The walking route is well signed from the town centre. Proceed down to the old railway and head in the Edinburgh direction. The path has a tarmac surface throughout and we pass through an old tunnel under Loanhead High Street and a more modern construction below the roaring City Bypass. The terrain is a mix of urban, industrial and semi-rural. The route peters out after three and a half miles as we approach Shawfair Park Hospital. It's then a case of turning round and strolling back to Loanhead. This time the gradient is against you.
Have a look around the former mining town. My great grandfather David Howieson once managed the colliery here. The industry continued to grow locally after the war with the opening of a modern "superpit" named Bilston Glen. Perhaps contrary to what you might expect, the mining monuments in the town centre do not glorify the extraction of coal. Despite the state-of-the-art facilities at Bilston Glen, men continued to lose their lives up until the pit's closure in the mid-80s. A stark reminder of the dangerous nature of the profession.
