• The Cat Nick
  • Summit of Arthur's Seat

Arthur's Seat and Salisbury Crags from Appleton Tower

Taken from 3/4 way up the staircase of the Appleton Tower of Edinburgh University in George Square, through the window glass. It gives a good impression of how this craggy massif is encircled by the city and quite close to the city centre. In half an hour's walk from here you can be in Holyrood Park beginning the ascent.

The big sweep of crags to the left is Salisbury Crags, beneath the cliffs of which runs the Radical Road, an extraordinarily scenic walk. The conical peak is the summit of Arthur's Seat. The hump to the right is the summit of Nether Hill.

If you're in reasonable walking condition you ought to be able to walk from here to the summit of Arthur's Seat in an hour. Useful to know if you want to meet a sunset or friends up there.

As you can see the orientation of the street grid doesn't allow to walk there in a straight line. If you try to keep your zig zags in the general direction of the the Cat Nick (you'll keep getting orientation views on the way) you'll end up in Brown Street or its vicinity on the edge of Holyrood Park. Not far off the most direct route to the Summit, and since it's the fastest escape from the zig zags of the street grid to the open spaces of the park it's quite possibly the fastest route towards the summit.

Here is a view of the Crags from Brown Street.

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