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Thank you to every one who offered me advice and support on my first blog, especially those that took the time to post comments. And yes, there will be maps!
This week’s quote comes courtesy of Sustrans. The average length of my walks will generally be about a mile (2000 – 2500 steps) so it seems we have similar aims.
The Tesco Variation, as mentioned in the last blog, starts from Bonnington, although you could join at Goldenacre Path, easy if you are coming from Trinity or Ferry Road.
Warriston Cemetry Bridge - the start, kinda
When you get to the cemetery bridge (see pic) on Warriston Path (1250 steps) just follow the path round the corner on to Goldenacre Path. You will quite clearly see that you are on a bridge over the Water of Leith. This gives a lovely aspect of Edinburgh including Arthur’s Seat and Carlton Hill, and an excellent view of a fantastic allotment (see pic). This is one of my favourite spots. I quite often have a moment here, to take in the view or watch the development of the allotment in different seasons. It’s places like this that makes city walking worthwhile.
Allotments - We can grow alfalfa and live of the fat of the land...
The path continues directly on past the entrance to Tesco (1800). If you were just coming to do your shopping, this would be a natural end point. I’m a big fan of walking to the shops and if you don’t have a family of four to feed, you can quite easily do your weekly shop here. There are good recycling facilities but they tend to be overused (Question: What’s the mindset of someone who recycles their bottles and then just dumps the box they came in, next to the bins?). There are more extensive and under-used facilities at B&Q. Go there on your way to Tesco. It doesn’t take much longer.
Rodney Street Tunnel - Can you see the light...
Continue past the recycling point, where all the Tesco workers have their fag breaks (I don’t think they are allowed to smoke in front of the store), and you’ll come to the Rodney Street Tunnel (see pic). I’ve been following the work on the tunnel quite closely and I’m sure there are a lot of walkers and cyclists who have been expecting it to open soon. It’s worth pointing out the following statement on the sign (see pic):
“The work at present includes strengthening the tunnel only. Sustrans has a long term aspiration to work in partnership with City of Edinburgh to create a lit path through the tunnel as a safe traffic free alternative.”
“…Long term aspiration…” this is “newspeak” for - we have run out of money! I’ll do some digging around (see what I did there) and see if I can find out anything. But it looks like the boys at City Hall have messed things up for the little guy once again.
Sustrans - "long term aspiration"
Rodney Street Junction - An easy crossing?
When you come to the end of the path on Broughton Road (1900), turn down to the junction at Rodney Street (see pic). There are a lot of great wee shops here including The Bike Chain and a lovely florist. It’s quite easy from here, traffic permitting, to head directly on to Eyre Place, past Maclauclans bar, and then Smithies bar, which does a good pint of IPA. At the Capital City Partnership building (2100) there are some interesting cut-out animals on the roof, don't know why they are there but I kinda like them.
You will walk past a park, a great restaurant, Duck's at le Marche Noir, and the back of the RBS building (or as I like to call it - The Tyrell Corporation).
Lovely park with bins
Roof foxes and other animals
Then you come to the Junction on Dundas Street (2350) where there are lots of sandwich bars, which feed the bank workers. There’s a lot of building work to navigate as the walk finishes at the bus stop, just past Fettes Row (2500). The view up The Mound is great and luckily I’m not recommending you walk all the way up – at least not this time.
Dundas Street - A bit of an obstacle course
This walk takes less than 20 minutes and it’s a quick 5-10 minute hop on the 23 or 27 bus uptown. Catching the number 11 on Newhaven Road will take at least 25 minutes during the rush hour. So a 20-minute walk has only taken 5 minutes out of your day. 10 minutes if you do it to work and back, and you will have had a 40-minute daily walk.
Hope you enjoyed this walk and I’ll be posting maps for both walks very soon, thank you Google maps.
Cheers
The City Walker
Any feedback on this post will be gracefully accepted and you can even contact me directly at walk@thecitywalker.co.uk. There is a website - www.thecitywalker.co.uk but at the moment it's just a holding page and a link to this blog.
Hi,
Welcome to The City Walker. As you might have guessed, this blog is about walking in the city, in particular Edinburgh. Each week I will walk a different route around Edinburgh. The purpose of this is to encourage people, including myself, to take more exercise, both lazy and busy people (I know that there seems to be a contradiction in terms but it turns out we are two sides of the same coin) who see exercise as a bit of chore.
It is generally considered that walking 10,000 steps a day is a good way to keep reasonably fit. If, like me, you work in an office you will quite easily only walk 4000 steps a day – that’s what I was averaging before I started this. I find walking to work is one of the easiest ways to increase the number of steps taken, as it is very easy to build it into your routine and it becomes a “ good” habit.
So I’ll cut to the chase and we can start with my first walk. This is the walk from Newhaven Road at Newhaven Road Bridge (see pic) to Canonmills.
Newhaven Road Bridge - and start of the walk.
This is a fairly easy walk and is both scenic and a very practical short cut for getting into work or town. It’s just under a mile and about 2000 steps.
Starting from Newhaven Road Bridge you go down the steps that take you to the Water of Leith Path, and head towards town, not in the direction of the shore (that’s a walk for another day). This follows the route of the old railway line and takes you on to a network of paths that can go as far as Roseburn and Cramond. Essentially, this walk is just a straight line so it’s almost impossible to go the wrong way.
After a short while you should come to Steadfastgate (275 steps). This offers a magnificent view of the city (see pics), towards Arthur Seat and Carlton Hill. Continue on straight, avoiding the detour that you takes you on to the Water of Leith on the left hand side. You continue on Warriston Path, past some Wisteria Lane style houses, (two cars parked in every drive but no people).
Steadfastgate
The View - (never point a camera directly at the sun!)
There is a junction for Trinity (525) but we continue straight on and past some lovely allotments, often people stop to paint them in the summer, the best time to view then is the evening when the sun is setting (see pic). Continuing along past the junction at St. Marks Path (750). This can be a nice detour if you want to walk to Macdonald Road or Leith Walk.
The Allotments
From here on we come to a long avenue of trees, many of which have been planted on the old station platforms. There is a high wall on the right hand side, which backs on to Warriston Cemetery. There is a turn off for B&Q (950), which is handy if you like DIY, it also has excellent recycling facilities, and these are not as busy as those at Tesco up the road.
We next come to a cemetery bridge, a lovely architectural feature that separates old Warriston Cemetery from the newer parts. At this point we come to a Y junction, where we have a choice of routes, we can follow the path directly left to take the Tesco Variation or dogleg left then straight ahead at the sign post for Goldenacre Path and Standard Life (1300).
The Sign- that takes us to Canonmills
On following this path we come down to the back of Warriston playing fields. This is quite a slope and can be slippy in winter or when it rains (so that’s most of the time). We are afforded a lovely view of Eildon Street, and taken past another excellent allotment. We come out on Warriston Crescent (not really a Crescent). Follow the path until we come to the Orchard (1800), formerly the Northern Bar. If it’s morning you will normally be greeted by a Blue Meanie who regularly patrols this quiet bit of road, rich pickings I think especially if you have slept in by a few minutes past 8.30am.
From the Orchard you are directly opposite Tanfield and there is a selection of buses that come along this road, including the 8, 17, 19a, 23,and 27. A left turn takes you over the bridge at the Water of Leith and past a great selection of restaurants including the Loon Fung (Chinese), Dionka (Tapas) and a great Indian take-away, the Eastern Spices.
Canonmills - The end of the line
Our final destination is the bus stop across from Canonmills clock (2000) (see pic). Cross the road at the traffic lights past the Circle café, a nice place for a latte pit stop, and we are there. It’s easy to get the 23 and 27 uptown from here, and you are a stone's throw from Stockbridge.
This is an excellent walk. If you are used to getting the number 11 bus from Newhaven Road, up Leith Walk and along Princes Street, this takes the same amount of time as it’s only a short hop up Hanover Street to the Mound. It takes at least 25 minutes on the bus during the rush hour. If you do this walk to work and back then you should add 4000+ steps to your daily total.
Hope you enjoyed this or at least found it interesting. If you feel inspired enough to actually do it then even better.
The next walk - The Tesco Variation and handy walking tips (i.e. put one foot in front of the other).
Cheers
The City Walker
Any feedback on this post will be gracefully accepted and you can even contact me directly at walk@thecitywalker.co.uk. There is a website - www.thecitywalker.co.uk but at the moment it's just a holding page and a link to this blog.
