Cramond is where Edinburgh stops being a city and becomes a coast — a row of whitewashed cottages at the mouth of the River Almond, a Roman fort under the churchyard, and a causeway that walks you out to sea and back, if the tide says yes. It's a village the city happens to own.
About four kilometres, best on an afternoon with a falling tide. Start at Cramond Kirk, white-harled and old, set on the ground of a Roman fort that once watched the empire's northern edge. Walk down to the harbour and the cottages, then out along the causeway toward Cramond Island, past the angled wartime pylons — but only if the board at the start says it's safe. People get cut off here every year; the sea comes in from both sides and fast.
Back on the mainland, follow the foreshore east along the Forth, oystercatchers in the mud, the bridges in the distance. This is the half no tide can spoil. End near where the Roman Lioness was dredged from the river in 1997, then up to the 41 bus and back into town.
