IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Saughtonhall Avenue, EDINBURGH, EH12 5RA

The bridge is at the corner of Riversdale Road, and gives access to the playing fields north of Murrayfield Stadium. After a dry winter and early spring, the level of the water is extremely low.

One of a pair of wide new bridges built along with flood defences. The bridges replace earlier narrow footbridges and provide easier access to the west of Murrayfield Stadium and the new Edinburgh Rugby ground.

Cyclepath and the Water of Leith Walkway near the stadium. Flood protection works have been recently completed in the area.

Phase 2 of the Water of Leith Flood Prevention Scheme seen as the river skirts Murrayfield Stadium.

Watertight gate in the flood defences where a road accesses the stadium complex.

If it wasn't bad enough that a significant number of professional football teams in Scotland play on artificial grass, it turns out that the country's only two professional rugby union teams do the same. As any true sports fan knows, rugby in the winter should be played in teeming rain in so much mud that by the end of the game it is hard to tell which team a player belongs to! Officially this stadium goes by the boring name of Edinburgh Rugby Stadium, but is currently often referred to as 'The Dam', due to it being sponsored by a private healthcare company of that name (DAM Health). It holds just under 8000, and has been used by the Edinburgh team for a year or so now. It is situated within the grounds of the far bigger Murrayfield stadium (which dominates the view from this position). That is where their home matches used to take place; it is generally agreed that this new setup is far better for both players and spectators as it was hard to generate an atmosphere in a ground at 10% capacity. As I was working during the majority of the game I can't provide any match analysis. Edinburgh beat a French side called Castres 30-21 in a group tie of the European Rugby Champions Cup, formerly the Heineken Cup. The Dutch brewing giant is obviously still heavily involved however, as there were last-minute changes required in some of the outside bars as they realised they had to hide their usual Tennent's lagers (Tennent's has its own sponsorship deal with Scottish Rugby) and amend their pricelists. It would probably be more sensible to just go back to calling the competition by its old name (presumably this isn't allowed due to alcohol sponsorship restrictions in certain countries). In much the same way as in European football's Champions League, not all the teams playing are champions - in fact just four out of 24 are - and three of the teams competing this year are South African.

A flood protection wall on the left is part of a programme of recent work here. See also Image

A scaffolding and canvas seated arena next door to the main Murrayfield Stadium. Used by the Edinburgh professional side. It will no doubt cycle through a lot of sponsored names - at this time it was DAM Health.