The Meadows is the great flat lung of the south side — a kilometre of open grass where the city comes to lie down, walk diagonally, and play football badly. No hill, no view to climb for; the point is the green itself, and the avenue of cherry trees that detonates pink for a fortnight each spring.
A little over three kilometres, easy and best on a weekend afternoon when the whole place is out. Start at the Jawbone Walk, named for the whalebone arch that once stood there, and strike across on Middle Meadow Walk past the coffee carts and the students. Find the cherry avenue — pink in late April and May, green shade the rest of the year.
Then cross into Bruntsfield Links, the rougher grass to the west, where golf has been played for something like five centuries; the free short-hole course still climbs the slope. Stop at the Golf Tavern, which claims 1456 and may even be telling the truth, then walk up onto Bruntsfield Place and its run of independent shops. End with a browse, and a bus back into town.
