Offensive

A trip through to Edinburgh to visit the War Poets Trail in the Craiglockhart area of the city. I had [picked up a leaflet for that some time ago and have been wanting to visit it since then. Today was the day.   The trail consists of two loops: a Southern Loop, behind Craiglockhart Campus of Edinburgh Napier University and mainly around Wester Craiglockhart Hill, and a Northern Loop, a longer but flatter route from the University, behind Craiglockhart Sports and Tennis Centre, through Easter Craiglockhart Wood, past the Pond and along Colinton Road. I chose the latter as I didn't have time to do both.   There is a sculpture called '[i]Hillside[/i]' (pictured, see also extra) on Colinton Road. It is by Lara Greene and was commissioned by Craiglockhart Community Council. Part of what is now Napier University was once Craiglockhart Hospital, where soldiers were sent to recuperate from shell-shock during the First World War. The War Poets Trail reflects that the recuperating soldiers would have walked around Craiglockhart Wood and Wester and Easter Craiglockhart Hills during their time there.
 
Among the soldiers sent to the hospital were Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen, and it is Owen's poem 'Spring Offensive' that adorns one side of the Hillside sculpture. After spending time at Craiglockhart Hospital, Owen returned to the Front, where he was killed on 4th November 1918.