John Muir Way: Prestonpans to North Berwick

Friday 29th August 2025

To do my next stage of the John Muir Way I first needed to get back to Prestonpans, which meant catching a train from Edinburgh, where I was staying, and I almost missed it! The trains were every hour so I would have had a long wait for the next one and with sensational weather I didn’t want to waste any more time than I needed to. Fortunately I caught the train and got off at Prestonpans station where I made my way back through the village to the coast and rejoined the John Muir Way. I soon had amazing views across the Firth of Forth, which from my perspective looked like a large landlocked lake because I couldn’t see the mouth of the estuary. It was a stunning sight stretching back to the Pentland Hills in the distance behind me with Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh, and moving clockwise around the view I came to the Forth Bridges and then along the Fife Coast, which I walked in 2021, and then at some point my view across the Firth of Forth merged with the East Lothian coast, which I would be following this day under blue skies and great sunshine. Soon, however, I was forced away from the route of the John Muir Way by construction work to walk beside the road until I reached Cockenzie Harbour. My progressed then continued past the unified coastal towns of Cockenzie and Port Seton until I reached Seton Sands where I couldn’t resist the temptation to drop down onto the beach and have a wonderfully relaxing walk with extensive views across the sand under the clear blue skies. I went into this holiday feeling very tired due to stress and it had succeeded in releasing those stresses from my body and helping me to relax. This walk across the sands was another part of that prescription.

The view was mesmerising and I couldn’t help taking picture after picture of the awesome sight that was reminiscent of the views I had seen four years ago while walking the Fife Coastal Path, just the other side of the estuary. When rocks began to appear I climbed up onto the dunes and followed a course between the beach and the road, which later became wooded until finally I returned to the road to head into the village of Aberlady. On the other side I emerged to an extensive view across Aberlady Bay where I decided to stop and have my lunch before setting off again, however, from this point the John Muir Way keeps to the road for a long while and I wanted to stay beside the coast so I initially followed faint paths through the grass at the head of the bay that led me to a long wooden bridge. An information board informed me that over the bridge is Aberlady Bay Local Nature Reserve while the John Muir Way frustratingly goes inland, which seemed to me a travesty in such good weather, so I ignored the trail and crossed the bridge. I now had no directions to follow and no idea where I was going, so when I reached a junction I made a hasty decision to turn left and this brought me to the sandy beach of Gullane Sands. Progress was slow across the soft sand as I made my way to Gullane Point and off the beach to round the headland while trying to find my way, which just added to the fun.

I found it thoroughly enjoyable trying to navigate a course through an area that felt like I was lost in a maze of conflicting, narrow paths through the dunes with a golf course inland that could bite me if I strayed too far. Eventually I emerged above Gullane Bay with the village above and I could have returned to the John Muir Way at this point, which passes through Gullane, but I was having too much fun following the coast so I turned left onto a path that kept up the challenge. Sometimes I dropped onto the beach and other times I tried to find a path through the dunes which avoided the ubiquitous golf courses. Eventually a wooden boardwalk took me off a beach and up to the back of some houses, and at the far end I turned right to reach a junction where I was joined by a familiar sight, the John Muir Way, which had finally had enough of following roads and had returned to the coast. Just as it started to rain, I followed the trail along the edge of a golf course and into the town of North Berwick. The weather on this walk provided me with sensational views across the sands, notably on Seton Sands and Gosford Bay, where I took loads of pictures. The good weather encouraged me to divert off the trail, making up my own way along the coast, while the John Muir Way takes a cyclist-friendly route inland. I’m sure if the weather had been poor then I would have been happy to follow the trail, but instead I had a great walk.

John Muir Way: Cramond Bridge to Prestonpans

Thursday 28th August 2025

At the end of the previous day on the John Muir Way, I had reached the edge of Edinburgh, at Cromond Bridge, so after spending the night in the city I caught a bus back to Cramond Bridge and resumed my walk along the trail. This took me across the old Cramond Brig and along a street of expensive houses before crossing Donaldson’s Mains Park and emerging back onto the Queensferry Road. More residential streets eventually led me to Clemiston Road with Corstorphine Hill Local Nature Reserve on my left. I had to stay to the right of the road for a while but eventually I came to an entrance into the park and a path that climbed surprisingly steep for the John Muir Way, and for inside a city, but it wasn’t too long before I reached the top where I found a communications mast and a tower dedicated to Sir Water Scott. This was fabulous woodland scenery with a maze of paths that made it tricky for me to know which way the John Muir Way goes, but it soon became apparent to me that I just needed to follow a fence and this eventually led me to a viewpoint over the City of Edinburgh, though overcast skies meant that the views were not great with the Pentland Hills to the south dominating the skyline, but it was the steep terrain underfoot that appealed to me most. 

I descended down the hill to reach Corstorphine Road where a short spell along a residential road brought me to an old railway line, now a cycle track, that soon brought me to Balgreen tram station. With Murrayfield rugby stadium ahead of me I turned right beside the Water of Leith to follow the river for a while with a brief interlude through the beautiful gardens of Saughton Park. I was frustrated at not being able to get a good picture of the river because it was so narrow and overgrown, but I still had an enjoyable walk beside it and this came to an end when I reached two viaducts. I passed underneath the railway and climbed up to join the Union Canal, following it towards the city centre. When I reached the end of the canal, at Lochrin Basin, it started to rain and apart from a brief time while I had my lunch it continued to rain as I crossed Bruntsfield Links and the Meadows, extensive parks just to the south of the city centre. The rain eased as I approached Arthur’s Seat, a craggy hill that looms over Edinburgh, and which I climbed in 2021. I was disappointed that I wouldn’t have the opportunity to do so again. Instead I dropped down to the mouth of an early railway tunnel, part of the Innocent Railway, even though it is technically not on John Muir Way. I passed through this tunnel four years ago, so I remembered where the tunnel was and rather assumed the trail goes through it, but instead it follows the edge of Holyrood Park before dropping onto the course of the old railway just after the end of the tunnel.

The sun came out at this time and I was opportunistic that it would continue for the rest of the afternoon, but dark clouds and brief showers soon reappeared, though I had a pleasant walk along the course of the old railway, now a cycle path, which I had previously walked in 2021, in the other direction. At this point I became bothered by some blisters which were making walking increasingly difficult, so I came off the trail for a rest, and some supplies, at a supermarket. On resuming the trail I followed the Brunstane Burn into wilder scenery as the city was now clearly being left behind, and so the walking was also much more pleasing. It was fun to realise that I had started this walk on the western edge of the City of Edinburgh and I was now on the eastern edge having crossed the whole city and when I emerged onto the main road I had officially left the city and was in East Lothian, approaching the coastal town of Musselburgh. It was great to be back beside the Forth estuary having been deprived of the coastline throughout my traverse of Edinburgh, and the sea would be my constant companion for the rest of the holiday. The John Muir Way was originally much shorter than it is now and started in Musselburgh, and soon I saw signs still indicating that, but now, instead of being confined to East Lothian, the trail starts in Helensburgh and crosses Scotland. From this point I was on the original trail. 

From the harbour, I followed the coast, across Fisherrow Links, to the mouth of the River Esk where I had to turn inland to reach a bridge before following the river back out while across the river Arthur’s Seat stuck out above the horizon below grey skies. I considered cutting the walk early because of the time of the trains, but in the end I pressed on to Prestonpans and took advantage of the long wait for the next train by having some fish & chips for dinner before slowly making my way towards the station. This walk had a lot of variety, crossing the capital of Scotland and ending beside the coast. The highlight was Corstorphine Hill and once I was on the other side of Edinburgh, and it had stopped raining, it was a pleasant walk.