Serif - A Hugo Business Theme

Arthur's Seat

Edinburgh is unusual in the it has its own hill called Arthur’s Seat close to the centre of the city. It’s in Queen’s Park, a large green space at the foot of the Royal Mile. I’ve walked up Arthur’s Seat countless times and in all weathers apart from torrential rain.

arthurs-seat
I normally walk up Arthur's Seat from the west by walking over the Meadows to the Commonwealth swimming pool and then into the park. On this winter's Sunday, lots of people were enjoying the snow and sunshine.

Arthur’s Seat is an easy walk with well-maintained paths - it normally takes 30-40 minutes from its base to the summit. You can approach it from the west, from Holyrood Palace or from the east with parking on the circular road round the hill.

arthurs-seat from the west
I normally walk up Arthur's Seat from the west by walking over the Meadows to the Commonwealth swimming pool and then into the park. On this winter's Sunday, lots of people were enjoying the snow and sunshine. The path starts in the obvious gully then veers to the right as the gully steepens.
arthurs-seat
If you want to make the climb more interesting, you can have a wee scramble up the gully.
arthurs-seat
An alternative and probably easier route is to park on the ring road and follow one of the myriad grass paths such as those you can see here to the summit. Dunsappie Loch is a wee loch with an Iron Age fort on its east bank.
arthurs-seat
There are normally lots of people on the summit especially on Saturdays and Sundays as student from the nearby halls of residence walk off their hangovers. The cold weather put people off and, unusually, I was the only one on the top when I took this photo of the trig point looking east towards North Berwick.

From the summit, there are views in all directions. I’ve tried to give an impression of the views in different seasons in these images.

arthurs-seat
Salisbury Crags and the Castle to the north-west.
castle view
Edinburgh Castle - the classic view from the summit.
arthurs-seat
Duddingston Loch to the south
pentland dawn
One November morning, I woke early and decided to climb Arthur's Seat to see the sunrise. I was lucky - the sky over the Pentlands was fantastic.
arthurs-seat
Looking south to the Pentlands over Blackford Hill and the Braid Hills.
arthurs-seat
Looking north to Fife

One possible descent route is via St Anthony’s Chapel and then down to Holyrood. I actually think that this ruined chapel looks much more imposing from below.

arthurs-seat
St Anthony's Chapel with swans on St Margaret's loch