Strollers 2021 Dates

 

Date	Day	No	Where	Coordinator
January			No  Walk –
February			No  Walk –
17 March	Wednesday		No  Walk –
13 April	Tuesday		No  Walk –
13 May	Thursday	252
14 June	Monday	253
14 July	Wednesday	254
12 August	Thursday	255
7 September	Tuesday	256
13 October	Wednesday	257
11 November	Thursday	258
9  December	Thursday	259	Strollers Lunch	Drew Young

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.

Strollers 2020 Dates

Date	Day	No	Where	Coordinator
16 January	Thursday	248	Historic Walk –  Newhaven	Karen MacCormick
25 February	Tuesday	249	Historic Walk –   Princes St East	Karen MacCormick
18 March	Wednesday	250
16 April	Thursday	251
19 May	Tuesday	252
17 June	Wednesday	253
14 July	Tuesday	254
20 August	Thursday	255
22 September	Tuesday	256
14 October	Wednesday	257
19 November	Thursday	258
3 December	Thursday	259	Christmas Lunch	Drew Young

Strollers Walk 248 - Christmas Lunch

Seventy Strollers met at the Royal Scots Club in Abercrombie Place to enjoy Christmas Lunch and be entertained by the Strolling Minstrels.

It was good to see so many ‘old’ faces at the lunch and take the time to catch up with Strollers who hadn’t been on walks for a while. After pre-lunch drinks in the bar, we were piped through to the hall by Jim Cooper, and our thanks to him for doing it.

After a very nice lunch we were then entertained to songs from the musicals by the Strolling Minstrels. As well as the songs from the musicals, there were also some songs with some of the words changed to reflect the walks the Strollers had done throughout the year. They finished off with some sing-along numbers which everyone joined in with gusto.

Many thanks to John for all his directorial work and to all the other singing Strollers, Joan who organised the singers, Violet, Liz, Isobel, Barbara, Moira, Eleanor, Tom and Peter.

It was then time for everyone to make their way home, and as usual it was raining when it was time to go! 

A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone and we look forward to seeing you all on walks in 2020.

Strollers Walk 247 Haymarket to Leith

Thirty one Strollers met at Haymarket Station to walk to Leith, finishing at Ocean Terminal. There was some confusion at the meeting point. As it was a cold day we had moved inside the station for some warmth but some Strollers thought we had already gone. We all managed to get together! The weather stayed dry though cold for all of the walk.

Following the tram tracks to Roseburn, we then joined the cycle path which follows the old Caledonian Line, part of the North Edinburgh Network. This was created after 1981 when Lothian Regional Council bought the trackway from British Rail and along with support from Spokes and Sustrans it is now part of the many cycle ways around the region.

Crossing the Water of Leith and past Ravelston, we made our way down to Craigleith. Now a shopping centre, Craigleith Quarry at one time produced a lot of the stone used in the buildings of Edinburgh and beyond. From here we took the path down past Pilton to Crewe Toll where Ferranti was once a huge employer. The site is now run by BAE.

We passed all the flats which are built on the site of what was the McTaggart & Mickel depot and the playing fields of Ainslie Park School. The school was rebuilt with new areas further along near what was the site of Parsons Peebles. This factory was mostly destroyed by a fire and the company moved to Leith. Their site is also now all flats. As we walked on we passed the Edinburgh Sculpture Centre which was opened here in 2012 by Fiona Hyslop, who some may remember from her days in Marketing. It offers opportunities for people to use facilities for sculptures using wood, stone and metal and has an active interaction with local schools.

It was amazing how quickly the Strollers departed at the end of the walk to seek out the scones and more in Ocean terminal! 

Our thanks to Drew for arranging the walk on a dry day.

Strollers Walk 246 -Inverkeithing to Aberdour

Would it rain or would it not? That was the question as fourteen Strollers met at Inverkeithing to walk the Fife Coastal Path to Aberdour. Though it was the second question after there was confusion as to why the queue at Greggs was so big. In fact it was for the reopening of the Scotmid store next door which had been badly affected by the heavy rain in August and some people had started queuing around 6.00 a.m. Good news for the Strollers as this meant they could boost their energy levels with the coffee and bacon roll deal from Greggs without waiting in the queue. Our thanks to Joan for coming along, even though she wasn’t fit enough to go on the walk, but to open up the church to allow use of the facilities and to admire the stain glass windows.

The rain started just after the Strollers set off but only lasted for 5 minutes and after that it was a lovely day for the walk. There were a few puddles and muddy patches along the way after the heavy rain of the previous days but the path on the whole was in good shape.

The Strollers passed through St David’s Bay and its harbour which was once a thriving coal port connected to coal mines of the long-vanished Fordell village. During WW2 this little harbour was also used by mine-sweepers. We took the opportunity here and later in Dalgety Bay to admire some of the big houses which have wonderful views over the Forth.

We came down to Donibristle Bay and the site of Donibristle House. It was largely destroyed by fire in 1858 but a new building which bears some resemblance to the architecture and dimensions of the original house has been built there. Along with the servants’ wings they have now been converted into modern residences. Donibristle was used as an airfield from 1917 as a base for the Royal Naval Air Service. It was then used between WW1 and WW2 as an aircraft repair depot and a shore base for disembarked aircraft carrier squadrons. During WW2 it was known officially as HMS Merlin and the aerodrome was used as a Royal Naval Aircraft Repair Yard, a shore base for torpedo aircraft and as a deck-landing training unit. After the war it was renamed HMS Cochrane, and remained a busy flying airfield. Propeller driven aircraft like the Firefly, Barracuda, Seafire, Sea Fury, Anson and Oxford flew from it until the Navy decided its runways were too short to handle the Fleet Air Arm’s new jet aircraft and in 1959 ‘Doni-bee’ was closed. Ronnie remembered his father working here during the decommissioning process. There were also all the signs advising not to use the beach due to the radioactive material dumped there when the planes were being broken up.

At the ancient St Bridget’s Kirk, the Strollers took time to explore the preserved building with its small cemetery and good views back to Edinburgh and the Pentland Hills. The first record of a Kirk being here is in 1178 but there was probably one here earlier. The Kirk was granted to the Abbey of Inchcolm by William the Lion. Each year a service is held even though the church is in ruins with the roof collapsed.

From here the Strollers made their way up to the Beech Avenue and along past Braefoot Bay which is now used as the docking place for the tankers bringing the products for the gas production plant at Mossmorran.

We then passed St Colme House, named after Inchcolm Island, and Aberdour golf course which was founded in 1896 finishing up at the lovely entrance gates in the middle of Aberdour. Having just missed the bus back to Inverkeithing, though the more fleet of foot managed to catch it, it was time for scones and tea while waiting on the next one.

Our thanks to Drew for arranging the walk and the weather.

Strollers Walk 245 - Hermitage of Braid

Nine Strollers met at the Hermitage of Braid for a stroll round the park, though we did pick up another couple of wayward Strollers at the Paddock who had gone to the wrong gate to start the walk.

We began by going to the walled garden and Doocot. Part of the walled garden has been terraced with new stone dykes and seating areas as well as being designed to attract insects with the planting and ‘hotel’.It took 1200 volunteers over 2 years to do all the work. The Doocot is the second largest in Edinburgh, the one at Inch House on Gilmerton Road is larger, but both hosted around 2000 pigeons which were used for food.

We passed by the back of the big houses at the Grange and made our way down to Blackford Pond where we saw a family of swans serenely gliding along. The pond is not natural but was created in the Victorian era and used for curling. From there we made our way up to the Blackford Observatory where we stopped for a lunch break.

The Observatory opened in 1896 to replace the one on Calton Hill and was built by the Earl of Crawford after the government decided to do away with the role of Scottish Astronomer.  It is still in use today, though more as an administration and scientific centre for Astronomy as the telescopes now being used are in more remote locations like Hawaii and Australia to avoid light pollution.

We then walked down and past Agassiz Rock named after the Swiss geologist Louis Agassiz who came here in 1840 to study the rock formation and put forward his theories on the formation of the rock structure and the Ice Age.

Following the path along the Braid Burn, we passed Hermitage House which was designed in 1785 by the famous Scots’ architect John McDougal. He gifted The Hermitage to the City of Edinburgh and it opened as a park on 10 June 1938. The area is thought to take its name from one Henri de Brad, who owned the land here in the 12^th century, and was also a Sheriff of Edinburgh.

We finished back where we started at the ‘Toll House’. You once had to pay tolls to travel on the roads into Edinburgh. The Toll House used to be at the boundary on the side of the Braid Church in Morningside. When tolls were abolished in 1888, the house was rebuilt here – look for the number 259 on the lintel at the back of the house. This is now the Lodge Cafe where a few of us went for light refreshments after the walk.

Our thanks to Drew for arranging the walk on a dry day and hopefully he will have come up with a venue for October soon.