Category Archives: Edinburgh Old and New Town

After I walked Edinburgh’s seven hills with Roman Scotland in mind, I wrote the question-and-answer poems below, and read them at Croy on World Heritage Day. Seven Questions  What is seven? seas and sleepers sorrows and sisters brides and … Continue reading →

Brigid Collins sent in these wonderful images of the labels she made after our walk to Blackford and Braid Hills last month – an “instinctive response”, as she put it.

After the walk on Blackford Hill, Jane McKie sent these three poems and, in response to ‘Valley of Birds’, Alexander Hamilton sent this cyanotype of wild garlic. Valley of Birds Above our heads, we are outnumbered. The gully, ribboned with … Continue reading →

Three of us climbed to the Castle Rock on Saturday afternoon in chilly haar, looking for traces of Rome on the Royal Mile. I meet Angus and Genevieve outside the parliament. My theory about the wooden poles scattered over its … Continue reading →

Yesterday in unseasonally fine sunshine I climbed all seven of Edinburgh’s hills. Here are 3 sets of images from the day: the Edinburgh hills paired with their Roman counterparts, a circle of views from one hill to the next, and … Continue reading →

Seven of us climbed Salisbury Crags on Friday afternoon in hazy sunshine – an Edinburgh haar the sun’s almost burned off, and which Helen from Yorkshire knows as a fret. We’d thought about an attempt on Arthur’s Seat, but rather … Continue reading →

Six of us climbed Calton Hill yesterday in bright spring sunshine. There’s an air of leisure: tourists with cameras, students with guitars, strollers and lollers. ““Yeah, I’m on Calton Hill,” a girl sprawled on the grass says into her mobile, … Continue reading →

Here are some of our more or less serious contemporary ceremonies, concluding with a beautiful and unambiguous storm-created Pietà. The photos are all by Rose Strang, except ‘In the tubes’ by Ken Cockburn.