Climbing Big Beauties in Astley Ainslie

Had a gorgeous day exploring Edinburgh on bikes with a pal I have recently reconnected with and my daughter.

We headed out through Craigmillar park, past Liberton, to The Hermitage in Morningside. Had great crepes there but I'd forgotten how wonderful The Hermitage is. Easily 20 years plus since I last walked there. Then to Kat's allotment at Blackford and home via Astley Ainsley and Duddingston.

I put the pics up on facebook and asked opinion. This one was quickly picked by bliper Jon Davey. I hadn't really looked at the pic. It's a crop off the one taken. My daughter was really quite high up which you can't completely tell here. She was freaking Kat out a bit but I knew she'd be fine. I've got used to pushing down the fear when my girl climbs. I know she can and so do her parkour teachers. I love that she loves climbing trees like I did but she is a 100 times stronger and braver than I was as a kid.

The fact I spoke at a meeting of the group trying to save this space for the community rather than allowing the NHS to sell it off for development in a prime part of the city (it was gifted to them!) swung this pic for me - that and the way the branch frames her.

I took several shots of her up the tree but in all the others she had branches obscuring her face - the curse of shooting on a mobile in bright light, you don't get to see well on the screen what you are shooting.

So for the love of trees, tree climbing and my daughter, I picked this one.