Edinburgh Outdoors

Tea with Edinburgh Union Canal Society

The Edinburgh Union Canal opened in 1822 to transport coal and other goods into the city.  It closed to commercial traffic in the 1960s, but is now busy with rowers, canal boats and wildlife. Ford Buchanan is treasurer of the Edinburgh Union Canal Society, and he welcomed me for tea beside the well loved boathouse on Ashley Terrace, and we talked about how the society manages the age old tradition of Sunday afternoon boating and its role in supporting activities on the canal. We also talked about plans to build a new boathouse on the site and how people can come along and enjoy the society's events, which seem to involve quite a lot of cake, as well as its role in hiring out their own boats on a Sunday afternoon. 
So listen into our chat and  you'll hear school rowing boats and friends passing by and how Edinburgh's notorious Burke & Hare started out working on the canal. 
To view the Boathouse on Ashley Terrace and rent rowing boats go here
To find out more about EUCS: https://www.eucs.org.uk/

Tandem Cycling with VIE Velo

VIE Velo is an Edinburgh cycling community that pairs sighted and sight impaired cyclists who head out on tandems together.  This club is an example of how a passion for cycling transcends the usual volunteer/participant set-up, with all members of the club simply being there because they love cycling.   You'll also hear how much they love stopping for cake and chat too. 
I was blown away by the positivity and welcome I received from the members of VIE Velo and enjoyed talking to them about cycling, wearing bright pink, sight impairment and how this club is just an example of excellence.   
We talked in Abercorn Park in Portobello and then I met up with the cyclists heading out the following day from their base in Saughton Park. 
To find Abercorn Park: https://maps.app.goo.gl/VtaahqQ82XHBCfcQ6
To find Saughton Park https://maps.app.goo.gl/5nQj5KNs98HUrxA17
And for more about VIE Velo visit their website: https://www.cyclinguk.org/group/vie-velo
 

The Lochend Park Mystery with Hetty's History Walks

Could Lochend Park be the actual location of the famous Skating Minister painting by Henry Raeburn called: 'Skating on Duddingston Loch'?  Regular contributor, Hetty Lancaster, offers listeners an artistic challenge as she reveals the clues within the painting's background which indicate the loch where he skates may not be Duddingston, but might actually be at Lochend. 
Hetty takes us on a tour of Lochend Park to the North East of the City Centre.  The Park contains one of only two remaining ancient, glacial lochs in the city and is crammed full of history and heritage.  Originally the grounds of an old tower house, then the water source for Leith and the site of many years of industry, Lochend Park is now a wildlife haven in the middle of a built-up area.  It retains many indicators of its fascinating past.  
And enjoy listening out for Edinburgh Outdoor's first "pod-bomb" from a lifelong local resident who shared her family photos with us!
Find Lochend Park here: https://maps.app.goo.gl/Gv9tor8bwpvNAeGRA
To view the Skating Minister, here: https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/5327
You can find the pictures we discussed which I have found are also on the excellent Threadinburgh site: here 
(and on Edinburgh Outdoors Instagram you can see Hetty's industry map showing the 'Lochend Butterfly')
To find out more about Hetty's History Walks: https://www.hettyshistorywalks.co.uk/
 
 

Dry Stone Walling with Richard Love

Richard Love changed career in his mid forties to become a dry stone waller and has enjoyed a long career in the outdoors creating everything from Pentland walls to works of art for artists. 
Richard and I met in the Royal Botanic Gardens of Edinburgh to view the Nepalese prayer gate, a project he worked on some years ago.  We rang the bell on the gate and talked about how it was constructed and how it stays standing, his career as a dry stone waller, his teaching of the craft, his previous role chairing the Drystone Walling Association, and his lifelong love of the outdoors. 
If you want to visit the Nepalese prayer gate you can find it here: https://maps.app.goo.gl/3Ywu743kN9czYtym8
For more information about the Drystone Walling Association: https://www.dswa.org.uk/
You can read about the construction of the prayer gate and view pictures on the RBGE website: https://stories.rbge.org.uk/archives/29979
To find out more about storm Eowyn damage and donate to the RBGE recovery fund: https://www.rbge.org.uk/news/storm-eowyn/
 
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The Pentland Hills with Sean Magee

Sean Magee headed outdoors and launched CPS Activities after a long career in recruitment, first aid training and social care.  Having found the career of his dreams means Sean can now take put his well-honed teaching skills into practice up in the hills teaching navigational skills, outdoors awareness, rock climbing and mountain guiding. 
In a first for Edinburgh Outdoors we were slightly inside and started out talking in Sean's campervan in Castlelaw carpark on a Sunday morning, but once the sun came out we headed up the hill to view the Iron Age Souterain and enjoy some views.   Sean has good views on career change, following your heart and gives some great tips for what to take on a hill walk, how to keep warm (always useful on this podcast!) and what to carry in your rucksack.   
If you want to visit the Souterain yourself, it is here: https://maps.app.goo.gl/jta8qjHaGiTP8Wdu5
And to find out more about Sean's business: https://cpsactivities.com/mountain-leader-and-climbing-instructor/
 
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Pilrig Park with Griffen Fitness

Tracy Griffen is a really impressive personal trainer who uses the outdoors as a core part of her workouts.  After leaving Australia thirty years ago, Tracy has built a business that brings the Scottish outdoors into people's active lives.  Like many of us she relishes the changing seasons and brings a sense of nature into her courses and sessions.   
We walked round Pilrig Park which is to the North East of Edinburgh and has previously been a private garden of a grand house and the site of a 16th century fort, but is now a busy city park.  We discovered a connection to Robert Louis Stevenson's mother who lived in the house and checked out Edinburgh's oldest allotments where Tracy has a plot and brews up tasty mint tea.  We also met Coco the fitness pug - Edinburgh Outdoors' first canine interviewee. 
Find out about Tracy's upcoming courses and hear about how she uses unusual items around Edinburgh's parks to recreate the benefits of a gym without the monthly fee and having to be inside.
To visit Pilrig Park: https://maps.app.goo.gl/pfAsqj4ub34pExfW7
To find out more about Griffen Fitness: https://www.griffenfitness.com/
And the facinating and clever Threadinburgh website has a page about the Stevenson's family, the Balfours, and their association with Pilrig House:  here
 
 

Lost Shore Surf Resort

The Lost Shore Surf Resort is Edinburgh's coolest new activity centre and so much more.  Set beside the International Climbing Arena in Ratho to the west of the city and close to the airport, Lost Shore is centred around Europe's largest surf pool.  In addition to the pool the site includes luxury lodges, a wellness centre and events space, a restaurant, saunas and a surf shop.  Even in mid January the place was buzzing!
The technology within the pool creates a range of waves that are ideal for beginners to professionals and is a brilliant place to learn how to surf, or to hone your skills.   I met with Andy Hadden who has spent 12 years raising finance, designing the location and finally getting to open this amazing place. 
Listen to the story behind the development, hear how the waves are created, how people manage to be warm enough to surf in Scotland's winter and explore the site with me as I interview Andy beside the crashing waves while watching some seriously cool surfing!
Lost Shore Surf Resort: https://www.lostshore.com/
Google map location: https://maps.app.goo.gl/VMjgpZckhmhYqpdQ9
 
 
 

'Netwalking' with Katie Paterson and the Outsiders

Katie Paterson is a truly inspiring and talented woman who has cycled round the world on an astounding journey, worked on national campaigns to get more people outside and launched the hugely successful The Outsiders outdoor networking group.  Now in it's second year, the group brings together sole traders and freelancers to 'netwalk' in the outdoors once a month in a different location in Edinburgh.  The group is inclusive and friendly and is growing fast, bringing a support network and providing a team or tribe for people who work alone and who want more of the outdoors in their life. 
I met Katie on top of Calton Hill where she had first experienced her Outsiders light bulb moment.  We talked about her epic round the world cycle, the life of a sole trader and how she finds inspiraton and regeneration from being outside.  If this episode doesn't make you leap off the sofa and head outside and up a hill, nothing will!
To join the Outsiders group or find out more: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12952571/
To read Katie's fascinating blog about her round the world trip: https://thefreewheelers.uk
To see where we were and locate Calton Hill: https://maps.app.goo.gl/9eNG4nNe6czb2hHZ6
 
 

Discovering Calton Hill and the Conservation Trust

Calton Hill Conservation Trust is a relatively new team of volunteers who are preserving and enhancing the historic Calton Hill right in the middle of the city.   Set above Princes Street with stunning views in all directions, Calton Hill is a popular spot for visitors to escape the streets and see what it is that makes Edinburgh such a stunning location.   With views to the local hills, to Fife across the water and to the mountains in the North West, no wonder the hill attracts so many visitors. I went along to find out how the Trust was getting on and what their volunteers can expect to be involved in.
I met Simon Holledge who chairs the Conservation Trust that has been working to tidy up the hill, repair drainage and also to understand better the wildlife of this unique and special place.   Listeners can hear how the Trust was established, about recent wildlife surveys undertaken and some smatterings of history about the iconic structures on the hill. 
To find about more about the Calton Hill Conservation Trust:
https://caltonhilltrust.org/
To find the location:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/WSLJx34zJH5uG1dK7
And to see a 1692 image of the view from Calton Hill:
https://www.roe.ac.uk/japwww/old_edinburgh/malloch_1693.jpg
 
 

Dunbars Close and plant explorers with Hetty's History Walks

The first episode of Season 2: Dunbars Close on the Canongate in Edinburgh's Old Town is a reimagined seventeeth century garden and is well worth a visit.  Containing eight distinct areas, the garden combines formal shapes with more informal planting and features over 190 plants which were within Scotland around that time.  Many have medicinal properties and were brought to Scotland by adventurous plant explores. The garden was created by a charity called The Mushroom Trust. 
I explored the garden with regular contributor and local historian, Hetty Lancaster of Hetty's History Walks.  She brought fascinating insight into the creation of the garden,  as well as the plant explorers who brought plants back to Scotland and were instrumental in building our reputation in horticulture and the stories behind their adventures.  We toured the garden and chatted about the properties of the some of the plants, as well as hearing stories of some of the characters who travelled the globe to source what were then the new and exotic - but many of which are now our commonplace garden plants.
In the seventeenth century the Canongate was a suburb of the city and we also learn more about who lived here at the time and Edinburgh suburban living. 
To find the James Gordon 1647 map you can search the archives of the National Library of Scotland:
https://maps.nls.uk/view/102190447
The John Slezer picture from Calton Hill, part of an encylopedia of Scottish images - 'The Queen Anne View' - can be found here:
https://maps.nls.uk/view/74419503
The Mushroom Trust created and maintains the garden:
https://mushroomtrust.com/
Books discussed include:
Seeds of Blood and Beauty by Anne Lindsay:
https://www.worldofbooks.com/en-gb/collections/author-books-by-ann-lindsay
The Fair Botanists by Sara Sheridan:
https://www.worldofbooks.com/en-gb/collections/author-books-by-sara-sheridan
And finally, here is the location of Dunbar's Close:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/7zbj1aBb6FKKxzrV7