A Local Walk

How are you all doing in coronavirus lockdown? I hope things are going OK for you. I can work from home and my family haven't been infected. Many of you will not be in that position.

At least we can still get out for a walk.

The playparks closed, a permanent sabbath:


And in that sense we are fortunate again. Our house is at the edge of a conurbation. Head in one direction, and it is pavements and people-dodging on the cycleway. Head in the other though, and we go deep into rural Midlothian. It's a direction we rarely explore. But we are glad of it on our doorstep now!

Quiet area beyond Whitehill House:


We explored paths we'd never been on before, encountering almost nobody. Between the towns of Midlothian and the Moorfoot Hills is a secret area of farmland, the Pentlands and top of Arthur's Seat visible, furloughed cruise liners moored in the Firth of Forth, neatly tilled fields and statement oaks.



Eventually we reached a bridge over the River South Esk, and a side of Midlothian we were already familiar with: the riverside gorges of the North and South Esks and their tributaries. But this particular stretch of the South Esk was unknown to us.



This is the domain of redwoods and roe deer, and we walked with delight along a path strewn with wood anenome and celandines. The sun finally came out and had us blinking in its brightness. 



The South Esk passes Dalhousie Castle, and we were less than a mile again from Edinburgh's growing conurbation. We'd managed almost the entire route on quiet paths, and seen far fewer people than on the more popular greenways that connect the towns.

Dalhousie Castle:


This is just one of the quieter routes around us that we are fortunate to have. So what is your local walk?