Scotland's capital city is served by the Port of Leith on the Firth of Forth. A lesser known river in Edinburgh is the Water of Leith. It rises in the Pentland Hills and its 22-mile course runs right through the city en route to the Forth estuary. At one time over 70 mills harnessed the current to produce paper, fabrics and flour but today the river forms an eco-corridor through the bustling urban area and is home to a wide diversity of plants and animals from wild garlic and orchids to brown trout, heron, kingfisher and otter.
The Water of Leith Walkway tracks the river for almost 13 miles, from the suburban village of Balerno to the regenerated Leith Shore. I had previously completed the entire trail twice with colleagues and had done several short stretches over the years. Today I was back for another go with my sister Linda. Another project for the Fraser walking team and a chance to refresh my route knowledge in order to create a report for this humble blog. We rendezvoused outside Haymarket station and jumped on the Balerno bus just around the corner. Payment can now be made by tapping upon entry and there is a flat single fare of £2 across the Lothian network. The daily cap is £4.80 and the days of scrabbling for coins in order to find the exact fare seem like ancient history. Definitively one positive aspect of the cashless society! Balerno previously boasted flax, gain and paper mills but these days serves as a commuter base. The walkway begins next to the high school and the first five miles follow the exact alignment of the old branch railway that paralleled the course of the river. The loop line opened in 1874, primarily as a goods operation but passengers were also carried. The tracks left the main Edinburgh to Carstairs corridor at Slateford Viaduct and re-joined six miles further on. By the end of WW2, local bus services had eroded passenger demand on the Balerno railway and it became a freight-only concern until the last train ran in 1967, coinciding with a sharp decline in the domestic paper industry. It was easy to walk upon the old trackbed and the gentle downhill gradient enabled us to make rapid progress. A couple of deviations were required due to path resurfacing but we negotiated these hurdles and passed the villages of Currie and Juniper Green. It's often hard to determine exactly where a city begins. Urban sprawl swallows up outlying settlements that previously had their own identity and council boundaries often encompass areas still physically separate from the conurbation. However, as we left the walkway to have lunch in the adjacent Spylaw Park in an area known as Colinton, I think it's safe to say we were now on the edge of Edinburgh. At any rate, certainly within the city ring road.
The B-listed Georgian mansion house within the park was once the home of snuff and tobacco merchant James Gillespie (1726-1797). He commissioned the building of Spylaw House in 1773 and part of the adjacent snuff mill (dating from 1650) still stands to the rear of the house. Gillespie left no heirs and requested that his considerable fortune should fund the construction of a school and hospital for the poor. He also had a reputation for treating his mill workers fairly. Spylaw House has now been converted to private apartments after previously serving as a youth hostel and the headquarters of the Scouting Association. The grounds were acquired by Edinburgh Corporation and a day-trip to the park was popular among city-centre dwellers between the wars. The tram line was extended to Colinton in 1926, which probably abstracted passenger traffic from the railway. The park today features mature monkey puzzle trees and redwoods. It was a tranquil spot to enjoy a bite to eat. Back on the trail (and still on the old railway), we soon reached the entrance to Colinton Tunnel. The portals were bricked up after the railway closed and the 150-yard subterranean passageway became a forgotten relic. This changed in 1980 when the Water of Leith Walkway opened and the tunnel was transformed into a community asset. A painting of the Balerno steam pug adorned the interior brickwork, although this became increasingly difficult to spot due to accumulated grime, anti-social graffiti and gloomy lighting. In recent years, the tunnel has been given a spectacular facelift by the installation of a stunningly colourful mural running along the entire length. Artist Chris Rutterford designed the project around the Robert Lois Stevenson poem From a Railway Carriage. The 16 lines of verse describe the view from a window of a fast-moving train. Stevenson has connections to the area. His grandfather Lewis Balfour was the minister of Colinton Parish for over 30 years and young Robert would often visit by train. The poem text appears on the tunnel walls and each line is linked to images of local heritage. Around 600 people - many from the surrounding community - contributed their skills and enthusiasm to create the mural over a two-year period. Tunnels are often susceptible to water ingress and the wet patches were concealed by plywood sheeting. This solution had the added benefit of allowing finer detail to be painted on the boards. The contemporary artwork records the line's literary, artistic, church, military and industrial connections. The social history of Colinton can be absorbed by simply walking through the tunnel. Studies have confirmed a significant uplift in footfall and the number of first-time visitors has increased. If you can't manage the entire walkway, make sure you see this part!
Beyond the tunnel, the railway turned away from the river to meet the main line at Slateford Viaduct. Walkers can continue this way, branching on to the canal for a stretch (Slateford also boasts a mighty aqueduct). Another possibility is to amble through a wooded valley known as the Dells. Having seen the main railway sights, we took the latter option as it stays close to the Water of Leith and offered a change of habitat. Across the river stood Redhall Walled Garden, once part of a grand estate and now functioning as a training centre for people with mental health difficulties. I'd like to attend their open day sometime. Finally we emerged on the busy Lanark Road at Slateford. Ahead of us loomed the viaduct and aqueduct, running parallel to each other and spanning the river. The Water of Leith Visitors Centre is located here and we ducked inside to use the toilets and grab a cold drink from the café. An excellent map of the trail can be purchased here for a token £1. A small exhibition is on permanent display but I'd seen it before and we were soon on our merry way, the weather now significantly colder, with the onset of an April shower seemingly imminent. We were now in the heart of Edinburgh but the trail shielded us from the vast majority of the traffic. We entered a district called Saughton, well known for its prison which lay beyond the opposite bank. After passing a cemetery and a set of allotments, we skirted Saughton Park & Gardens. This private estate was acquired by the city authorities around the turn of the 20th century and hosted a major public extravaganza in 1908. The Scottish National Exhibition was opened by HRH Prince Arthur and proved a great success, attracting a total of 3.5 million visitors during its six-month run. Attractions included a Senegalese village, Canadian pavilion, industrial hall, concert & conference hall, gondola rides on the Water of Leith, Irish cottages, a helter skelter and figure-of-eight fun railway. A nearby main-line halt allowed visitors to arrive by train. As was often the case back then, the whole caboodle was dismantled or demolished after the show had ended. Little trace of the exhibition remains today. The mansion house - known as Saughton Hall - was burned down under controlled conditions in 1952 after an infestation of dry rot rendered repair costs prohibitive. It had formerly been utilised as an innovative mental asylum and had also provided care for injured members of the Women's Land Army during WW2.
After passing under the main Edinburgh to Glasgow railway, we emerged at Murrayfield Stadium, home of Scottish rugby. Housed within the wider Roseburn Park, our rugby Mecca was constructed upon an old polo field in 1925 and the first fixture (Scotland v England) drew 70,000 spectators. The ground was transformed beyond recognition in the 1990s and now seats 67,000 people under cover. I've never actually seen a rugby game there, or anywhere else for that matter. But I have been inside the stadium a handful of times when the Scottish Claymores American football team played there. I also saw an Eagles concert in 1995. Murrayfield Ice Rink is located close by and there are pitches for football, cricket and more rugby within Roseburn Park. We crossed the A8 and were soon back down in a leafy valley by the river. A high stone viaduct crossed overhead, carrying a cycleway that was once one of many suburban rail routes. Dean Village lay a short distance ahead and we passed the exit point for the Scottish Gallery of Modern Art, established in 1984 inside the old John Watson's School. I viewed the galleries a couple of years back and also did the river walkway upstream as far as the visitors centre. On that particular day I noticed a plaintive statue of a man, standing in the middle of the water. The AIDS memorial bench (adorned with the red ribbon symbol) is situated on the riverbank at this point and I simply assumed the two installations were connected. That turned out not to be the case and today we spotted a couple of similar statues further downstream. They are the work of Turner Prize-winning artist Antony Gormley and the cast-iron life-sized series of standing figures watch over the river as it winds its way through Dean Village and down to the sea. Four are positioned within the water. The men are all naked and I came across a humorous story while researching their background. Someone had waded into the river and covered the fellow's modesty with a pair of boxer shorts emblazoned with the Tennent's Lager motif. Quite how this operation was achieved when the statue's legs are presumably fixed to the river bed, I'm not entirely sure. Scissors and safety pins is my guess.
Back on the trail near Dean Village, the Britannia Hotel overlooks the water and occupies the site of the last mill to draw its power directly from the river. Bell's Mill was wrecked by an explosion in 1972. At the time, it was grinding wood flour for use in the linoleum industry. A dozen mills once operated in this locality. Dean Village today is a quiet oasis sitting just below the hustle and bustle of the throbbing streets above. You can't miss the Old Tolbooth on the cobbled corner just before the original bridge over the Water of Leith. Painted yellow and reaching a height of four storeys, the A-listed building has the year 1675 inscribed on the lintel and is a rectangular-plan construction with crowstepped gables. It was a granary for the Baxters Incorporation of Edinburgh (the bakers trade guild - one of 15 such associations in the city) and the carved symbol of the crossed paddles is easily seen just above eye level. Another striking building by the waterside in Dean Village is Well Court (pictured above). The A-listed social housing complex was commissioned in the 1880s by Sir John Findlay - owner of the Scotsman newspaper. Legend insists he paid for the redevelopment because the old slum tenements were spoiling the view from his elevated stately home. The flats were leased to artisan tradesmen for affordable rents in return for the tenants respecting rules of temperance and attending church on Sundays. The design had several other social measures, including the provision of a common hall for reading and recreation. We passed under the pre-Victorian bridge that carries the A90 high above the river and made our way towards Stockbridge, which has many independent shops (including several antique dealers) along with a healthy choice of pubs, cafés and restaurants. On the way we passed St Bernard's Well, a natural spring supposedly discovered in 1760 by three schoolboys while fishing. The Roman temple structure was added in 1789 and features a statue of the Greek goddess of health, Hygieia. She is enclosed within a circle of eight tall stone pillars. The well takes its name from Saint Bernard of Clairvaux who - according to local legend - had spent time living in a nearby cave. Beneath the statue is the pump room where the spring emerges. Ostentatiously designed with mosaics, this chamber has been largely closed to the public since 1940. Today, the well is owned by the Edinburgh City Council and maintained by the Dean Village Association, who organise public viewings on a handful of Sundays during the warmer months.
The route curved past the Grange cricket ground, where Scotland play their international matches. We then swung by the Stockbridge Colonies - a rent-controlled housing project built between 1861 and 1911. The original aim of the stone terraced dwellings was to provide accommodation for the dozens of skilled craftsmen employed in the city centre during Victorian times. They are now highly sought-after properties. We were now on the final leg with the finishing line just a couple of miles distant. Part of the old North Leith Railway has been incorporated into the walkway and we followed this to our final destination. Having checked the map since returning home, it looks as if the official path leaves the trackbed at the remains of Bonnington Station where the river meanders, but we were too weary to care either way and happy to be following a level footpath, watching the fractions of a mile tick down. The branch to Leith ceased carrying passengers in 1947 but freight ran to and from the docks until 1968. The Water of Leith forms a natural harbour as it meets the Firth of Forth. The town remained a politically separate burgh until 1920 before being absorbed by the capital city. At the boundary on Leith Walk, it was necessary to change from an electric tram to a cable-hauled vehicle until the whole system was united and electrified under the Edinburgh Corporation. The walkway ends at the historic Leith Shore - now thriving with several options for eating and drinking. The modern dock complex has extended outwards and remains a busy port, featuring a cruise liner terminal, a large shopping centre and the decommissioned Royal Yacht Britannia - now a major tourist attraction. Several departments of the Scottish Government are also situated here. The whole area underwent regeneration in the 90s following the decline of traditional quayside industries such as bonded warehousing, shipbuilding and the production of rope, sails, bottles and soap. A harpoon gun sculpture stands at the end of the walkway, representing the whaling ships that once set out from here. Thankfully this trade is no more. New apartments have arisen on the cobbled shore and Leith is a shining example of a successful reversal of severe economic hardship and its associated issues.
Footsore and thirsty, we approached the Malt & Hops watering hole - a haven for ale aficionados. Unfortunately it was now around 5.30pm on a Friday and the pub was full of people having an after-work drink and it was strictly standing room only. I needed to rest my legs and we popped along to the King's Wark on the corner of Shore and Bernard Street. It's a traditional-looking pub that serves cask beer and I dimly recalled being in there on a night out a couple of decades ago. We strode towards the bar, only to be collared by an employee who asked whether we were in for food, drinks or both, before ushering us to a table. We had a nice seat in the corner by the window and duly ordered a couple of pints. The King's Wark now markets itself as a bar/restaurant, hence the table service. My ale was in fine condition and we enjoyed some well-earned refreshment. Afterwards, we wandered along to the foot of Leith Walk, noticing the new tram rails in place and the digital screens informing us that services would be starting soon. Hopefully a switch of traction won't be required at the Boundary Bar! Today the bus would have to suffice and we hopped on a number 25 that whisked us up the hill and back to the city centre.
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