A Walk in to Work
Jan. 2nd, 2008 12:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
major_clangerOne of the pleasures of doing my course in Edinburgh is my walk in from the flat in Bruntsfield to the law faculty in Old College. I've been meaning to put together a photo-essay on it for some time, and just before Christmas I took a more leisurely than usual walk in to get some photos. What follows is the mile or so from Bruntsfield to the north edge of the Meadows.
Up Viewforth and left into Bruntsfield Place, the 'high street' of Bruntsfield and home to everything from boutique choclatiers to the 24/7 corner shop (which I was standing outside when I took this picture). Turn right and walk half a mile and you'll end up in the even posher Morningside, but we're going left, passing a few of the local shops on the way.
As you cross the road, you get a good view down the hill towards Tollcross. Carry on down there and you end up at the western end of Princes Street and (on Saturdays) the Farmers' Market. A familiar Edinburgh landmark is also coming into view - more of it later. We keep right though, taking the path through the small park at the north end of Bruntsfield that forms the upper part of Bruntsfield Links.
From here on in, almost the whole walk is through or past parkland.
Over a small road and onto the main part of Brunstfield Links. There is indeed a driving range here, although it's rare to see golfers at this time of day. Seagulls are far more common! We keep to the right, along the combined foot/cycle path. It's not that steep a hill, but there's enough of a slope that it's worth making sure you're not in the cycle lane...
As you walk down the hill, there's a splendid view of Edinburgh Castle to the left.
Arthur's Seat is not quite visible from here, but if you cut off the path to the left you see the Salisbury Crags looming in the distance.
To your right are the traditional Edinburgh tenements of Warrender Park Terrace. If you've read![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
autopope's Halting State, the raid on the Blacknet Node takes place in the top floor flat of one of these.
Down towards the bottom end of the Links. The path meets the junction of Marchmont Road with Meliville Drive, the latter separating the Links to the south from the Meadows to the north.
On the day I took these pictures, the bus stop at the junction was frosted from the night before, and reminded me of Antony Gormley's Blind Light.
Over Melville Drive to the Meadows, the main park running along the south edge of Edinburgh's Old Town. It's criss-crossed with tree-lined paths, the one I take being Jawbone Walk, named for the arch of whale jawbones from the Shetlands preserved from a nineteenth-century trade exhibition.
We head down the path; another branches off to the left, and further on more join from the right. I do like the angular path intersections, and one of my follow-on photo projects will be to try capturing as many of them as I can.
At the end of Jawbone Walk the path forks.
From here I have a choice; if I go left, I carry on up the main path to Teviot Place towards the centre of Old Town, and turning right at the top will bring me to Old College.
Keeping right takes me along the north edge of the Meadows, where another fork takes you left towards the bottom of George Square.
Meanwhile, more tree-lined paths stretch off to the right.
Well, that gets us most of the way in. The final stretch takes us around the rather eclectic architectural mix (I am being polite here) of George Square, past the ugliest building in Scotland and through Potterow Place to Old College. But that's for another day.
Up Viewforth and left into Bruntsfield Place, the 'high street' of Bruntsfield and home to everything from boutique choclatiers to the 24/7 corner shop (which I was standing outside when I took this picture). Turn right and walk half a mile and you'll end up in the even posher Morningside, but we're going left, passing a few of the local shops on the way.
As you cross the road, you get a good view down the hill towards Tollcross. Carry on down there and you end up at the western end of Princes Street and (on Saturdays) the Farmers' Market. A familiar Edinburgh landmark is also coming into view - more of it later. We keep right though, taking the path through the small park at the north end of Bruntsfield that forms the upper part of Bruntsfield Links.
From here on in, almost the whole walk is through or past parkland.
Over a small road and onto the main part of Brunstfield Links. There is indeed a driving range here, although it's rare to see golfers at this time of day. Seagulls are far more common! We keep to the right, along the combined foot/cycle path. It's not that steep a hill, but there's enough of a slope that it's worth making sure you're not in the cycle lane...
As you walk down the hill, there's a splendid view of Edinburgh Castle to the left.
Arthur's Seat is not quite visible from here, but if you cut off the path to the left you see the Salisbury Crags looming in the distance.
To your right are the traditional Edinburgh tenements of Warrender Park Terrace. If you've read
autopope's Halting State, the raid on the Blacknet Node takes place in the top floor flat of one of these. Down towards the bottom end of the Links. The path meets the junction of Marchmont Road with Meliville Drive, the latter separating the Links to the south from the Meadows to the north.
On the day I took these pictures, the bus stop at the junction was frosted from the night before, and reminded me of Antony Gormley's Blind Light.
Over Melville Drive to the Meadows, the main park running along the south edge of Edinburgh's Old Town. It's criss-crossed with tree-lined paths, the one I take being Jawbone Walk, named for the arch of whale jawbones from the Shetlands preserved from a nineteenth-century trade exhibition.
We head down the path; another branches off to the left, and further on more join from the right. I do like the angular path intersections, and one of my follow-on photo projects will be to try capturing as many of them as I can.
At the end of Jawbone Walk the path forks.
From here I have a choice; if I go left, I carry on up the main path to Teviot Place towards the centre of Old Town, and turning right at the top will bring me to Old College.
Keeping right takes me along the north edge of the Meadows, where another fork takes you left towards the bottom of George Square.
Meanwhile, more tree-lined paths stretch off to the right.
Well, that gets us most of the way in. The final stretch takes us around the rather eclectic architectural mix (I am being polite here) of George Square, past the ugliest building in Scotland and through Potterow Place to Old College. But that's for another day.
