Robbers and reivers; hunted; beaten and shot; survival. These grim words headed up each paragraph on the information board at the start of the path which set out the history of the old route we were about to walk. They certainly created an air of foreboding that was heightened by the bleakness of the winter day. We'd just watched the sun barely pull itself above the peaks to the east only to be immediately engulfed in dense, low cloud, that reverted the morning to twilight. Old, hard snow speckled the fields which were parceled up by the black lines of criss-crossing stone walls. The route of the path ahead, part of the Cross Border Drove Road, was picked out in the snow so that we could trace its white line all the way up to the Cauldstane Slap, a low slung pass between East and West Cairn Hills. There was no colour to the day and the world appeared monochrome.
The Cauldstane Slap is a relatively remote spot for these parts, far to the west of Edinburgh and a bit off the beaten track. The two hills either side held a fair bit of snow and West Cairn looked quite dramatic, rising in white ramparts above the trees. But we were heading for East Cairn Hill, the highest point within the Edinburgh city boundary.
The Cross Border Drove Road and the Cauldstane Slap were used to move cattle from the Falkirk trysts into the Borders and on into England. It was a route of some significance that saw tens of thousands of cattle and sheep pass through annually at its peak. Inevitably it also earned the name of Thief's Road as it was used by cattle thieves as well as drovers.
We headed off, walking alongside an old wall initially then passing through scrubby woodland. We were grateful the temperature was below zero and the ground frozen because it looked like the route was just bog otherwise. The wettest sections had been bridged by wooden planks which were quite tricky to cross with a layer of thick ice along the top. Eventually, we pulled microspikes onto our boots and made easier work of it.
Before the land started to rise to the Slap, we crossed a small river via a wooden bridge. A quick look at the map showed this to be the fledgling Water of Leith whose source is at Colzium Springs, a little to the west of where we were now.
As we crossed the bridge, we looked up to the climb ahead and saw that the tops of East and West Cairn Hill were now obscured by the enveloping mist. The Slap was still clear and we plodded on, finally pulling up onto the pass after a walk that seemed much longer on the ground than it had looked on the map. We'd no sooner arrived, than the Slap was also engulfed in the mist, drawing in our world to the few metres around us.
From the Slap we set out up East Cairn Hill. It's not far and it's not a difficult walk but some deep snow drifts demanded extra effort, so we were no less pleased to see the stones of the summit cairn emerge from the gloom. There was no view of course but I loved the other worldly atmosphere imparted by the mist.
The stone cairn afforded enough shelter from the biting wind to sit a few minutes, pull on our duvet jackets and eat our picnics. Then we battled our way back off the hill in deteriorating conditions to make the long walk back.
Start/finish: Little Vantage
i could see the East and West Cairn Hills from my bedroom window in Balerno when I was young - and that shivering sounding pass the Cauldstane Slap between them. Features as the home of the Elliots in RL Stevenson's great and last (uncompleted) novel, Weir of Hemiston about the 'Hanging Judge' and his son Archie.
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