Ignore the branch which goes down to houses and go left, curving steadily uphill.The next mile is a treat. A short climb gains the highest point of the walk at 208m (680ft) and the Seven Hills Outlook Indicator. Then it's past more communication masts and a stride downhill, wide views to the North Sea on your left, the wall of a golf course to the right.At the lane, turn left towards the golf driving range. Just before reaching Braids Hill Drive, turn left again on the roadside bridleway. After a quarter of a mile, cross to the well-signed Howe Dean Path and follow this into a wooded gully to cross Braid Burn by the footbridge. Turn left past Agassiz Rock where in 1840 the Swiss-born naturalist Louis Agassiz discovered grooves worn by a glacier and changed our understanding of Scotland's geological past. Continue upstream until steps branch up to a black iron gate.
Go through, and after a few yards double back uphill to open ground and the domes of the Royal Observatory, housing the largest telescope in Scotland.Allow two and a half to three hours Best map: Edinburgh Seven Hills (Harveys, £3.95).. Nearly three million Vietnamese and more than 58,000 Americans died in the Vietnam conflict and, in the decades that followed, the Hanoi government did little to promote its image in the West as it sought to reunify the south and the north of the country. Nearly three million Vietnamese and more than 58,000 Americans died in the Vietnam conflict and, in the decades that followed, the Hanoi government did little to promote its image in the West as it sought to reunify the south and the north of the country. Now, more than a quarter of a century later and with the US trade embargo lifted, the Americans are back in force on the streets of Saigon, or Ho Chi Minh City as it's officially called. But this time they're wearing video cameras and baseball caps rather than weapons and bullet belts. What they find when they arrive is a frenetic city in the throes of an economic explosion, with swanky office blocks, smart clothes shops and glitzy restaurants sitting uneasily alongside hawkers selling fake US Army Zippo lighters and dog-tags.
Although the irony of the situation hangs heavily in the polluted air, the city's people appear to be embracing the invasion of the dollar with open arms.Why go?Ho Chi Minh City is steeped in history, from the numerous ornate Buddhist pagodas to the concrete fortress of the former US embassy and Reunification Palace, where Communist tanks famously crashed through the gates on 30 April 1975 to raise the Viet Cong flag from the balcony. In addition, the food is delicious, the people are friendly, the prices in the markets are ridiculously cheap and there's easy day-trip access to sites such as the Mekong Delta, where the river meanders its way into the South China Sea after a 4,500km journey. Lots of people are interested in the conflict, and sites such as the Cu Chi Tunnels, where villagers and VC guerrillas lived underground to escape American shelling.Why now?Some claim that Ho Chi Minh City is no longer an "off-the-beaten-track" destination, particularly as a barrage of new offices and hotels heralds the arrival of mainstream tourism. But it is still fascinating to sit at one of the many roadside caf?and soak up the frenzied atmosphere of a city growing up before your very eyes.The missionTo explore the horrors of the Vietnam conflict with a trip to the War Remnants Museum, 28 D Vo Van Tan, District 3 (tel: 829 0325).
