THE road that passes through the residential areas of Bruntsfield, Churchhill and Morningside, known long ago as the Old Biggar Road, is still one of the main exits from Edinburgh for those bound for the south or south-west. Churchhill is another of those dramatic summits that are encountered everywhere by the traveller in Edinburgh. The handsome red sandstone building at the crest of the hill is the Churchhill Theatre. One of the city's municipal theatres, it was converted in 1965 from the premises of Morningside Free Church and is used mainly by the many amateur companies in Edinburgh.

At this point the road plunges dramatically down into the heart of Morningside, which once was a country village lying far outside Edinburgh. The origin of its pleasant name remains a mystery.

Against the wall outside the former Morningside Parish Church (a building now belonging to Napier University) stands the reputed Borestone. It is said to have been the traditional rallying point on the Burgh Muir when Scottish monarchs sent out a call for the assembling of the army. From this spot, near the top of Churchhill, there is a rewarding glimpse of the Pentland Hills, whose ridge forms the very boundary of modern Edinburgh.

Royal Observatory

Beyond Morningside Station the land begins to rise gradually again towards the Braid Hills and Fairmilehead. Now the country is opening up and the view of the Pentlands becomes increasingly dramatic. To our left are the Braid Hills, acquired by the City of Edinburgh in 1889 and now the site of two outstandingly scenic municipal golf courses. Immediately to the north of the Braids, in the valley of the Braid Burn, is the well-wooded public park known as the Hermitage of Braid. Adjacent to the Hermitage is Blackford Hill, a great favourite with strollers, which is surmounted by the Royal Observatory (1895), where there is a visitor centre.

Fairmilehead is an important crossroads. Westwards the road leads to Oxgangs, the picturesque village of Colinton in its dell, and Craiglockhart.

Hillend Ski Centre

A short distance south of Fairmilehead crossroads is an access to the Edinburgh City Bypass, but we continue a little further south to Hillend Park, with its spectacular artificial ski-slope. The skiers' chairlift is also used by many hill walkers as a useful way to reach the northern ridge of the Pentland range, where there are a number of footpaths offering easy walking and air like wine. The Pentland Hills stretch to the south-west for some 15 miles, and are traversed by signposted footpaths at several points.

Swanston Village

Here we are in Robert Louis Stevenson country, for his summer home was in the hamlet of Swanston, half-concealed among the trees in the shadow of the hill called Caerketton. Stevenson loved the view of Edinburgh from here:

From the summit, you look over a great expanse of champaign sloping to the sea... So you sit, like Jupiter on Olympus, and look down from afar upon men's life.

The Pentlands were also a favourite haunt of Lord Cockburn, whose last home was Bonaly Tower, not far distant. He wrote: 'Unless some avenging angel shall expel me, I shall never leave that paradise.' He also said:

There is not a recess in the valleys of the Pentlands, nor an eminence on their summits, that is not familiar to my solitude. One summer I read every word of Tacitus in the sheltered crevice of a rock (called 'my Seat') about 800 ft above the level of the sea, with the most magnificent of scenes stretched before me.