Newhaven. West Breakwater. Dockside. Ocean Terminal. Another Edinburgh Day Out.

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Another area I fancied visiting in Edinburgh was the West Breakwater... Leith Harbour...Dockside...Ocean Terminal District.  Buses for that, the number 10 or 11 will both take you to Newhaven/ Ocean Terminal districts which are within 15 minutes walk of each other. Also a handy five minutes walk from Edinburgh's main Glasgow to Edinburgh Bus Station with this local bus stop situated nearby on York Place. Public toilets in bus stations in both cities and also on the city to city buses.

I got off the local bus 20 minutes later at Newhaven Harbour. I've not been here since pre-covid days. Winter of 2017 with Anne and Belinda. Almost 10 years ago now. Time races by very fast in blogland.

A lovely sunny morning. This is the same day I walked the previous post, including the flour mill, Leith itself, and The Water of Leith walkway. That was the afternoon section of this same walk. Had to bag this small lighthouse as it was on the way to the West Breakwater. Edinburgh has a few mega structures and West Breakwater is one of them. It starts here on the right of this photo, above. 

Looking across at Granton from Newhaven.   Edinburgh, in the days of ocean barges and sailing ships used to have several busy large harbours, each filled with ships of all sizes trading with the Low Countries, North and South America and Europe but now Leith is the main dock area for modern shipping.

The West Breakwater starts at Newhaven and runs for almost a mile out to sea. It protects Leith Harbour from winter storms and high tides and is a favourite place of mine. Impressive for its sheer size and scale with one side facing Firth of Forth views.... as seen here below.... 

A view of the Forth Bridges from West Breakwater.

And on the other side you have the skyscrapers of Platinum Point. Like King Kong's defensive wall.  I first arrived here decades ago ( 2008/ 2009 I think) on a cycle tour of the city and they had just finished building this housing complex. I raced along the breakwater on my touring bike at top speed that time, which thinking back on it now, was fairly hazardous, as this breakwater has many holes and large cracks where a wheel could easily get stuck in. Back then I had the confidence of youth on my side and fast reflexes. ( And well before half a dozen pain-filled bike crashes over the years tempered my enthusiasm somewhat and snapped a few bones, teeth, nose etc.)

I remember thinking then, racing along it, that these stone blocks, if reconstructed vertically instead of laid flat, might well produce a pyramid as a rival to ancient Egypt's trio of famous monoliths in the desert.  There was a strong wind and big sea swell on that occasion so forward progress on the bike was fast but erratic, unpredictable violent gusts of wind pushing me several feet off course, either into the waves and spray or up the ramp/ into deeper wider cracks than these. I must have been mad! Yet it was totally thrilling and completely addictive as well. A huge natural rush... of adrenalin. 

 On another occasion, during another epic bike tour around this city, it was a summer heatwave, so I had the idea to sleep here overnight. It was 8:00pm. June, still roasting hot at 24c so I decided to just lie down at the far end of here. No wind, no rain, one lightweight sleeping bag and carry mat to keep me off the cold ground and I did get a few hours sleep and a rest. Being June only a few hours of real darkness occurred anyway between sunset and sun rise.

So I've invested enough memories and time in this area to feel a friendly connection to it now.

  The end is in sight. This is where I slept all those years ago. The far end... and the secluded remote entrance to Leith's Western Harbour and Port of Leith Docks. (And I dreamed of a mighty pyramid rising slowly here ..... from the desert sands..... a brick by brick sheep dream jumping a fence then lifting upwards further in stacked layers to soar effortlessly into the sky. Totally pointless of course but a tasty vision I still cherish today.)

The other side of Platinum Point, ( which is basically a few squares of housing occupying a semi remote/ detached area)  but it has a very welcome bus terminus from here back to the city centre. No 10 or 11. Another favourite route.

On my Edinburgh Collins street map, since 2008, this adjoining district seen above has been marked Under Development. But since 2008 nothing building wise has happened here. It's a series of fenced off ponds and plots with an intact road system grid installed but no houses. I did see 'Save our ponds' signage up even though the locals have no real access to the waste ground here. I 'd imagine good for wildlife though as it is undisturbed.

After a long dry summer ( This was taken Oct 2025) this main pond was the only one with some water left in it. But a week of rain would see them all filled again. And still all completely fenced off.

Newhaven buildings. Other new building projects are occurring here.

The other district I wanted to see the changes in was around the Ocean Terminal district and the Royal Yacht Britannia, The Queen's old ship. During the last visits, in 2017, these buildings did not exist on this side of the road. Instead a spacious plot of flat open ground sat here used as an informal car park for the nearby shopping centre. I enjoyed parking here. It was so easy and simple to find free street places to park in Edinburgh back then. Try parking informally anywhere in Edinburgh now. Like anywhere.

The tram line didn't reach here either back then and google street maps, last time I looked,  show the amount of upheaval it cost in dug up roads and traffic delays. ( Glasgow is currently getting it's fair share of dug up city centre streets going on 2 years now.)

With the trams arrival comes business opportunities... as here at the new Dockside project.

Four brand new sets of flats called Dockside in Leith. Rooftop terrace views apparently....link  here. 

https://dockside-leith.co.uk/

Yet on the other side of this always empty and desolate looking Victoria Dock sits the Scottish Executive Building HQ. Not only is this huge complex only 30 to 40 percent occupied at any given time in the current work from home era....but this dock is always empty. You would think they could use this liquid asset much better. A water adventure park possibly although it is a deep and dangerous spot.... but something surely. A learn to sail school perhaps for youngsters and adults? Model boats? Even just a cheap floating jazzy sculpture as a focus of interest ( tied securely down to prevent wind damage or lift off. ) Hell, I could do it myself in a kayak.

An artists view of Ocean Terminal Shopping Centre and Ocean Drive. Artist views are always rose tinted however.

The reality. For now anyway. I visited the shopping centre here briefly but only for the toilets. 

The inside was a massive disappointment. Bare. In 2017 with Anne and Belinda it was around Christmas, festive decorations on full display, and every free space, corner and wall absolutely  packed with unusual dinosaurs and large furry animals. We all thought it was amazing back then. Not so now. Just another ordinary shopping centre again. Diminished.

The dining hall. Lunch and tea with a view over the Firth of Forth.

A lone Tower block at Ocean Terminal.

The new tramlines and the Dockside project.

And lastly Edinburgh's vertical distillery at the Port of Leith. From here I did the Water of Leith Walkway in the afternoon... and then the Glasgow bus back home.

Just recently Yahoo mail and news, after working perfectly for over 10 years acquired a new broom. (owners) Security was upgraded for e mails to the extent that I can no longer access my emails properly. Jumping higher and harder fences daily just to see my emails. This has scunnered me and may effect the blog. Post may be fewer in number as a result. Hopefully they will change it back to what it was before. Fingers crossed.

ADM Mill. Leith Views. Bonnington District. Water of Leith Walkway.

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This was the second half of a walk I did in October of 2025 on a different bus trip to Edinburgh from the Dean Village day but as it includes The Water of Leith Walkway and this massive grain mill, seen here with Arthur's Seat behind, it makes sense to fit it in here. The east coast gets half the rainfall and far more sunshine than the west coast so better growing conditions this side of Scotland.

This ADM mill in Leith built in the late 1960s replaced the old Chancelot Flour Mill at Bonnington which was built in the 1890s and lasted around 70 years before it was gutted by fire and an explosion then demolished. Flour stored in large quantities can be explosive. Which was a shame as it was an impressive huge building in the French chateau style with a large clock tower in the middle of the complex similar to Clydebank's Singer sewing machine factory clock tower ( also demolished) or Falkirk's Callendar House ( still there, but without a clock tower.) High clock towers adorned many large factories built in the Victorian era so workers without watches couldn't claim they never knew the start time and indeed across Europe watch and clock making developed at pace in the Industrial era mainly to encourage/ indoctrinate the tardy workforce to turn up on time, go to bed on time, and turn up the next day on time - semi sober. To live by the clock in other words.

Modern flour mills this size replaced the older style mills around picturesque Dean Village in the last post. It is also located in an empty area around the Port of Leith without housing surrounding it. Flour in these quantities being more prone to going off than dynamite apparently and the end of many an unsafe Victorian mill. 

Next to the ADM Milling fence lies a mural wall although this is much reduced since I was last here when my friend Anne danced Kiesza's Hideaway between two separate walls and dozens of good murals on show. Now it was just one wall, a few murals, but mostly graffiti. (Same as Glasgow's River Clyde waterfront city centre mural wall these days.)

Ozzy tribute. Didn't know he ate doves as well as bats....

Urban city art.

A short walk later I arrived at Leith. Leith is Edinburgh's traditionally working class port district but the area around the Water of Leith where it meets the sea has been gentrified into a kind of mini Venice or Amsterdam. When I first came here I thought 'Who the hell is Mary of Guise?' Not being a historian or from Edinburgh I was clueless until I looked it up. She was a noblewoman from one of the most connected families in France, Queen of Scotland for several years in the mid 1500s, and the mother of Mary, Queen of Scots. The daughter who had a legitimate claim to the throne of England as well as Scotland, which is why she had such an unhappy life of imprisonment in various castles.

I've always liked Leith from the moment I laid eyes on it. The waterfront... the Port of Leith with its range of interesting ships, the buildings ( clearly influenced by its east coast trading partners in the Low Countries, Holland and Amsterdam...

As seen here in this photo.  Note again 7 floors and five floors high. Most Glasgow tenements are 3, 4, 6, etc usually even numbers of floors in the main even in high rise flats whereas Edinburgh prefers odd numbers including 9, 11 and 13, 15.

A wide range of architecture and styles. Malmaison Hotel here and open plaza. Note 5 floors.

Commercial Street View. Opps!  Nope.    5 floors if you include the attics :o)

Bernard Street View...

And of course the Water of Leith Walkway. Normally in past decades I've walked or cycled down the Water of Leith from the outskirts to the sea but this time I fancied doing it in reverse.

Mural reflecting the current world situation. War instead of peace.

When I was looking in this direction I noticed a swan family approaching.

I have seen up to ten cygnets in a family but 2 or 3 is more common by the time they reach adulthood so this group of six is doing well. Pike, mink, trapped in rubbish, discarded fishing gear, swallowing plastic...it all mounts up.

A peaceful wooded stretch of the Water of Leith. And it was near here I discovered more murals.

Wildlife in pastels this time.

An otter.

More swans.

Antony Gormley sculpture in the Water of Leith. I think there's six statues in total here but I only noticed two. This one on past occasions, because the water here is shallow, has been dressed in various outfits from a fast food helper to a sailor so this is the first time I've spotted it naked of clothes.

The last figure sits on an old disused pier in the Western Harbour and it is a far harder one to get out to dress so it is usually left unadorned but not alone, surrounded by seabirds, including various cormorants, seen here.

I liked these shell and pebble decorations on walkway walls.

And at Bonnington District I also passed this huge warehouse which I think was a sugar refinery to begin with then maybe, perhaps, a bond storing imported alcohol and tobacco. Not too sure about that as Bonnington used to be an industrial district which has other large old buildings close by and one of them might have been the bond. The Chancelot Flour mill mentioned earlier was in this same district. ( you can see photos of that on Google or other search engines. Chancelot Flour Mill. 'The most handsome mill in the world.' 

Now, like many other listed buildings in Edinburgh, unlike Glasgow, it has been converted into upmarket apartments, along with many others in this district. I was intrigued here to notice the bottom two floors left open and unconverted. Air ventilation or an underground car park, storage etc? ..... A mystery.

I did have an online look at the apartments inside here a few months ago, once converted, just out of interest, and they were very stylish, well out of my price range... or taste. Between £1000 to 1,500 a month rent. I also thought, maybe unfounded, that the real reason Edinburgh converts so many old buildings into apartments is that folk want to live in this city but, due to inconvenient rocky outcrops, volcanoes, The Pentlands, etc, getting in the way there's not that much spare empty land left inside Edinburgh's city limits to build new stuff on. New affordable starter home housing on previously un-built ground is appearing... but outside the city boundary... so not part of Edinburgh.

In the last post I featured a song called Riverside. Now I have found members of the Danish National Girls Choir singing it. I've never put a choir on here before so this must be on a different level of excellence. Unusual setting but it works. Beautiful harmonics that elevate this classic song even further. Another thing I never thought about until I looked it up recently is that in the Scandinavian countries , i.e. Norway, Sweden and Denmark, most people can understand each other to a certain extent as all three have the same root language, especially written down on paper. Still learning facts all the time.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_Z0WUZgCwU&list=RDw_Z0WUZgCwU&start_radio=1