Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Summer lingers on...



Daughter 2 was here at the weekend. We went up to visit new Granddaughter M on Saturday and on Monday we went to the Botanics with Granddaughter L. Here, aunt and niece play hide and seek. Well, sort of. Little L seemed to think that just pressing her face against the bark made her sufficiently invisible.



We visited the Queen Mother's little memorial hut


 
and little L had a lie down for a while.



Yesterday Mr L and I decided to go for a walk along the canal from Slateford. I don't know whether all cities have these rural areas within the bounds of the city - it's the sort of thing that you don't find out if you're visiting for only a few days and walking round museums and so on - but Edinburgh is quite lucky in this regard.



We were intrigued by this modern extension on a bungalow.



Looking over the aqueduct demonstrates how non-rural this area actually is.



Unless you're up here.



This is the view from the next aqueduct. It's a long way down



and this feels worryingly narrow... .



However, quite soon we got too hot. It was what the weather report described as a "sizzling 25 degrees" (77F), with no wind and we're feeble Scottish people with pale skin



so we struck off into the woods, along the old railway line.



It was quiet and shady, with only the river, and some dog walkers, disturbing the peace.


We came out into Colinton Village (now part of Edinburgh)



and then turned back, saying hello to Robert Louis Stevenson and his dog.




Going back a slightly different way, we rather liked this cottage. It might be a pain living here in winter - access can't be very easy, surrounded as it is by footpaths - but on a lovely day, you could be tempted.



And back along the river to the car. I tried to think of a word to describe the sound of a small river. Babbling, splishing, splashing, sploshing, tinkling, bubbling, burbling - none of them quite right.

Four and a bit miles; a lovely walk.

(By the way, thank you to the kind people who claim that I appear to have no wrinkles in the previous post. Not so, alas. I was just a long way from Daughter 2's phone camera. I shall not bother proving this with a close-up; better to leave you with your illusions. Anyway, I felt I made up for this by my bewildered - nay, slightly demented - expression.)

8 comments:

  1. I've known several of these city walks in Cardiff and Bristol. It's so lovely to turn off a buzy road and, within minutes,feel as if you're in the countryside.
    Love the way small children think if they can't see you, you can't see them.

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  2. Looks like perfect weather for a walk.

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  3. I still say you have beautiful skin! I would love this walk, and intend to visit Scotland in the next couple of years. I've been to my mother's homeland (Italy) three times, yet never visited my dad's.

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  4. Anonymous2:22 pm

    The bliss of a wood on a hot day is wonderful. We have 'railway walks' here too as well as canals with aqueducts. If only I could still walk to them I should be very happy.
    Little L is such a sweetie.

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  5. Sounds like a lovely walk! And I could definitely go for that cottage -- nice stone a very manageable garden! 77F sounds like a delightful day in December here!

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  6. We will be in Edinburgh for just a couple of days, but would love to find these kinds of places! I really don't care for cities, but that is where one finds train stations and rental car outlets....

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  7. Walking in shady woods on a hot day is bliss - good for the dogs, too. Sweet grandchildren - ours range in age from 22 to 1.

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  8. You're too funny! You're so lucky to have such beautiful walks available -- and thank you for taking us along with you. Also, I forgot to say how grown-up Little N is looking in the last post -- it must be going off to school -- I can hardly believe it already!

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