Читать книгу Walking in the Pentland Hills. 30 walks in Edinburgh's local hills онлайн

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Swanston cottage (Walk 2)

Protecting and enjoying the hills

The Pentland Hills have long been a destination for people seeking recreation in the countryside. Well over a century ago, in 1883, the Scottish Rights of Way and Access Society began two years of negotiation with landowners and surveying of paths, and in 1885 inaugural signposts were erected on most Pentland paths. The society produced the first walking guidebook, with a copy presented to each Pentland landowner, and a further 300 to the Edinburgh Trades Council – for distribution among working men ‘in order that healthful enjoyment and recreation afforded by the rights of way across the hills should be better known’. The society continues its invaluable work today.

Bonaly Reservoir from Harbour Hill (Walk 4)

With improved and increased access, however, came an increase in problems – with litter, for example. In The Pentland Hills, William Anderson complained, back in 1926 ‘…there is nothing more offensive than, on arriving…to find the outflow choked with paper or cardboard boxes, and the ground littered with orange and banana skins, broken bottles, and such like’ (although his suggestion for hiding litter in molehills or under heather bushes is not acceptable now). On 24 May 1932 The Scotsman reported that the Victoria Day holiday saw thousands trekking to the hills, the lonely spaces being invaded from an early hour and traffic to Flotterstone Bridge (Walk 23) exceptionally heavy.