Pentland Hills and Swanston Village

Caerketton Hill (Dave Henniker)

Swanston Village Cottages with thatched roofs (Undiscovered Scotland)

After wandering through Swanston Village with its thatched roofs, which was a revelation to me, we followed a small burn set amidst a sylvan green pasture. From there we came across the army’s firing range. If there was a red flag flying we needed to make the difficult decision about turning back or somehow reconnoitring. By-passing the T Woods-not really a T, but actually a cross which was disguised from the northerly Edinburgh direction. One of the group said the T stood for the Trotter family who had planted it. From there we then had to climb and scramble up the scree slopes of the northerly side toward the summits of Caerketton and Allermuir. I found this quite scary indeed. I had to keep up with the party so forged on. The climb was worth it, because once at the top we could survey and take in the whole panorama of Edinburgh and where our home, Oxgangs Avenue and The Stair fitted in-it was an early opportunity to take one's bearings-to look at the bigger picture and realise there was a world beyond Oxgangs.On one of these early adventures we had forged deep into the glens beyond the hill tops. For some reason my wee brother, Iain (2.5 years younger than me) and I had to turn back to go home. I didn’t really know my way home. We were both in tears. Eventually we found our way back to the summit. What a happy relief it was to be able to again survey the whole panorama of Edinburgh and to say to Iain that we’re fine and I think I know the way home. From the heights it was all downhill to Oxgangs through Robert Louis Stevenson’s Swanston Village.