Cramond Island

Cramond Island

We must have passed that junction dozens of times but have always been in too much of a hurry to turn off and explore.  It was always on the to-do list but required so little effort it would always keep for another day.  A simple walk out to Cramond  Island along the causeway across the Forth, it just had to be done.

The causeway is covered at high tide so a little planning was needed but after parking in the village we strolled out to explore the tiny island.

It’s a funny thing about islands, there is always a sense of achievement getting to one, even one as accessible as Cramond.

Three bridges across the Forth

 There have been folk living here since the Mesolithic and probably before, accessing the rich waters of the Forth for fish and shellfish which are still an attraction for waders such a curlew and oystercatchers.

 How long was he living and growing in the rich ooze ...

 ...before he dug him up and opened him up?!

The causeway, erected in wartime as a barrier to shipping makes for an easy stroll out to the tiny outlier that would have been accessible across the mudflats long before the concrete pathway was laid.

Causeway and WWII  defence pylons

A walk round the island affords some great views up and down the firth -west to the three bridges, two road and one rail and east to the islands of Inchmickery and Inchkeith with the volcanic cone of Berwick Law in the distance. (Blog 12th Sept. 2016)

Inchkeith

The abundance of shells along the shore gives a hint of why this spot has always been occupied.

The Romans had a camp here and the famous Cramond lioness sculpture, now in the Museum of Scotland, was pulled out of the mud of the Forth.

Remains of Roman barracks  circa 142 A.D.

 Cramond was where Robert Louis Stevenson in Kidnapped, imagined the House of Shaws to be sited, the home of the hero’s treacherous uncle who later has him abducted on a ship sailing from the pier at Hawes Inn just up the coast (Blog 6th Sept. 2015)

A walk round the village, a look at the Roman ruins and that was Cramond Island ticked off the list but I’m sure I’ll be back.

Cramond Kirk built  in 1656 on the site of the Roman fort

 I'm slowly visiting the accessible islands of the Firth of Forth,  Isle of May and the Bass next!