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Immediately south of Edinburgh, across the city bypass, are the wild and rugged Pentland Hills, great for a bracing Sunday walk, and the magical, mystical Rosslyn Chapel, with its cache of weird and wonderful secrets.
Sights
Pentland Hills
OS Landranger
South of the Braid Hills, beyond the City Bypass, are Edinburgh’s Pentland Hills, a range of serious hills, remote in parts, rising to almost 2,000 ft and which stretch some 16 miles from the outskirts of Edinburgh to Lanarkshire. The hills offer relatively painless climbs and you’ll be rewarded with magnificent views once you reach the top. On the northern slopes of the Pentlands is the village of Swanston, a huddle of 18th-century thatched, white-washed cottages. The largest of these, Swanston Cottage, was the holiday home of the Stevenson family, where the sickly young Robert Louis spent his summers. There are many paths up to the various Pentland summits and round the lochs and reservoirs. The main access is the A702, which passes the Midlothian Ski Centre at Hillend. There’s a marked walking trail up to the ski slope, or you can take the chair lift. At the top of the slope it’s a short walk to Caerketton Hill for fantastic panoramic views of Edinburgh, the Firth of Forth and the hills of Fife and Stirlingshire.
Rosslyn Chapel
T 440 2159, http://www.rosslynchapel.org.uk Mon-Sat 1000-1700, Sun 1200-1645. Adults £4, concessions £3.50, children £1. Bus 315 from Princes St to Roslin every ¼-1 hr (40 mins), or take bus 37 from Charlotte Sq to Loanhead and change to the 141 to Roslin (£3.20 return). A taxi takes around 20 mins and costs £15.
Seven miles south of Edinburgh, just off the A701 to Penicuik, lies the little village of Roslin (yes, it is spelled differently), home of the 15th-century Rosslyn Chapel. Perched above the North Esk, the magnificent chapel has a richly carved interior full of Biblical representations and pagan and masonic symbols, and has been described as “a fevered hallucination in stone”. Foundations were laid in 1446 for a much larger church which was never built. What exists is the Lady Chapel, inspiration of Sir William Sinclair, who himself supervised masons brought from abroad who took 40 years to complete it to his design. According to legend, his grandfather, the adventurer Prince Henry of Orkney, set foot in the New World a century before Columbus. This is backed up by the carvings of various New World plants. One of the most fascinating sights in the church, and the most elaborate carving, is the Prentice Pillar. Legend has it that while the master mason was away in Rome making additional drawings to complete the pillar, an apprentice finished it for him. On the mason’s return he murdered the apprentice in a fury. Speculation as to the purpose of the chapel dwells on esoteric secrets, and a plethora of recent books claim that the Holy Grail, supposedly brought from the East by the Knights Templar, is buried here. Whether or not you believe this, you’ll still find its architecture and atmosphere fascinating. Once you’ve seen the chapel, there are some very pleasant walks in near-by Roslin Glen, from where you get great views of Roslin Castle.
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