Sports and Pastimes in Edinburgh.

• Golf. I've put this first as it's often the main reason that visitors decide to come to Scotland rather than somewhere else. If it is in your case, then you may well be spoiled for choice. St. Andrews is called the home of golf, but Edinburgh and the Lothians can give them a hell of a good run for their money. I'm not going into the historical background but there are half a dozen municipal courses in Edinburgh with the Braid Hills probably the pick of the bunch. You can just turn up at these courses, wait your turn if they're busy, and play. There are also 28 private clubs in the area and if you are prepared to travel a few miles in any direction, then there are more golf courses than I am prepared to try and count. Most of these will welcome visitors, especially midweek.
• Walking. I suppose this could perhaps be included elsewhere under sightseeing, but I'm putting it here because this used to be one of my own favourites when I had the time to spare. There are plenty of delightful walks in Edinburgh itself as well as in the surrounding countryside, and quite a few books and leaflets which cover them in more detail than I'm prepared to go into. I'll just mention one of my own favourites.- Take a bus out to Balerno, (a small town just on the west edge of Edinburgh), walk out past Bavelaw and Redmoss across the Pentland hills to Flotterstone, enjoy a well deserved drink (or two)in the Flotterstone Inn, and catch a bus back to town.
• Cycling. I've never really been all that keen on cycling in Edinburgh, there's just too many hills for a lazy person like me, but if you're a masochist or cycling freak then there are several bike shops who hire out bikes to visitors, the most obvious being Edinburgh Cycle Hire in Blackfriars Street. A link which is obviously worth checking is the Edinburgh Bicycle Shop. I don't think they hire out bikes, but there's plenty of cycling related information.
• Swimming. There's not a lot to be said about swimming in Edinburgh, there are half a dozen public swimming pools around the city, but the best one to go to for a quick visit is the Royal Commonwealth pool in the Dalkeith Road, it was built for the Commonwealth Games back in 1970 and has been kept in good order and has even had waterslides added since. If you're staying at one of the larger hotels with a fitness centre you would probably be as well using their pool, it won't be international size but it won't be full of screaming kids either.
• Bowls. For the benefit of our friends in the Americas, this is the game of Lawn Bowls, played on grass. The purpose of the game is for each team, or player, to try and finish with their bowl nearer to the white target ball (known as the Jack), than their opponents bowl. For each bowl nearer than the opponents nearest bowl you get one point, a normal game being first to 21 points. The bowls are made with a built-in bias so that they can be curved around any bowl which is in your road, but it's also perfectly legal (and fun) just to hit the blocking bowl and knock it out of the road. This game used to be regarded as just an old man's sport, but more and more younger people are realising that it's a great way to spend a pleasant summer's evening and like all the best games, while the principles of the game are simple the actual play is very complex.
  The best way to enjoy the game is at one of the many private clubs scattered around the city, as you are then able to enjoy a little refreshment during the game (nearly all of them being licensed to sell drinks), there are also several public bowling greens in the city parks who will hire you bowls, but unfortunately these are not licensed for drinks (at least not alcoholic drinks).
  If any of our American friends are still with us, there is a public 10-pin bowling alley next to the UCI cinema out at Newcraighall on the East of the city, and also 10-pin bowling at the Murrayfield Indoor Sports Club in Roseburn Street, but this is a private club, although you do get the added entertainment of laughing at my attempts as I play in several leagues there.
  As a warning to unsuspecting visitors I should also mention the innocuously named game of Skittles, which involves launching a ball (10-pin sized) at skittles placed at the end of an alley slightly shorter than a 10-pin alley. The ball however has no holes in it and is launched from both hands whilst throwing your whole body down the alley. This is usually interspersed with large amounts of alcoholic refreshments and seems like great fun at the time, but waking up the next morning is normally not so amusing, except for onlookers who did not take part, as you may find that you have suddenly discovered a few dozen muscles that you never knew you had and every one of them is complaining loudly.
• Watersports. For anyone interested in sailing or similar pursuits then you will have to get out of Edinburgh and down to South Queensferry, to the marina at Port Edgar. Personally, my interest in floating on water goes no more adventurous than the canal boat which runs from the Bridge Inn at Ratho and has a fully stocked bar.
• Fishing. The fishing around the near vicinity of Edinburgh is mostly limited to local reservoirs in the Pentland Hills where there are stocked rainbow and brown trout, and sea fishing from the East Lothian coast, but this area of the North Sea has been pretty well fished out and you'd be better travelling to the West coast if this is your interest.
• Miscellaneous. I put this heading in thinking that I'd be bound to come up with some more minority pastimes that I could lump together, but all I've thought of are the obvious games to be found associated with licensed premises e.g. Snooker, Pool, Darts, Dominoes and the Pub Quiz! I assume that most visitors will be familiar with most of these, but perhaps some of our overseas friends might be unsure of the mechanics of the pub quiz. Basically it's a ploy to attract customers into the pub on nights when it is usually pretty quiet, but that doesn't mean it's not fun. Normally entry is free but sometimes a nominal fee is charged and prizes are mostly liquid.

Spectator Sports.

• Football (Soccer to our American friends). This deserves a page all to itself.
  For the benefit of any American visitors, I should mention that there is an American Football team in Edinburgh, the Scottish Claymores, who play in the World League of American Football. Their home games are played at Murrayfield, the national Rugby stadium. They were the WLAF champions in 1996.
• Rugby. As with football there are usually several matches played at various venues around the city on any Saturday throughout the season. These range from schoolboy matches to Division One of the National League and the Evening News or the Scotsman will supply details of whats on and where.
  The big occasions however, are of course the International matches played at Murrayfield stadium. This used to be a friendly place where you would go along after a few drinks, watch the game while having a few drinks, then wander off to the pub of your choice for a few drinks. Nowadays though it is big business, with hospitality suites and debentures etc. and the poor fan is lucky if he can get a ticket at all. The stadium has been rebuilt and now looks like they forgot to put plumbing inside and had to add it later all over the outside. The police stop you taking your own drink into the ground (I think this is to protect the extortionate profits of the caterers inside) and you are confined to one particular seat instead of wandering around looking for your friends.
• Horse Racing. The only horse racing near Edinburgh is the course at Musselburgh to the East of the city. It's just a small course and it only has a few meetings a year but it's a friendly place and you'll probably enjoy a visit. It isn't very high in the rankings as these things go, so it doesn't attract the big trainers and jockeys but this seems to add to the atmosphere, especially as most of the meetings are scheduled for local holidays.
• Ice Hockey. The local Ice Hockey team is the Murrayfield Racers, NHL they are not! Ice hockey in Britain was apparently pretty big in the fifties but died off and became a very minority sport and the best teams were for many years the Fife Flyers, just north of Edinburgh, and Murrayfield. Recently the sport has started to pick up again and teams have been formed all over England. The story I've been given is that these teams have been able to offer more money to the better players and this has led to the decline of the Scottish teams.
• Athletics. The main athletics stadium in Edinburgh is the Meadowbank Stadium on London Road, it has held two Commonwealth Games but is starting to show its age and there is talk of a major re-building scheme but at the moment all it seems to be is just that - talk.
• Cricket. Cricket is not a very big sport in Scotland, but there is a national league and occasionally a touring test team will play a one-day match against Scotland, usually at the Edinburgh Academicals ground in Raeburn Place. Check the local press for details as I don't know or care too much about the subject, my interest in Cricket was mostly confined to watching the odd game in the Meadows ( a local park in the centre of town).
• Highland Games. I've included this for the benefit of those who have watched too much Braveheart and imagine that most Scots run around in kilts throwing tree trunks at each other. There is a Highland Games meeting in Edinburgh each year (usually round about the Festival).