Walk 251 Pinkie Cleugh Circle

Following best advice and keeping well apart on the walk, eleven Strollers met at Musselburgh harbour for a walk round Pinkie Cleugh in March. They were joined by ‘muddy’ Moira who came dashing along behind them so she could justify her visit to Luca’s ice cream shop at the end of the walk.

Breathing in the very fresh air they made their way along to Musselburgh High Street, past the Mercat Cross and up Newbigging to Lewisvale Park where the sound of the birds in the aviary mixed with the cries of ‘out’ from the tennis courts. We then walked up past the cricket pitch and the marker to show where the Duke of Somerset’s English troops camped at the time of the battle of Pinkie, coming out opposite Inveresk Lodge Gardens.

The village itself has an open day, usually in June, when you can visit gardens of several of the houses. We followed Crookston Road between the fields where the Battle of Pinkie took place up to the monument for the battle.

From there we went along to Wallyford noting all the new housing that is being built there together with a new school. Next we went into Wallyford itself with its skyline marked by the skeleton of the stand at the greyhound stadium then down to walk along by the railway line and past more new housing into Pinkie.

Next we strolled from there through the grounds of Pinkie St Peters Primary School back to the High Street. We finished the walk at the columns that marked the edge of Musselburgh and allowing Moira to stop off for her ice-cream.

Given the restrictions in place with the Corona Virus and cutting back in transport links this will probably be the last Strollers’ walk for a while. 

All the best for the coming months and hope to see everyone on a walk in the not too distant future.

Strollers Walk 250 - Edinburgh and the Enlightenment

Fifty-five Strollers met at the Old Quad of Edinburgh University for a walk round some of the sites relating to the Enlightenment period in Edinburgh.  
Led by our Blue Badge Guides, Karen and Helen, we heard about the background to the Old Quad itself which is now the centre for Law at the University. We moved up to Surgeons Hall to hear about its beginnings and then through it thanks to Karen’s way of managing to talk us into places without paying!

From there, we went down to the ‘old’ infirmary. The infirmary had been founded in 1729 in Robertson’s Close, but with only 4 beds. In 1736 it received a Royal Charter and a new Infirmary was built in Infirmary Street with 228 beds. It then moved to Lauriston Place in 1879 as Edinburgh expanded and needed more hospital space. It is now at Little France.

From here we went down to the Old School Yards, (not the Cat Stevens song!) site of the first High School before it moved to Calton Hill. It was attended by Sir Walter Scott and by James Pillans who invented the blackboard and coloured chalk there. The building then became part of the hospital and later the University. It now houses the Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Innovation. The Flodden Wall also backs onto this site.

We headed up to Chambers Street to hear about squares that used to exist where the Heriot Watt University, Adam House and the Museum of Scotland all now stand. We also heard about the goings on of Burke and Hare as well as brief notes on many of the other luminaries who were in Edinburgh at the time of the Enlightenment.

We finished up at St Giles Cathedral hearing about John Knox’s influence on education and who the other statues commemorated.

As with the January walk we couldn’t have had a better day for a walk - particularly as our guides had got their dates wrong and had turned up the week before when the weather was really bad! Still it gave them an opportunity to walk the walk!  

Our thanks again to Karen and Helen for providing a very interesting walk and Karen has taken note of suggestions for next year. 

Strollers Walk 249 - Newhaven

On what turned out to be a calm and balmy January day, 34 Strollers met at Newhaven for a tour of the historic village led by our Blue Badge Guides Karen and Helen. Given the weather of the previous days, it turned out to be a really nice day for the walk. Hopefully the rest of this year’s walks will be as calm! 

We met up outside the Brewers Fayre and walked past the fish market and Loch Fyne Restaurant on our way to Newhaven village, on what is reclaimed land. The River Forth used to go all the way up to the village. At one time the Forth was called the Frisian Sea. This is said to be due to the link with the Frisian Islands and settlers from there.

People from Newhaven have the nickname of BowTows. Thanks to Ann P for passing on the source of this nickname. It’s from the buoys and tow ropes. The men from Newhaven used to be the pilots for access to this part of the Forth as well as fisherman.

Newhaven fishwives were famous throughout the country for their brightly coloured traditional outfits, quick wits and for their sharp tongues, which gave rise to the Scots’ expression ‘a tongue like a fishwife’. In the 19th Century they became an attraction for the new art of photography.

Newhaven was redeveloped in the 1960s. The buildings more in keeping with how the village used to look were the work of the eminent Scottish modern architect Sir Basil Spence. He incorporated the ‘sets’ from the road into his designs and used them as bricks in the newly built houses. Everyone was moved out whilst this work was being done and it led to the loss of quite a few of the shops and pubs which had been in the village.

Andrew Wood Square is named after Sir Andrew Wood, a sea captain who traded with the Netherlands but also acted as a privateer for James III preying on English ships. His ship the Caravel also acted as the Britannia of its day for the king and his wife. He also commanded the Great Michael when it was built and launched at Newhaven before becoming ambassador to France and then Regent for the young James V. He was granted lands at Largo in Fife and built a canal to get to church.

The Society of Free Fishermen of Newhaven, dating from at least 1572, was one of the oldest Friendly Societies in Scotland. It survived until 1989.

We finished at St Andrew’s Free Church which was founded in 1843 when the Church of Scotland split in the Disruption. It re-joined in 1929 and the congregation moved in 1974 to the older Newhaven Parish Church.

It was then time to head off for the obligatory plate of soup or scone!  

Our thanks to Helen and Karen for a very interesting walk.