Nostalgia: Work to make Edinburgh's shore-line more accessible is ongoing, but it has always needed looking after

Published on Saturday 29 August 2009 11:29

THEY were clearly not delicate repairs. But then the weather looked ferocious enough for drastic measures to be needed. The year was 1967 and during a stormy November high winds and seas had damaged part of the front at Portobello. The collapsing parts of the promenade were broken away by Edinburgh Council workmen – and their sledgehammers – to make it safe once more.

It was a rather dramatic alteration to the seafront, but the area between Portobello and Cramond has seen many changes over the years. And it is, as the Evening News reported this week, about to see more. The first section of a multi-million pound walkway for Edinburgh's coastline has now been opened, with a celebration being held at Gypsy Brae on Wednesday to mark the occasion. The six-metre wide walk and cycle-way between Silverknowes and Granton has transformed an area which was formerly just a dirt track.

The Edinburgh Promenade scheme will eventually see 20 key areas in Cramond and Portobello linked by a ten-mile walkway, although the entire project will take up to 30 years to complete.

The new cafe, restaurants and barbecues areas planned will all help visitors to get the most out of the coast – because as our pictures show, leisure has always been one of its prime purposes, from donkey rides in the early part of last century at Cramond to lazing about in the sun at Porty in the 70s.

That's not to say work hasn't been need to keep popular sandy stretches in tip-top condition. Sand was taken from the beach at Portobello during the Second World War to fill sandbags – but the result was damage to the seawall. During the 1960s, sand was put back, taken this time from the mouth of the river Esk in Musselburgh. And of course, there is the traditional beach clean-upwhich will probably be a familiar sight, even with the new promenade, for many years to come.