Exmoor Ponies adrift in East Lothian

I met up with one of my friends from Edinburgh today and having had a fairly wet morning tramping through Persimmon Woods after heavy rain, we decided to stop off for lunch at Garvald Inn where you can be sure of a fairly wholesome lunch. As the skies were clearing after lunch we thought we would mitigate the after effects of lunch by climbing up Traprain Law. It was a fairly steady climb but well worth the effort. It was beautifully clear and the views over the whole of East Lothian and peaceful atmosphere up there did us a power of good. I made friends with the Exmoor Ponies, which were brought there in 2012 to counter the fire risk of dry grass.

Traprain Law, one of two large hills, which dominate the lower plains of East Lothian, was the capital of the Votadini (the region’s dominant indigenous Iron Age tribe) and is regarded as one of the most important hill forts in Scotland. The site was first fortified in the late Bronze Age (ca. 1500 BC) and occupation continued at Traprain through the Iron Age and Roman period until Medieval times. The famous treasure of late Roman silver was found here in the last century but other finds have included polished stone axes; a cache of bronze socketed axes; prehistoric, Roman and medieval pottery plus areas of rock art.