JOHN MUIR WAY: DAY 7 CRAMOND to the ‘JEWEL’ EDINBURGH

 

Friday 30 May.

A high pressure system was over the country; Carol, the weather ‘girl’ on BBC Breakfast said it would still be cloudy but dry and warm. That was good enough for us and I was up at 5:30am to shower and make the breakfast. The plan was to just use buses mainly today and we parked as usual at the library and caught the bus at 7:30am (it was late) for Glasgow. It was busy with not much room but the people who had the odd free seat beside them resented you sitting next to them and only grudgingly moved to allow us in. At Buchanan St terminus we were almost immediately on the bus to Edinburgh. I had the iPad and Moira brought the new Asus tablet so we read our books on the way. 'Traveline' told us to catch the 40 or 40A bus to Cramond from George St but when we got off there none of the bus stops listed these bus numbers. We walked round to Princes St before we found a bus stop with them listed but ended up getting a different one entirely that had Cramond on its signboard. Moira followed the route the bus was taking on the map; where we finished the other day, at Cramond Brig, was on the A90. The bus was going along the A90 but turned into the town before reaching the Brig, we got off immediately and walked the rest of the way.

It was only a 10 minute walk down the hill before we recognised the place where we had caught the bus to Queensferry. The 'Way' started on the other side of the Cramond Brig and we dropped down to a path that ran beside the River Almond. The bridge on the A90 above was a new crossing the 'Brig' crossed the river below and was 'Cramond Old Brig' and was a stone arched structure over the tree lined river.

We were on a tarred cycle path which made its way to an area of large expensive houses. We came to a cul-de-sac and the continuation looked like somebody's driveway but a workman told us to carry on and the path developed on the other side of the houses. It went past a golf course before reaching the Royal High School and into Davidson Mains Park. It was only in the park for a short stretch before a long climb took us across the A90, that the bus came along earlier, to continue climbing up Corstorphine Hill. At the top the sign posting was confusing and we headed down a long hill through a residential area. This was the cycle route and we should have continued straight at the top of the hill into Corstorphine Hill Nature Reserve and the Clermiston Tower, a monument built in 1871 as a memorial to Sir Walter Scott. Our route at the bottom of the hill crossed a busy road and into a green and treed area. There was an old railway track tarred over for a walking route into the city. It was a pleasant walk along the tree lined path and it seemed very popular with walkers and cyclists. A few kilometres on there was a turning off the rail path which we followed ending up at the gate at the bottom end of the Nature Reserve. We realised our mistake that this was the exit from route we should have taken at the top of the hill. This was confirmed back at the rail path where the signs showed two routes, the walking one and the other for cyclists, we had been on the cycling one.

 

THE WATER OF LEITH WALKWAY

The walkway passes through many areas of interest including: Colinton Village and Dell, the Union Canal, Saughton Winter Gardens, Murrayfield Stadium, the Scottish Gallery of Modern Art, Dean Village, Stockbridge, the Royal Botanic Garden and Leith. Ideal for family walks, the walkway is a delightful afternoon’s stroll, away from the hustle and bustle of the city. The route is suitable for cycling and is accessible in part by wheelchairs and even by horseback.

The City of Edinburgh Council Natural Heritage Service operates on the Water of Leith which was completed in 2002 courtesy of Millennium Project funding.

Because of the nature of the Walkway winding through the heart of our city, you can choose to join it and leave it at lots of places up and down the river, linking with other paths, cycle routes, the canal and Pentland Hills .

 

At the end of the old railway track route we reached one of the new tram stops. Edinburgh's controversial new transport system starts tomorrow morning on the line connecting the city centre to the Airport. We sat on one of the benches on the platform and had our lunch. From the tramline we continued over some busy streets and intersections, just before reaching Murrayfield rugby stadium instead of heading straight for the short distance into the city centre we turned along the Water of Leith Walkway. We had done this walkway route a few years ago but not this part, we had started nearer the city centre. This took a big loop through Saughton Park to eventually pick up the Union Canal again at Slateford Aqueduct that carried the canal over both road and Water of Leith. To get up to the Union Canal involved a climb of 87 steps. One side of the stairway had a channel similar to the one we saw at the Alhambra in Grenada to drain water from above. Fortunately the day was dry and so was the channel.

              

                                                                                                                         

It was now a pleasant walk along the towpath but the path was narrow and cyclists were annoying, zooming up at our backs without much warming and we had to jump quickly. The canal ended at Lochrin Basin with lots of narrow boats and barges moored there, we crossed to the other side by the Leamington Lift bridge and through the streets to the Meadows, a vast expanse of parkland in the city centre.

ARTHUR’S SEAT

At 251m (823 ft.) this is a superb viewpoint for the city and the Firth of Forth. An ancient volcano, its rocks were exposed by glacial erosion, notably the basalt columns of Salisbury Crags. The hill was important in the evolution of modern geological understanding. On the summit and slopes are various prehistoric and later settlement and defence sites.

This is a Site of Special scientific Interest and part of a Scheduled Ancient Monument. In 2013, Lonely Planet listed it among its ‘top 10’ urban walks worldwide. See: www.snh.org.uk and www.historic-scotland.gov.uk.

         

We could see the Castle in the distance but the path through the Meadows headed away from it to Arthur's Seat. There we picked up another old railway 'The Innocent Railway" converted into a cycling and walking track. We were amused at a small boy learning to cycle, the track had a slight slope and he was all right going down but he didn't like the effort of pedalling up again. It was a nice walk under the shear rocky sides of Arthur's Seat but we were getting tired. When we reached a main road at the Edinburgh suburb, ‘the Jewel’ and spotted a bus stop we made for it. We had only 10 minutes to wait for a bus to take us back to the city centre. When we reached the bus station we just missed a bus for Glasgow but the next one was in only another 10 minutes. We were soon on our way home again. It was the rush hour when we were getting out of Edinburgh and it was slow going until the bus reached the M8 motorway. It took 90 minutes to get to Glasgow and we caught the Dunoon bus that was leaving straight away. It was nearly 7pm when we drove up the hill home.