This is the first walk in our new found hobby and breaks us in gently at a modest 5.3 miles. As you can see from the picture, the walk starts off with spectacular views of the Forth Road and Rail Bridges at South Queensferry. You should also note the blue skies, which for November in Scotland isn't really the norm!
We parked the car in South Queensferry near to the harbour and started along The Craigs towards Hawes Pier. You cetainly get a flavour for the history of South Queensferry as you walk through the town. It's the kind of interesting little town you could spend a good few hours pottering about, if you were a pottering about kind of person. There are specialist shops, small art galleries and some nice eating places to be found but I guess it's not to everyones liking! We passed a woman speaking to her teenage son and they were obviously having words as we overheard the boy say, "I'm f***ing sick of this place!" It's a shame really that this young guy couldn't appreciate his surroundings, but who knows, it might not have been about him not liking South Queensferry and more about his mum trying to give him the same fish for lunch as he had for his dinner the previous night?
The initial part of this walk follows the south coastline of the river Forth and has some glorious views of Fife. The pathway is well constructed and is very easy to walk.
In about 3/4 hour we reached Dalmeny Estate.
As you can see from the photo, Dalmeny House is a really grand old building and was built in 1814 by the 4th Earl of Rosebery on the site of a much older house.
The estate is actually open to the public during the summer months and apparently houses a large collection of tapesties, porcelain and portraits. There is also a 9 hole golf course on the estate grounds on which I think members of the public can play for approximately £3?
I didn't know this place existed and will definitely be visiting it in the summer months.
(Just before leaving the estate I snapped this picture of a horses ass and a bronze statue)
Continuing south along the coast line takes you into the Crammond area of Edinburgh, however we turned to the west and made our way into the small town of Dalmeny. There is a nice church in Dalmeny which dates to the 12th century, however I thought that it looked a bit odd as it is missing its spire.
From Dalmeny, a cycleway took us back towards South Queensferry where, after our two and a half hour walk, we enjoyed a light lunch in one of the little cafes in the town.
This walk was very easy and took us 2 hours to complete. It sticks to minor roads and good tracks and if the weather hadn't been so good when we were doing it, I dare say we could have shaved 20 minutes off the time by stepping up the pace. All in all, a fine introduction to exercise and walking and really enjoyable.
This walk is featured in the book - 25 Walks Edinburgh and Lothian by Roger Smith and published by www.mercatpress.com
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