3 off the 7 Hills around Edinburgh?
From the right corner of my front room
If I can see the third set of hills on the right clearly it will be a good day.
But it's cold! It was freezing during the night and a heavy frost is still on the cars.
My home is in Edinburgh, Scotland and 10 minutes from Blackford Hill.
The first hill behind the trees is Blackford Hill and on the other side the Royal Observatory,
the other one is in Greenwich, London. With the Greenwich Mean Time Line in front of it on a hill.
Below the hill to the right is the Hermitage of Braid, a popular wooded area for dog walkers and kids.
At the left is the Craigmillar Golf Club. During my apprenticeship I worked on assembling the cards
for the Star Identification System. To be installed in the Observatory.
In the middle are the Braid Hills with Golf courses on either side. In my youth at 6 to 8 years old we used
to go and catch Tadpoles and keep them in a Goldfish Bowl under our parents bed. My mum got a shock
one day when a bit of fluth jumped across the floor towards her. After a minute to recover, looked under
the bed and found the Goldfish Bowl, a thick ear for me and my brother.
To the right at the back the two hills are part of the Pentland Hills Regional Park. With Scald Law peak at
579 m (1,900 ft). Growing up with and lived about 30 minutes from the bottom of these hills. With friends
and dogs after school and at weekends playing in these hills. Either helping farmers out doing odd jobs
for an egg each or being chased. In the woods found billy can and boiled the eggs and ate them with wild
onion. In a number of the streams coming off the Pentlands we caught Rainbow Trout and took them
home to eat.
We had to be careful around cattle with young bullocks and Highland Cattle. Over the years we gathered
lots of injured animals, birds (Crows, Ravens, Jackdaws, Sparrows, Finches and Robins), rabbits, hares,
foxes, hedgehogs, field mice, stoats and weasels. At Primary School the teacher Mrs Rae asked us to
bring a pet to school. I took a Raven and when the Deputy Head Master asked what it was and it pecked
him on the nose. Which earned me 6 of the best from his belt. Lots of laughter from the rest of the class.
Saving young cattle and sheep left us covered in mud and water. The dogs joined in and pushed us in
and then shook themselves over us. Luckily it rained on the way home and we were clean, but wet.
Since the farmers thought we knew every nook and cranny and wood in the hills. They pointed the finger
at us. This led us being netted by the police and accused of cattle, sheep, horse and pig stealing of about
200 animals over a weekend. None of us had a driving license. So after a night at the main Police Station
on the High Street in town we were let home.
Nearly every hill in Scotland is the result of volcanic activity from centuries past. The other 4 hills around
Edinburgh, East and West Craiglockhart, Corstorphine, Arthur Seat and the Crags and Calton Hill. It
makes Edinburgh the Athens of the North with its pillars. These hills form the annual 7 Hills Race and the
other race the 7 Reservoirs Race on the Pentland Hills.
The pandemic has stopped us from running in the Hills, since we would have 40+ runners and walkers
out on runs laid with flour, sawdust or pet bedding and running for 1 to 2 hours depending on the weather.
Looking forward to doing it again and enjoying the views over the town and surrounding countryside.
