Running is an excellent way to discover new places, as I have learned over the years, and in the past month I have found many new running trails that I never realized were right on my doorstep. Last weekend I decided to try to run to the Water of Leith Walkway, which is a pathway alongside a river which starts in the Pentland Hills and continues 24 miles (apparently - I didn't run the entire length of the river) into the Firth of Forth at Leith. The walkway itself is almost 13 miles long and goes straight through Edinburgh. I found an entrance to the walkway about 4 miles from my flat - there is a park entrance which leads straight off the road into a bunch of trees, down to the river. Then, you come to a nice dirt path alongside the water. I was out for two hours, and it rained the whole time, but it wasn't too cold. The rain meant that not many people were out, which was nice.
The entrance
The path does get a little winding once you get a ways down, with at one point multiple levels of trails, and I found myself turned around and, while not exactly lost, at least unsure of the correct direction to go after a few miles. I didn't want to be running the wrong way, so I stopped and asked a woman walking her dog which way Edinburgh City Centre was. She asked where I was coming from, and I told her I had started near the Meadows. She was mightily impressed, saying "Oh, all the way over there, that's quite a ways, good on you dearie. Well you'll be wanting to continue in that direction (pointing), but you don't want to go all the Leith, that's about 5 miles away, much too far, so just keep on that way and ask someone else for directions a little ways along." So, that's what I did, and I came out eventually right next to a road leading to Blackford Hill, where I ran last weekend.
The fall colors were out in full glory.