Fourteen Strollers met outside Greggs in the
centre of Penicuik to walk round the Penicuik Estate. The good news was that
the forecast was good after all the heavy rain of the proceeding days and that
more of the cafes in Penicuik were now open for the bacon rolls!
Setting off down the road to Penicuik South
Kirk, we turned in and went onto the paths through the estate. The church was
built in the Gothic style in 1863. We followed the path and walked over what
was once the dumping site for the Valleyfield paper mill seeing evidence of
this at the site of the 2007 landslip where the white chalk waste was visible.
Continuing on, we stopped at the ruins of
Ravesneuk Castle which gave us views over to the flag tower which was also a
doocot. Following the path down we came to the curling pond and walked up through
the field which had cows in it. Unfortunately one of our group failed to
navigate the trail left by the cows!
We stopped for lunch at the house and admired
the stables where the Clerk family moved into after the fire of 1899 which
destroyed the house. Leaving the house, we went towards the focal point of the
view from the house. It is an obelisk erected by Sir John Clerk after the death
of the poet Alan Ramsay in 1758.
From there we went down the path to the right
and the ‘Roman’ bridge which was built in 1738. We then followed the path back
along the side of the Esk and into Penicuik once more.
Our thanks to Drew for arranging the walk on
a dry day.
