Yesterday Missie and I decided to go for a wander so we went to The Pentlands. The Pentlands are the hill range that I can see from work (and get mega excited about when there is snow on them) and you can also seem them from Arthurs Seat, and probably many other places around Edinburgh.
We bused to Hillend and started there, we walked up (according to the map I got later on) Caerketton Hill, Allermuir Hill and Capelaw Hill then semi up and around Castlelaw Hill (this was the one with the military danger zone signs). Missie thinks I made too many view appreciation stops on the way up the hills and I tried to point out that sitting in my camera case which was clipped to my bag required little effort whereas walking up the hills required a great deal more so view appreciation stops were allowed. She didn't seem to mind when photo taking was part of the stop, it was more when I just stopped and puffed and tried to catch my breath that she seemed to have an issue with.
Partway round Castlelaw Hill we found a nice place to stop and have lunch which was rudely interrupted by a very nosey sheep coming to close to me (yes I am a lil scared of sheep). We did see lots of lambs though which was very cool, especially as lambs are smart enough to walk away from you when you get close to them and therefore are not a threat ;)
After lunch we walked to Flotterstone Information Centre which is where we picked up the map. Couldn't find the bus stop anywhere around there so we went back to the information centre and picked up the Busing to The Pentlands map. It looked complicated to find the bus from here to home and it was also a fair way from Edinburgh so might have been more than £1.60 so we decided to walk over to the other side to get to Harlaw House Visitors Centre and Balerno where we could catch a bus for £1.60. Turns out The Pentlands are wider than either of us really expected and the 'short walk' that the guide said it was from the visitors centre into Balerno was bit of an exaggeration, though there is also a very good possibility we took the wrong path from the visitors centre... Never mind we made it to the bus stop all good, just had a bit of a walk along a country road with fingers crossed we were headed in the right direction.
Partway up the hills Missie decided that she wanted a go at taking the photos, she figured she has been in enough of them and it didn't look too hard. Turns out she is not a bad photographer, as you will see below :) We also chatted to a couple of lovely locals along the way. One lady we got to take a photo of us at the top of one of the hills, this was before Missie decided to try the photography thing. At the top of the next hill the lovely lady waited for us so she could point out the English Border that you can see from up there. We also saw a nice man a little later on in the afternoon who for the past 3 weeks had been walking The Pentlands as next weekend he is going up the Munros with some friends who have been up them over 280 times and he doesn't want to be the slowest one so was getting prepared. He reminded me a lil of Doffy with the making sure he was prepared and not wanting to be the slowest, also for the fact that he was chilling grabbing a bite to eat and had the sunscreen to reapply :)
Ended up walking for around 5 hours and took some real nice pics. It was a very lovely day so really happy, well minus the sunburn I got, and before you ask I was wearing factor 30 sunscreen that I reapplied at lunchtime!! Mum you are wrong, I do get sunburnt over here :(
There is still the entire other side of The Pentlands with 8 hills to climb that I plan to go back and do at some stage, for £3.20 it is definitely going to be a good place to go over summer while I'm trying to save money. Plus Missie thinks I am not fit enough if I can't climb these hills without stopping, I think she has forgotten I have trained for a half marathon in a couple weekends time so could def outrun her.
Missy just hanging out
On our way up one of the hills
Missie chilling at the top of one of the hills
We found a stile at some point between two of the hills so obviously had to test it could take the weight of a human and a friend....
At the top of the highest hill, see what I mean about Missie being a pretty good photographer :)
Sheep and lamb, just cos really
Our view for lunch
Enjoying lunch (a peanut butter sandwich if you was wondering)
A random seat at Flotterstone
On our way from Flotterstone to Harlaw
Same as above
We bused to Hillend and started there, we walked up (according to the map I got later on) Caerketton Hill, Allermuir Hill and Capelaw Hill then semi up and around Castlelaw Hill (this was the one with the military danger zone signs). Missie thinks I made too many view appreciation stops on the way up the hills and I tried to point out that sitting in my camera case which was clipped to my bag required little effort whereas walking up the hills required a great deal more so view appreciation stops were allowed. She didn't seem to mind when photo taking was part of the stop, it was more when I just stopped and puffed and tried to catch my breath that she seemed to have an issue with.
Partway round Castlelaw Hill we found a nice place to stop and have lunch which was rudely interrupted by a very nosey sheep coming to close to me (yes I am a lil scared of sheep). We did see lots of lambs though which was very cool, especially as lambs are smart enough to walk away from you when you get close to them and therefore are not a threat ;)
After lunch we walked to Flotterstone Information Centre which is where we picked up the map. Couldn't find the bus stop anywhere around there so we went back to the information centre and picked up the Busing to The Pentlands map. It looked complicated to find the bus from here to home and it was also a fair way from Edinburgh so might have been more than £1.60 so we decided to walk over to the other side to get to Harlaw House Visitors Centre and Balerno where we could catch a bus for £1.60. Turns out The Pentlands are wider than either of us really expected and the 'short walk' that the guide said it was from the visitors centre into Balerno was bit of an exaggeration, though there is also a very good possibility we took the wrong path from the visitors centre... Never mind we made it to the bus stop all good, just had a bit of a walk along a country road with fingers crossed we were headed in the right direction.
Partway up the hills Missie decided that she wanted a go at taking the photos, she figured she has been in enough of them and it didn't look too hard. Turns out she is not a bad photographer, as you will see below :) We also chatted to a couple of lovely locals along the way. One lady we got to take a photo of us at the top of one of the hills, this was before Missie decided to try the photography thing. At the top of the next hill the lovely lady waited for us so she could point out the English Border that you can see from up there. We also saw a nice man a little later on in the afternoon who for the past 3 weeks had been walking The Pentlands as next weekend he is going up the Munros with some friends who have been up them over 280 times and he doesn't want to be the slowest one so was getting prepared. He reminded me a lil of Doffy with the making sure he was prepared and not wanting to be the slowest, also for the fact that he was chilling grabbing a bite to eat and had the sunscreen to reapply :)
Ended up walking for around 5 hours and took some real nice pics. It was a very lovely day so really happy, well minus the sunburn I got, and before you ask I was wearing factor 30 sunscreen that I reapplied at lunchtime!! Mum you are wrong, I do get sunburnt over here :(
There is still the entire other side of The Pentlands with 8 hills to climb that I plan to go back and do at some stage, for £3.20 it is definitely going to be a good place to go over summer while I'm trying to save money. Plus Missie thinks I am not fit enough if I can't climb these hills without stopping, I think she has forgotten I have trained for a half marathon in a couple weekends time so could def outrun her.
Missy just hanging out
On our way up one of the hills
Missie chilling at the top of one of the hills
We found a stile at some point between two of the hills so obviously had to test it could take the weight of a human and a friend....
At the top of the highest hill, see what I mean about Missie being a pretty good photographer :)
Sheep and lamb, just cos really
Our view for lunch
Enjoying lunch (a peanut butter sandwich if you was wondering)
A random seat at Flotterstone
On our way from Flotterstone to Harlaw
Same as above
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