2025-03-08 55 -3

Location

On a tidal beach in northeast Edinburgh.

Participants

Plans

Planning to head out shortly, maybe go to Cramond Island afterwards if time permits.

Expedition

Got the 43 out to Easter Dalmeny, a lovely middle-of-nowhere bus stop with a pleasantly frequent (every 20 minutes) service. I start walking, and immediately make an unforced error, turning left on the B924 - for some reason at the time I thought that was the correct turn, but looking back at the map I have no clue what I was thinking. But no real harm done - it's only slightly longer this way, and ends up making a nice loop.

After an initial stretch along public roads, with nice views of the Forth Bridges (a continuing theme), I turn off onto the private and largely car-free roads of the Rosebery Estate. It's a lovely walk through woods with plenty of other walkers about. Eventually I turn onto a gravel track down towards the water, then follow the coast around to the vicinity of the hashpoint. I cut across to the beach and score the hash - the tide's far enough out that it's not much trouble at all. The hashpoint itself was totally dry, but the way in/out was a little lower and thus muddy - so I'm thankful for my good boots! Then I cut back to the path and continue around the coast, before cutting back inland to get back to the bus stop. This last inland stretch went through a dramatic landscape of sheep-covered hills - definitely the highlight of the excellent scenery throughout. I realize I'm at risk of missing my bus back home, so hurry up a bit for the last 15 minutes of the walk - only to discover the path I'm on (which is marked on maps!) goes directly through a fairly small fenced-in area containing two highland cows. There's no good way around, so reluctantly I go through, giving the cows as wide as berth as possible. Turns out the worst hazard wasn't the cows, but the mud - but I emerge unscathed, except with some very muddy boots. The friend I'm texting as I make this walk helpfully decides to inform me only after I've passed that cows kill more people in the UK than any other animal.

In the end I make my bus with a few minutes to spare. Afterwards I meet up with a friend (sadly she was busy in the morning so couldn't make it to the hash), and we explore Cramond Island together. It was an excellent day out.

Tracklog

I didn't get an actual tracklog (my phone battery is far too poor these days for that to be advisable), so this is a reconstruction from memory, OSM, and photo metadata. Diversion to the hashpoint itself not shown, but I promise I did make it :)

Photos

Love a good middle-of-nowhere bus stop
First peek at the bridges
A quiet forest path
Someone's Easter Island hedges
More pretty path
At the point!
Obligatory grin
The really gorgeous hilly bit
Typical Edinburgh traffic…
Duck pond!
Yes, the path through this pen is marked as a footpath on at least Apple Maps and OSM