Undertaking an online map review of the project site I spotted an odd anomaly. The green area beneath the high point of Danestone Hill is crisscrossed with shared use walking and bike paths and some icons indicating boggy ground. The unusual part is a brown circle which indicates ( according to the OSM - Open Street Map - legend ) an asphalt track in the middle of the hillside - not connected to any other roads. Intrigued I set off to find the summit and find the answer to the mystery road.
The first challenge as a pedestrian is getting across The Parkway - a fast road that acts as the suburbs mini-ring road, edging the back of Danestone with no crossing points. The path exits from a strand of trees at the back of the Tesco Extra car park and stops on the highway verge. Several minutes pass before a gap appears in the speeding traffic. Crossing this road is probably the most dangerous thing I will do as part of this project. The town planners did not dream this far ahead.
Although OSM has clearly mapped pedestrian paths finding them from the other verge through the summer bracken growth is tricky. I miss the one I was aiming for as it is behind a locked road gate which after being warned that in times gone by the scrap merchants greeted visitors with a shot gun I decided not to climb! ( I later see an arrow target round the far side of the site as a contemporary warning to interlopers). This left me backtracking along the weed filled verge to the entrance of the aforementioned scrap merchants. Warily poking about round the periphery I find a rubbish strewn path just off their driveway and what appeared to be a narrow route through the bracken.
The weather was typical of a Scottish summer day, cycling through the seasons as clouds scudded by overhead, the high humidity the only constant. Mid July is the start of the summer school holidays, planned for peak midge season - the air is dense with their doddering bodies. However the flowers are blooming and the bees and butterflies are abundantly about their business.
After the initial section, favoured by partying teenagers with discarded cans of Prime and broken bottles of Buckfast and Vodka, various paths through the greenery are available. Junctions appear, routes through the head height fronds punctuated by the occasional surprise of thistle or nettles. Route selection drifts along depending on access, interest and elevation.
Having zoomed past a group of rusty silos several times while traversing The Parkway by car I finally get to see them up close. The dilapidated farm structures are covered in political graffiti and the wabi-sabi colours of decay.
Halfway up the hill I find the circle from the map - not a Druid in sight. The circle is indeed made of asphalt with no obvious vehicle entry or exit point. Further research is required to find out why this feature exists in the terrain. A modern day labyrinth with no end and no point?
The rest of the crisscrossing paths are mountain bike tracks - someone has gone to the effort of designing jumps and water hazards. Continuing up hill the bracken gives way to birch forest. High contrast white trunks are punctuated by gaps caused by storm felled trees and views out over the Don valley towards Mastrick, Countess Wells and Cults ( which reminds me of the favourite school essay question joke - Discuss the effects of Cults….?)
The sun come out and in a rare fit of something that could be described as exercise I run up down the banked earth mountain bike ramps. Vaguely exhilarating.
Picking my way back down the hill to where the map has symbols for ‘bog’ I do find some damper areas but the site seems too well drained for much to take hold, but the additional water means some of the paths are blocked with giant leaves - is that hogsweed or giant hogsweed? I don’t take the chance and pick another of the myriad of options to get back down to the road.
I succeed in crossing The Parkway but it is a near thing. Back to the Tesco Extra car park, the hub of all activity in these parts.