Walking and Cycling The Path
The path starts next to Balerno High School and runs 12.25 miles to Leith. The path runs downhill, but the incline is so slight that it is barely perceptible. Approximately half a mile of the route is on roads, for the remainder the path runs alongside the Water of Leith, and away from traffic. The path surface is a mixture of tarmac, compressed grit and compressed earth. The surface is uniformly good with very few muddy patches or potholes. The route is well used by both pedestrians and cyclists.
The path is fairly well signposted, but there are one or two places in Edinburgh where the path breaks and it is necessary to hunt around for its continuation. The odd signpost has been vandalised, so that the sign points in the wrong direction.
The path passes through the attractive Dean Village area of Edinburgh and ends in the docks at Leith. The docks were once a dismal place but are being gentrified and there are a lot of new restaurants and bars.
Walkers can return to Balerno by catching a bus to the centre of Edinburgh from Ocean Terminal, and then the 44 bus to Balerno. For cyclists the easiest way to return to Balerno is to cycle back.
The water of Leith is also a good fishing spot due to the concerted effort to clean up the water. You can expect to catch wild brown trout (Salmo trutta m. fario) and grayling (Thymallus thymallus) with the odd pike (Esox lucius) lurking nearby. Grayling only swim in clean water so this is a good advertisement for The water of Leith itself.
Read more about this topic: Water Of Leith Walkway
Famous quotes containing the words walking, cycling and/or path:
“And let a scholar all earth’s volumes carry,
He will be but a walking dictionary:
A mere articulate clock.”
—George Chapman (1559–1634)
“From the war of nature, from famine and death, the most exalted object which we are capable of conceiving, namely, the production of the higher animals, directly follows. There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.”
—Charles Darwin (1809–1882)
“I notice well that one stray step from the habitual path leads irresistibly into a new direction. Life moves forward, it never reverses its course.”
—Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872)