Arthur's Seat Summit

Congratulations — you've made it! Welcome to the summit of Arthur's Seat, 251 metres above the city, and the finest free viewpoint in Edinburgh. Take a slow turn: to the north, the blue Firth of Forth stretches towards the Kingdom of Fife; to the west, the castle rides its rock above the Old Town rooftops you walked earlier today; to the south rise the Pentland Hills. Nobody is quite sure how the hill got its name — romantic tradition links it to the legendary King Arthur, though it may simply come from old Gaelic words for "height of arrows." The summit holds a genuine mystery too: in 1836, five boys hunting rabbits on these slopes found seventeen miniature coffins hidden in a small cave, each containing a tiny carved wooden figure. Were they charms, memorials — perhaps even for the victims of the body-snatchers Burke and Hare? Nearly two centuries later, nobody knows; you can see the surviving coffins in the National Museum of Scotland, which you'll pass later on this very tour. Catch your breath, take your photos — you've earned them — and when you're ready, head back down the way you came and rejoin the route towards the Grassmarket. From the park gate that's about half an hour on foot, and we'll meet you once more along the way, down in the Cowgate.