Majestic Holyrood Park

Edinburgh, Midlothian__Edinburghshire, Scotland Central & Stirling

Recommendation added: 18/05/2006 17:44
By: HighHopes (YSUK rating +40)

HighHopes has been thanked 5 times for this contribution

"If you're coming to Edinburgh you simply must visit Holyrood Park. Once you arrive you begin to forget that you're in the middle of a large bustling city. The further you venture into the park the more you begin to feel like your out in the foothills of the Highlands with gorse covered hills, small lochs, grouse and rabbits and abundant hillwalkers. But it's not until you climb up Arthur's Seat that you realise the sheer sheer scope of Holyrood Parks size (appoximately 650 acres)and that of the city of Edinburgh.

The city has completely surrounded Arthur's Seat (an ancient volcanic plug), Samson's Ribs and the Salisbury Crags as well as the ruins of St Anthony's chapel, Duddingston's Loch and bird sanctuary, Dunsapie Loch and St Margaret's Loch. As well as the remains of prehistoric farmsteads on the eastern side of the park.

You can easily spend an entire day out walking and climbing in the park so I recommend bringing a rucksack with a hearty picnic lunch, plenty of water, a jacket (it's very windy at the summit of Arthur's Seat) and a good quality camera as you will regret it if you miss out on the multitude of photo opportunities.

If you wish to climb Salisbury Crags I recommend the starting from the car park near Holyrood Palace and Our Dynamic Earth. You'll find public toilets here near the tennis courts behind the palace. However you can also begin your climb from near the Gates on Holyrood Park Road just past The Royal Commonwealth Pool and Edinburgh Universities Pollock Halls of Residence. You can reach Holyrood Park via the number 35 Lothian bus down Cannongate, simply get off a the stop for Holyrood Palace and head south towards the Crags, you can't miss them! Or if you choose to enter via the Holyrood Park Road entrance you can take the number 2,14, 30, 33 Lothian buses down Dalkeith Rd and get off at the Royal Commonwealth Pool and head straight for Arthur's Seat and the Crags.

If you choose to to climb Arthur's seat I would recommend you start from on the Eastern Slope along the Dunsapie Loch path as this is a gentle climb even for children and inexperienced hillwalkers. The Westen Slope is more challenging. Here you will find a few narrow paths with rocky scrambles fit only for experienced climbers but you will also find a set of stairs cut into the rock. It's a long climb up before you hit a wide grassy area perfect for some photo's and wee break.

From here you can see a great deal of the city and the park but to get the full scope you need to carry on to the summit. I recommend that you take the path to the right as it is fairly gentle and safe. The path to the left has a narrow crevasse with few handholds that you must scale in order to reach the next plateau, definately not for inexperienced climbers or children. Once you reach this plateau you can get a good view of the park and all of Edinburgh but to see the true beauty of it all you need to climb to the summit. There are several approaches many quite safe for young inexperienced climbers.

The summit of Arthur's Seat is amazing. Once there you will appreciate why I refer to Holyrood Park as Majestic. The park is still owned by the Queen today and you can understand why the aristocracy have claimed this piece of land when you look out across the entirity of Edinburgh and beyond. In the distance you can see the beginning of the Highlands, the Pentland Hills, several volcanic plugs, the Forth (and the Forth Bridge) as well as the North Sea.

If hillwalking is not for you there are still plenty of other activities to keep you happy. There are large grassy expanses perfect for playing frisbee, football, picnics or playing with the family dog. If you want solitude there are plenty of places to find it in Holyrood Park, even on a busy day. I simply cannot recommend the park highly enough. If you really want to see Edinburgh, you need to see it from Holyrood Park."