Fourteen Strollers met at the Commonwealth
Pool under clear blue skies to walk down the Innocent Railway path and the
Braid and Brunstane Burn paths to Musselburgh. Our number went up to eighteen as we
were joined by Ronnie and co as we crossed the road to go through the well-lit
tunnel at the start of the walk where the Innocent Railway used to finish.
It’s now a popular cycle path as we
discovered as we walked along the path towards Duddingston, passing
Prestonfield golf course. The area used to be called Priestfield as there was a
monastery there and the lie of the fairways reflects the use of the fields for
drying flax. A certain Stroller even managed to collect an errant golf ball as
a trophy.
Crossing over Duddingston Road and walking
along the boundary of Duddingston Golf course, we reflected on the fact that at
one time there had been 7 breweries sited here. They have all gone now to be
replaced mostly by housing. Passing along Bingham we came to the Jewel, which
is named after the quality of the seam of coal that was mined here. The Magdalene
estate, named after the burn that flowed here, was once used as salt pans by
the monks from Kelso Abbey and was the site of a cemetery of Bronze Age people.
From here we walked down the path at the side
of the burn, now call the Brunstane Burn, which ran parallel with the road
called Daiches Brae. This is thought to be the only road in the UK named after
a Rabbi. Salis Daiches was an Edinburgh Rabbi from 1918 to 1945. His son David
was famous as a diplomat to the US. He was involved in the setting up of UNESCO
and writing books about various subjects including authors such as Stevenson,
Burns and Milton as well as histories of Edinburgh and Glasgow and whisky.
Following the path we passed another golf
course, Milton Glen, which was built by the owner of Archerfield golf courses.
It is just a small course for the use of the residents of the houses that back
on to it.
Finally we passed the shoe tree where people
for some obscure reason tie odd shoes to the tree, and came to the end of the
walk between Joppa and Musselburgh.
Our Thanks to Drew for the walk and we look
forward to the May walk.
