Distance – 20km
An undisturbed night. That is, except for a few wayward sheep that decided to graze near the tent. They moved on pretty quickly, and it was a good night.
The morning starts cool. The first spots of rain, and I hastily get into my rain gear ready for the onslaught. It doesn’t eventuate, and moments later I’m stopping to take it off again. Not today so it seems. Not today.
Once again the track meanders through enormous sheep paddocks. In contrast to the bright blues of yesterday, the greyness mutes the landscape to colours of flax, mauve and olive. It might just be a sheep paddock, but it is stunning.
I quickly reach the township of Belerno and pick up the Waters of Leith trail. The Leith River snakes its way through the suburban landscape providing a tunnel of green through the brick throng. The highlight of this section is the walk through the old railway bridge at Colinton which has been utterly transformed by mural from start the finish, based on the poem “From a Railway Carriage” (Robert Louie Stevenson 1855). Potentially, the best tunnel I’ve ever been in!
I move pretty quickly as I am keen to get to my hotel. It’s a long weekend in the big smoke, and hotel prices have sky rocketed to reflect that. With exchange rates, this is going to be by far the most expensive room I’ve ever stayed in, in my life!
As it turns out, the joint was not salubrious. Far from it. I actually didn’t know what to say to myself when the lift opened and I saw plastic builders wrap all over the floor, and right up to my room. Thank goodness, the room itself is fine, though they are doing renovations on the room right next to mine….first world problems.
I’ve had a nice rest day in Edinburgh, and am ready to rock and roll again tomorrow. Will finish this with a few photos from Jupiter Artland, a sculptural exhibition set in a large woodland, which I visited this afternoon.
We worship groves and their very silences
Spotted on an installation at Jupiter Artland
Don’t mind if I do!
Hopefully not me at the end of tomorrow! It’s going to be a really long day….
This article was originally published on The Trek and can be found here