July 15-30, 2023
| 15th - Arrival | 16th - Dean Village | 17th - Portabello Beach | 18th - Union Canal | 19th - Baird & Blackford |
| 20th - Mercat Cross | 21st - Cramond Beach | 22nd - Botanical Gardens | 23rd - Stirling | 24th - Scottish Museum |
| 25th - Duddingston | 26th - Pentland Hills | 27th - Glasgow | 28th - Gardens | 29th - Rugby game |
Friday
We had Big Plans today! While most of our sight-seeing so far has been relaxed and at our own pace / timetable (well, baring the guided tours), today’s plan would be dictated by Nature herself. We were going to visit Cramond Island! But this island is special: it can only be reached by foot during low tide. And if you walk on, you need to make sure that you time it right so that you can walk back. Swimming isn’t an option.
We hopped on a bus to Cramond Beach and enjoyed the walk along River Almond as it led us to the Firth of Forth. It was a lovely day for our outing.
Views from the bus
Oooh – looks like we’re on the airport flight path!
Looking upstream at the River Almond
We’ve reached the Cramond Marina
I will never get used to this sight
Magic swan mirror
Looks like the tides cause frequent problems to people not paying attention
We had reached the causeway in plenty of time. Low tide wasn’t until 11:30 and we were catching it on its way out. This meant that there was still some water on the path, but nothing that could stop us!
Looking across to the island
Barnbougle Castle, on the mainland nearby
The tide will eventually cover these pillars (submarine defense barrier)
It was an easy fifteen minute walk to the island. There were a couple of other people in the area, but it was overall a desolate place. This was perfect, as the island held the memories and remnants of World War II structures and it would be nice to explore them without the chaos of a crowd.
View from the island, looking up the Firth of Forth
Looking back at the causeway and Cramond Beach
There were trails criss-crossing the island, through fields and forests and leading to concrete buildings. Based on the condition of the trails (generally good, but overgrown) it looked like there were visitors, but not overrun with them.
After poking around in the various structures, through the forests, and along the beaches, we headed back across to Cramond. The water was low enough now that we didn’t have to walk on the causeway itself, but on the floor of the Firth.
View from the mainland
Instead of going back up the River Almond, we chose to walk along the shore towards Edinburgh. We knew that we wouldn’t walk all of the way back, but it was a good chance to see more of the surrounding area. And plenty of shore birds along the way.
Feed meeeeeee!
The tide was coming back in (Granton Harbour)
Shoreline homes in Granton
We stopped in Newhaven for lunch, where I once again gave the fish ‘n chips a try. It was good – I think I’d put it in Second Place at this point. I was getting tired of walking, so when we reached Leith a few minutes later, we took the tram back to our little corner of the city.
Back in Fountainbridge – Sean Connery was an awesome actor
Another Edinburgh sunset
