Pencaitland cycle path mystery tour

The team were looking for about 12 or 13 miles today. For a change of scene we took the car up to the beginning of the Pencaitland cycle track with the intention of doing a 6-7 mile run out and then back. A little way along however I remembered that last year I had taken a track that heads left after a bit more than 2 miles which had lead to an intriguing looking path through some woods. At the time I was too tired to go exploring as I'd run from Musselburgh so had just made a mental note to come back some other time and explore further. So today, with much disbelief from Peter ("Are you sure we come down HERE?") we took the left hand path and went adventuring.

At first it was a modest little path at the edge of a wooded area with a wall and a field on the other side. It was nice but looked like it easily might peter out in half a mile or so. However, it turned a corner, crossed a road and got better and better. There were public footpath signs but no mention of where we were except one sign that said MacMerry 3/4s of a mile. It started up hill and through pine woods which smelled lovely and the track was good and there were cut logs laid along the side of the track. We crested a hill and started to curve right and through the trees I saw there was a tiny wooden shed and imagined it might be a kennel for a huge dog but coming up nearer saw it was a tiny wooden hut with a seat inside and a view to the snowy hills. It was charming and friendly.

We continued round in a loop, hit the road, ran along and picked up a path again that took us to the start of the pine wood section and we headed back.

I was knackered for whatever reason. A combo of work and lack of sleep and maybe longer than usual mileage, but the sun and the lovely surroundings made it a good run anyway.
The track is higher than Edinburgh and it felt a lot colder and there was still a good bit of ice to be seen but nothing that interfered with running.

11.5 miles and I wouldn't have wanted to run more today.