Running in Edinburgh

Edinburgh's Union Canal starts at Lochrin Basin in Fountainbridge, just west of the city centre, and runs a flat, largely traffic free 16 kilometres out to the village of Ratho, passing through Wester Hailes, Longstone, Craiglockhart, Merchiston, and Polwarth along the way. Unlike almost anywhere else in the city, the towpath offers completely level running from start to finish, a rare commodity in a city built on seven hills. The engineering along the route is part of the appeal, especially the Slateford Aqueduct, which carries the canal 18 metres above the Water of Leith and, at 180 metres long, ranks as the second largest aqueduct in Scotland. Runners training for the flat, fast Edinburgh Marathon Festival half marathon often use long stretches of the towpath to bank pancake flat miles away from traffic lights and cobbles.

The towpath is shared with cyclists, dog walkers, and families on bikes, so it rewards an early start if you want open space to run at pace. Closer to the city centre the path is paved and well lit, while the sections nearer Ratho turn quieter and more rural, with reed beds, moored narrowboats, and glimpses of the Pentland Hills to the south. Because the canal runs west rather than toward the coast or Arthur's Seat, it gives Edinburgh runners a genuinely different outlook from the city's more famous routes. Many local runners treat it as their go to option for tempo runs and long runs alike, precisely because there is nothing to climb.

Corstorphine Hill sits on the western edge of Edinburgh, near Edinburgh Zoo, and is the most westerly of the city's Seven Hills as well as its largest area of public woodland. A network of dirt paths loops through mixed woodland for a bit over 4 kilometres, climbing gently rather than the steep scramble of Arthur's Seat. At the summit stands Clermiston Tower, a nineteenth century memorial to novelist Sir Walter Scott, with clearings nearby that open onto views across the city, the Firth of Forth, and Fife on a clear day. The reserve is also one of Edinburgh's better spots for birdlife, with woodpeckers, buzzards, and tawny owls recorded among the trees.

Because Corstorphine Hill sits away from the Old Town and the tourist trail, it stays noticeably quieter than Arthur's Seat, even on weekend mornings. The paths include some rougher, rooty sections and a few short, steep drops near the tower, so trail shoes are worth packing rather than road shoes. It works well as a shorter, calmer alternative on days when Holyrood Park feels crowded, or as an add on loop after an easy run along the nearby roads in the west of the city. Locals often combine it with a visit to the walled garden near the tower, a quiet detour that most visitors to Edinburgh never find.