Outdoor Discoveries

Forthside wanderings

This year’s trips to Edinburgh have seen a developing trend: a tendency to go walking along the southern shore of the Firth of Forth. February saw me pottering along Edinburgh’s northern shores on a stroll that took me from Edinburgh’s city to and along the water of Leith before I headed west as far as Silverknowes where I caught a bus to Waverley train station where I caught my train home.

That necessarily cut off an approach to Cramond but the omission got addressed on a July visit when I walked along the coast west of Silverknowes before going inland along the banks of the River Almond and that was followed by a quick visit to the Cammo Estate before I found a bus stop from where I began my journey home. There was no crossing to Cramond Island because it was a time of high tide so examining tide times ahead of a coastal hike and that lesson was reinforced more recently.

As it happened, this past Saturday saw the longest stroll of the lot with my going west from North Berwick to Seton Sands. Mainly, it involved travel over sandy beaches and dunes as well as rocky shorelines. Many coastal rocky prominences like Bass Rock or Fidra caught my eye and led to photographic activity. Part of the John Muir Way was followed too, especially after a crossing of Aberlady Bay was stymied by the depth of Peffer Burn. That crossing left me wetter than was ideal but thoughts of getting cut off by an advancing tide spurred me along. Next time, a sighting of a beach watercourse on a map will cause me to be more cautious about my intentions than I was on this occasion.

Still, much sunshine was enjoyed and it did wonders for the coastal scenery much like on previous visits to the Edinburgh coastline in February and July. Unlike those days, cloud came in the afternoon and brought a little rain but that did nothing to take from what preceding better weather brought to me earlier in the day. My route had been inspired by one included in The Great Outdoors and offered something very different to other possibilities like the Pentland Hills or the Glen Sax round near Peebles. Both of those await future explorations now that the bracing sea air of the Forth has been savoured and there are other parts that need exploring so return visits to Edinburgh remain likely.