Day out at Cramond beach

Written by Helen Fowler

Edinburgh has beaches. Lots of them. It's easy to forget. We ventured out to the one at Cramond on Friday. As usual, afterwards I wondered why we don’t do this more often.

Youngest daughter (20 months) whooped with delight from her car seat when she saw the sea. “Look. Look. Look,” she cooed.

We left the car in the free parking next to the Cramond Inn. Then raced down to the beach. The sight of a huge stretch of water reaching across to Fife, well, it was exhilarating.

We walked for a mile or two along the wide promenade – excellent from a practical point of view if you have a buggy. When my eldest daughter was a baby, I took part in an exercise group for new mums along this promenade. We raced our buggies in formation.

Eldest daughter (now nearly four) clambered up onto the wall separating the promenade from the beach. Proud and scared by turns, she tottered along the wall for half a mile or so.

Then we abandoned the buggy and walked down onto the sandy beach, where, for once, we found an activity that suited both children.

Youngest daughter sat in the sand, inspecting shells and letting sand run through her fingers. Eldest daughter raced around the beach, collecting pebbles, feather and shells.

We saw the island of Inchkeith out at sea, in the Firth of Forth, hazed in mist, looking like the scene for a children’s adventure story.

The sight of a container ship on the horizon, out in the North Sea, sparked theories from elder daughter of pirates.

The snow-capped hills of Fife rose above the northern side of the Firth of Forth.

All this, just twenty minutes drive from central Edinburgh.

if you don't have a car, the 41 bus will take you there instead. 

Cramond Beach, Cramond Glebe Road, Edinburgh, EH4 6NU