Wrapping up, Part One

My time in Edinburgh is drawing to a close, so I'm beginning to wrap things up. Yesterday I gave my research talk to the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities -- quite a different experience from the first two times, since it was all disembodied. I was very careful to make the talk accessible to a broad audience of humanities folks, which is not easy for a fairly technical subject that requires a good bit of background to motivate it. Judging by the comments and questions, I think I succeeded, though at the expense of annoying the one other philosopher in the group, who clearly wanted a technical talk on the metaphysics of substances, powers, and dispositions, instead of the general-audience talk on virtues and the good life that I had so carefully prepared. (This particular philosopher practices that version of philosophy-as-blood-sport that I associate in particular with, well, her department, of which I used to be a member.)

After my talk I turned in the keys to my office.

"The number of the counting shall be seven," I had called my talk, because it was about Scotus's arguments that the seven traditional virtues -- the three theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity; the four cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance -- are all we need. With that talk I wrapped up my work on the chapter on virtue for the Scotus book. But there was another seven I needed to count, and another bit of wrapping up to do. I wanted to walk up the last of Edinburgh's seven hills, Corstorphine Hill, before my return home. And since today promised to be fair, if a bit chilly, I decided not to put it off.

Princes Street Gardens, looking across to the Old Town

I caught a bus on Princes Street and was at the entrance to the Corstorphine Hill Nature Reserve within half an hour. Corstorphine Hill is the westernmost hill of the seven, and the nature reserve is the largest 

For this, as for all the photos, click to embiggen.

area of woodland in Edinburgh. It was not long before I had climbed high enough to get good views across the Firth of Forth to Fife.

The path leads on to what used to be the highest point on the old road to Edinburgh, which is known as Rest and Be Thankful. Isn't that fantastic? I rested (briefly) and was thankful (in a more prolonged way), enjoying the views over the golf course to Calton Hill, the Castle, and Arthur's Seat.

Now one thing Corstorphine Hill has going for it that the other hills lack is that it is home to the Edinburgh Zoo, which means that if you're lucky, you might get a glimpse of the occasional zebra.

The path leads on to Clermiston Tower, which was built in 1932 to celebrate the centenary of Sir Walter Scott's death. I always have a slight feeling of guilt when I think of Sir Walter Scott, since my one attempt to read one of his novels (Waverley, in fact) was abandoned about fifty pages in from sheer boredom. Beyond that, the only Scott I've read is the snippets that are posted all throughout Waverley Station, which I admittedly find very satisfying. I have heard good things about his poetry; maybe I should try that rather than venturing another novel.

As for the next bit of the path, my walking guide says, "Some sections of the path are boggy and others are rocky and slippery underfoot." This was true, but I managed to keep my footing (unlike the time I was heading up Ben Lora, lost my footing on a slippery wooden plank over a particularly deep bit of bog, and plunged one leg into said bog up to the knee -- I've been saving that story for a long post, so there you are). The guide goes on to say, "At one point there is a view out towards the Forth Bridges with the Highlands beyond if the day is clear." Well, the day was indeed clear, and I got the view, but not the greatest picture in the world.

 

When I got back to my starting point, I wasn't quite ready to be done with walking, and I ended up walking the three miles back through the western suburbs into Comely Bank and then finally Stockbridge, where I stopped for what turned out to be an extraordinarily delicious late lunch at The Pantry, a place I had been meaning to try for ages. At last, a few minutes before sunset -- the sun sets before 4:00 pm at this time of year in Edinburgh -- I was back at my flat.

So I've wrapped up the seven virtues and the seven hills. Time to clean the mud of the Highlands, Islands, and Lowlands off my walking boots and start getting other things ready for the journey home.