Thursday 30 March 2017

Strollers Walk No. 216 - Thursday 20th April 2017, Cramond Brig to South Queensferry

Walk No. 216: John Muir Way - Cramond Brig Toll to High Street, South Queensferry
Date:              Thursday 20th April 2017
Distance:        5.3 miles approximately
This  linear walk followed part of the John Muir Way through the grounds of Dalmeny Estate. On a windy, dry, sometimes bright April day thirty Strollers met up to walk to South Queensferry. One even then walked back, while the rest of us caught the bus or had left a car near the end. Walking through the Rosebery Estate and parallel with the River Almond and on down to the sea shore the wind dropped away and it became a nice calm day for a lovely walk. Passing Eagle Rock, which has a carving of an eagle reputedly done by a Roman Soldier from the garrison at the River Almond, we made our way along the edge of the 9 hole golf course towards Dalmeny House.
Dalmeny House & Estate has been home to the Earls of Rosebery since 1662 and the house itself was completed in 1817. It marked a great departure in Scottish architecture with its Tudor Gothic style and its highly-decorated chimneys and crenellations, looked back toward fanciful 16th-century English mansions, such as Hampton Court. The house hosts a collection of Napoleon memorabilia, as well as paintings by artists such as Raeburn and Gainsborough. Prior to this the family stayed in Barnbougle Castle which is on the site of a medieval tower house built by the Mowbray family which was destroyed and then rebuilt in the 19th century. At Barnbougle the fifth Earl of Rosebery (Prime Minister) practised his speeches in a gallery hall built for the purpose.
We then continued through the woodland past Fishery Cottage which gains it name from the salmon netting undertaken until the 1950s when declining stocks of salmon made the operation uneconomic. You can see the remains of the wooden piles along the seashore. Continuing on past the Hound Point Terminal where oil tankers from all over the world stop to load up with oil from the North Sea which has been refined at Grangemouth Refinery further up the river. The oil is then stored at Dalmeny Tank Farm, near Dalmeny Village, before onward transmission to the oil terminal at Hound Point. Then on towards South Queensferry realising it was still windy, before finishing our walk under the Forth Rail bridge.
Our thanks to Ian for organising a very nice walk and for arranging such good weather.