nigeblog

Way back in 2021 I had the idea of walking round the Edinburgh City Bypass, a local equivalent to Iain Sinclair and friends walking round the M25 in his book Orbital. Jan and I did the first section, from the old Musselburgh Travelodge, taking in the Newton Tower and getting the bus home from Dalkeith.

At the time I thought the whole walk from Musselburgh to South Gyle could be done in a single day without too much planning. I kept thinking about this walk but couldn’t persuade anyone to go with me. I think people could see it was too much to comfortably do in a day. Well, yesterday, I did it.

I didn’t start at the old Travelodge, instead heading straight for the Old Craighall Road. This was the only concession to shortening the journey at the expense of proximity to the bypass. I think it was the right decision because the whole journey took from 09:50 to 18:05, covering 19.5 miles and 39k steps. By the end I was pretty exhausted physically and mentally and was very aware that if I had persuaded someone else along they would likely have found it a tough ask.

I posted my progress through the day to Bluesky and was very pleased with all the likes and encouragement. Thanks Bluesky friends.

Jan followed my progress on her phone and saved the image below as a rough guide to where I was. From South Gyle to Waverley is my tram journey, which just happened to be on the first day of tap-on tap-off.

The full route was:

• start at Musselburgh railway station
• path from Saint Margarets University to Craighall Drive
• B6415, Old Craighall Road, Shawfair Spine Road
• A7 heading North (away from the bypass) and into Drum Farm
• through Drum Farm and join the footpath to Gilmerton Road
• join the Loanhead Railway Path for a long walk parallel to and under the bypass and through Straiton Pond nature reserve
• opportunity for lunch at IKEA, MacDonalds, Baynes etc. at Straiton retail park
• cross the bypass across the complicated road junction and North along Burdiehouse Road
• North along Old Burdiehouse Road and then West through housing estate (Greenwell Wynd, Greenwell Road, Banchor Crescent, Dunniker Wynd)
• take footpth out of the estate which goes all the way to Winton Loan
• from Winton Terrace take the footpath to Biggar Road
• cross Biggar Road to Swanston Drive and join footpath that becomes Caiyside
• cross Swanston Road into Tryst Park and enjoy a long run of parks, paths and roads parallel to the bypass
• take the path that goes North just before the roundabout at the end of Swanston Muir
• go North through Dreghorn woods then cross Dreghorn Link and footbridge and follow the path round the barracks and then under the bypass
• take paths through the big park on the south of the bypass until crossing of Bonaly Burn
• take paths and roads parallel to the bypass until Campbell Park
• leave Campbell Park at North East corner, take path to West Mill Road and across the Water of Leith
• follow National Cycle Route 75 path under the bypass and to Woodhall Millbrae
• cross under Lanark Road and take path North to Baberton Mains
• cross under the bypass on Baberton Mains View and go North along footpath by Wester Hailes Road
• West along Westburn Avenue and then North West along Westburn Middlefield
• take path over Union Canal and follow NCR754 parallel to canal going North West
• leave cycle path for Cultins Road and go North to Edinburgh Park station
• cross rail and tramlines and follow Station Park round to Lochside Avenue
• Lochside Avenue goes all the way to Glasgow Road and the end of the bypass — you’ve done it!

Drum Farm has lots of businesses on site including antiques, sheds, records and horse blanket laundry. I couldn’t believe how many records were in this shed and then I couldn’t believe how good they were. Sensibly priced (lots at £10 to £25) and sorted by genre (I think). Could easily have spent the whole day there.

Did I learn anything on this great walk? Well, I now know that Burdiehouse is possible a corruption of Bordeaux House and lots of French people used to live round there

Last year Jan and I went to the Railway Tavern in Prestonpans High Street for the first time. We have lived in the Pans for more than 20 years, but we didn’t used to be very brave about going to new places.

The pub is, of course, perfectly fine. Maybe they don’t get many new people in because staff and punters were quite sweary with each other, but that’s no bother to us. The lease is up for sale and so could well be under new management by the time you read this.

Anyway, I have been curious about a couple of things for a while now:

1. Why is it called the Railway Tavern when it is so far from the railway?
2. Why does it have battlements?

Well, I’ve made some progress on answering these questions. The image below is from the National Library of Scotland side by side historical map page for Prestonpans dated 1840-1880, scale six inches to the mile (link here)

It looks like Hamilton House was called the North British Railway Tavern some time back in the C19, when it would have been handy for the new railway station (called Tranent Station at the time).

I don’t have any proof yet, but I wonder if the name, staff and clientele of the North British Railway Tavern moved downhill to the current Railway Tavern location when Hamilton House became a private residence once more. And they dropped the North British bit because they no longer had a relationship with the North British Railway Company, or just thought it wasn’t needed.

And the battlements? Another old map shows the High Street building as barracks, so now that makes sense. By coincidence Hamilton House was used for that purpose as well at some point.

Listening to: E2-E4 by Manuel Gottsching. I hadn’t heard of this before someone mentioned it on some socials feed and it is great.

The theme for this month’s vinyl listening group meeting was Songs That Make You Happy. My prized copy of Kiss Power by Age of Chance didn’t go down too well but Nazi Punks Fuck Off rocked the house.

Watching: We’re still watching Shetland from aeons ago (just finished series 5). As ever we start out enjoying the mood and characterisation but as it finishes we say never again due to the stupid unlikely plots and yet another female killer. La di da.

Reading: I’m rereading my Fortean Times collection dating back to the 80s (it’s not as good as it is now shock) and Trainspotting (which I’m digging even more than the first couple of times).

I finished reading Grant Morrison’s Animal Man run about 35 years later than everybody else and very much enjoyed it.

Apparently Byker Grove had the same ending:

I also read Weird Science #20 for the first time in decades because I couldn’t recall the plot of 50 Girls 50. It’s wild and so very dark…

Gigs: The always uncool Rezillos at La Belle Angele and the ever so cool Barry Adamson at Cabaret Voltaire.

#SameStupidJokeEveryYear

Dear Danny Robins at Uncanny,

We have a cat who likes to hide in out of the way hidey holes around the house. A couple of times recently we’ve found it impossible to find the cat, but with all exterior doors locked the cat has turned up hours later, just wandering around looking for us…

Danny: So team, what do we think?

Evelyn: Well, it sounds like the cat might have discovered a portal in to the world outside the house that allows it to come and go without detection. Or maybe, here’s one to think about, the cat is going through a timeslip and it’s actually present in another time when they’re looking for it in their own time.

Danny: Very good ideas, certainly something to think about. And Ciaran what do you think?

Ciaran: Cats can be very good at hiding so it sounds like the cat might have found somewhere in the house that the family just haven’t checked yet.

Danny: But they said they’d searched the whole house and found no trace of it…

(continues in a similar vein for the next 55 minutes)

Listening to my Wee Red Bar record fair haul, the highlights being Exhibitionist by Jeff Mills on CD and Pay It All Back volume 1 on vinyl.

I like the TFEH Presents gigs at the Fruitmarket. This time it was the Bohman Brothers with support from []. I hadn’t heard of the Bohman Brothers before but their tour got a mention in Stewart Lee’s monthly newsletter. The show was very funny (a rural disturbance in West Linton, 8 foot man-eating woodlice etc. etc. ).

At vinyl listening group the theme was death row records, i.e. what you would request they play while you’re awaiting execution. I picked A Brave Man Once Said by Fierce Ruling Diva, Somethin’ Else by Eddie Cochran and Bela Lugosi’s Dead, which I always used to say I wanted playing at my funeral.

Reading A Very Short Introduction to Consciousness by Susan Blackmore, which seems to advocate the consciousness is an illusion theory. I’ve been well aware of most of the arguments for this theory for a long time (e.g. actions precede thoughts) but rejected it because of my own strong self of self and the need to believe in free will (which has its own problems). For now at least I am back in the illusionist camp (I know, I’m fickle).

Watching A Real Pain. We enjoyed this current movie on a rare trip to the Fraser cinema in Tranent. I was impressed by the Kieran Cullin interview in the Guardian a few weeks ago and thought he did a great job of being a real pain 😉 We all know people who are full of life and what a pain they can be, but it’s only in recent years that I’ve really started to appreciate that they’re not up all the time and they can be suffering real pain.

I also watched the BBC 1984 play from 1958 with Peter Cushing as the lead. It’s a story I’m pretty familiar with through many re-readings and viewings of the 1984 movie. I liked it but was surprised at the explicit post nuclear exposition at the beginning and also how long it takes to get to Winston’s captivity.

And we both watched Amandaland and Am I Being Unreasonable on their return to the BBC and neither seemed particularly funny this time round. Ho hum.

I started reading this letter to the Guardian about the property Adele once rented and claimed was haunted. When I got to the bit about long running science fiction strip I had to skip to the end to see who wrote it and it’s only Sydney Jordan #JeffHawke

Listening to my Fall in Festive 50s playlist, the first Mott the Hoople album, Sensational Alex Harvey Band Live, the Art of Noise, Elvis Presley Almost in Love, yet another charity shop Northern Soul comp, Andy Votel, Jacknife Lee and Richard Hawley’s 28 Little Bangers compilation. Lots of top tunes on that comp including Hornet’s Nest by Curtis Knife and the Squires which Hendrix played on back in 1966.

Reading The Steep Approach to Garbadale by Iain Banks, more early Cerebus, more Garth Ennis Hellblazer and 1987 Punisher by Mike Baron and Klaus Janson which has a nice Scarface vibe.

Watching Shetland and the Outlaws on the BBC iPlayer

Listening to the first Throwing Muses album, the first Underworld album, A Brave Man Once Said by Fierce Ruling Diva, my Fall Festive 50 and best of 1984 playlists, a bunch of 12″ singles I picked up in Oxfam and the Cherry Red Industrial CD box set compilation I got for Christmas.

Vinyl listening group was last week. The theme was weather and I played Rhythm of the Rain, I Wish it Would Rain by Wreckless Eric and Hazy Shade of Winter. Gareth brought Date with the Rain by Eddie Kendricks which I hadn’t heard before.

Reading Jamie Delano/early Garth Ennis Hellblazers, Tekken Kinkreet, Cerebus #1, Zavej Zizek for Beginners and the Influence by Ramsey Campbell.

Watching Civil War, the Matrix and The Wandering Earth. I first watched the Matrix the night Manchester United won the European Cup — fact! I still think the physics of farming humans is too silly. Also why care what goes on in the virtual world? Civil War I think is a reality check for where we might well be in a few years time. That’s certainly how it looks from the outside (of the USA). The Wandering Earth, like the Three Body Problem, gave me some cause for optimism. We often hear the argument made against decarbonisation that India and China and the developing nations aren’t interested so what difference does anything we do matter. I think Wandering Earth (and also Three Body Problem) show that communist China is able to think long term in a way that we in the west can’t because of our devotion to short term gain — capitalism and democracy means we’re stuck stuck stuck.

I know, I know, resolutions don’t really work, and it’s hard to find the motivation for anything in this cold weather (hence no blog for 11 days), but my general aims for this year are…

1. Find abundance (either through paid work or a whole bunch of side hustles)
2. Find peace (with my place in this mad world)
3. Travel (planning trips to Serbia, Lithuania and our walking London project)