I spent the day on the beach… in Edinburgh

Letter 7

Shocking! We actually sometimes get sun in Scotland… and when you do, you have to make the most of it! For me that means taking a long walk around Arthurs Seat and then to the beach.

If you’ve never visited Edinburgh (you should) Arthurs seat is an ancient volcano that sits south of the centre. It’s within Holyrood Park which is a huge area of open space, hills, lochs and the rugged cliffs of Salisbury Crags. It’s absolutely beautiful and a perfect place to get away from the city. I happen to live only 5 minutes from it.

P1000746 — This is the view from the top of Arthurs Seat – you can see the Crags, the city with the famous castle and the sea in the distance.

So as it was such a beautiful day we decided to take a walk, but took the road around Arthur instead of going over the top. I actually prefer this route where you still get some beautiful views, but of the countryside, not the city. There’s a little ‘village’ at the foot of Arthur called Duddingston and it’s one of my favourite places. It has a huge loch, a lovely little church and the whole place is full of tiny cobbled streets and stone cottages. From our route you can see it and much more…

You also get to pass by a smaller loch (Dunsapie) where you can visit the swans and ducks. It’s tucked into a hill, smaller than Arthur but still pretty. There’s also lovely views down towards the sea.

After passing the loch we headed down back towards civilisation to get to the beach.

Portobello is Edinburgh’s resident beach. The sand is soft and golden, the fish & chips and ice cream is better then ever and the sea is bloody freezing. We sat down and demolished a small picnic as we watched the dogs run around and families enjoy an afternoon in the sun. It made me feel very nostalgic of my summer sleeping on the beach and very excited for the upcoming summer!

Now what you should know is that I’m currently (supposed to be) studying for my exams. So unfortunately it was only a short break at the beach and we had to head home soon enough. We got the bus back which took us through a lovely route south of the city, so we got a view of Arthur in the afternoon sun.