The Olympic Torch came to Edinburgh today, on its progress around the British Isles ahead of the London 2012 Olympics next month. So we headed into the centre of Edinburgh this evening to see what we could see.

As we crossed Princes Street, we could see the BBC News helicopter hovering overhead.

Edinburgh Castle was looking rather resplendent perched on top of the Castle Rock, bathed in the evening sunshine.

There was a slight breeze blowing, and a Saltire was fluttering in the wind atop the Scottish National Gallery.

At the top of the Mound, in the centre of Edinburgh, a set of huge Olympic Rings have been installed, to advertise the Olympic Games to tourists visiting Edinburgh.

There was a PR stop outside the Bank of Scotland building on Bank Street, but the crowds were so deep that we couldn’t really see much. I think it was a ceremony transferring the torch from one runner to another, while promoting some of the sponsors.

The torch then made its way up Bank Street in the hands of Lesley Forrest, a kidney transplant recipient and competitor in the British and World Transplant Games, on the way to the Castle.

We managed to get a look at one of the torches, presumably the one that was used immediately before the transfer we’d just (not quite) witnessed.

With Bank Street impassable due to the combination of the crowds and police barriers, we nipped up Lady Stair’s Close to get to the Royal Mile. But with a bottleneck at the top, we had to queue to get out, and when we finally did, someone moving in the opposite direction told us that we’d just missed the torch!