Hello, you are listening to Stories of Scotland.

And in this episode, we are heading to the bright lights of Old Riquet.

That's right, the Athens of the North, the capital of Scotland,

is the city of Edinburgh. I'm Jenny, your friendly environmental scientist. And I'm Annie,

you're jolly archivist. This series is kindly funded by the Royal Society of Literature

and inspired by the beautiful writing in the

Scottish mountaineering journals. And you're right, Jenny, we're heading to Edinburgh for a spectacular

view. In this episode, we'll be talking about the Salisbury Crags, tall cliffs which peer over

Edinburgh.

Anyone who has been to Scotland's capital is likely familiar with these striking cliffs

which adjoin Arthur's seat at the edge of Holyrood Park.

The Salisbury crags are the robin to Arthur's seat Batman.

But in this episode, we'll understand why they too are just as

impressive as the imposing Arthur's seat. We're going back to the year in 1900. The secretary

of the Scottish Mandanarian Club, William English Clark, is a regular contributor to the journal.

He can't stop writing about mountains.

In this extract from the September volume, we learn what's cracking in these crags.

Now this text is going to mention the Katnik Rett, which is the peak of a gully through the Salisbury crags.

In many mountains, even the easiest route is difficult, nay, even dangerous.

And practice on the Salisbury crags, apart altogether from the enjoyment derived therefore,

is regarded as valuable preparation for the most uniformly difficult work abroad.

The crag climbs are similar to the more difficult alpine rock climbs.

...