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.