FACTFILE

Distance: 2½ miles

Time: 1½ to 2 hours

OS Landranger 66

Start / finish point: Levenhall Links, nr Musselburgh.

This is a coastal walk with a difference, offering great views of the Firth of Forth, taking in the industrial heritage of the area (now re-claimed by nature) and a big dose of sport to round things off.

Until the 1960s much of the walk would have been underwater. The land was claimed by Scottish Power to create lagoons to deposit waste ash from Cockenzie Power Station. Some lagoons are still in use but others have become wildlife havens with landscaping work now well established, making it a great place for a summer walk and a picnic. It is a walk for all the family with no uphill sections and paths suitable for prams and pushchairs all the way.

The car park is reached to the east of Musselburgh Racecourse. Follow signs to Prestonpans along the B1348 and turn left just after passing a national speed limit sign. Keep going all the way along a narrow Tarmac road then continue on a stony track which turns sharp right close to the edge of the racecourse.

For the start of the walk, go to the end of the car park and on reaching two paths take the one on the left. This leads you past a lagoon and across a meadow, filled with birdsong, to the Firth of Forth. After enjoying the view go left, following the shore with Arthur’s Seat rising above Edinburgh ahead of you. You are passing a working lagoon to your left at this point so make sure you keep close to the shoreline. This bends left as it reaches the estuary of the River Esk, a good place to see Musselburgh’s famous swans feeding.

I saw an unusual black swan on the lagoon near the parking area a few weeks ago, these are native to Australia but have survived in the wild after being brought to Britain as ornamental birds. Indigenous birds you may see along the way include the dunlin, curlew, goldeneye, cormorant and oystercatcher.

The path reaches the edge of Musselburgh where you go left, away from the shore. At a junction of paths go right to reach a road and, after about 200 yards, the entrance to Musselburgh Links Old Golf Course, on the left, which you go through.

Dating back to 1672 this is the oldest course in the world still being played and was the venue of six Open Championships between 1874 and 1889. It is contained within Musselburgh racecourse, a relative newcomer as it only got going in 1816.

A track leads along the edge of the racecourse, the opposite side to the main stands. About 100 yards before the six furlong marker post go through a gap in a fence on your left and follow a path which runs parallel to the track.

This takes you to a metal gate. On the other side go left and follow a track for about 200 yards to the car park.

The nearby headquarters of the Scottish Ornithologists’ Club (SOC) in Aberlady runs Birdwatching for Beginners courses – a series of guided walks around the county led by friendly experts, with Musselburgh Lagoons a favoured site on the programme. The area is a designated SSSI (Special Site of Scientific Interest) and offers great for viewing gulls and waders at the mouth of the Esk, while sea ducks such as as Velvet and Common Scoter, Long-tailed Duck and Slavonian Grebe are commonly seen from the sea wall in winter. If the tide is high, the hides at the scrapes allow close views of Teal, Snipe and plovers, with the occasional Peregrine overhead.