leaves Rosyth, and look out for the bridges.