Originally I was going to title this work “Leaving Town”, but I couldn’t resist the lovely colloquial name name given to the A70 from Edinburgh to Ayr, which is thought to derive from “The Long Way”. The road runs for just over 74 miles over elevated and desolate moorland and Burke and Hare are thought to have brought their victims into Edinburgh along this route. I have friends who live just off this road shortly after Balerno. Whenever I go to visit them I drive from the start of the Lang Whang, at Ardmillan Terrace in Edinburgh, through the outskirt villages of Juniper Green, Currie and Balerno. Shortly after Balerno there is a section of tight bends and then suddenly the whole scene opens up into a refreshing panorama of light and land. The contrast from the city drive is quite striking. On this particular day the late afternoon sun was shrouded in heavy black clouds and rays of light were bursting through to cast a hazy glow over the distant fields – breathtaking!