Edinburgh Wellbeing Walk (Water of Leith)

SWAN has been working with Walking Scotland to train our autistic volunteers to become Health Walk leaders and run local walking groups for autistic women and non-binary people.

The SWAN walks offer a supportive and inclusive environment for autistic women and non-binary people. Beyond improving physical wellbeing, these walks provide an opportunity for socialisation and peer support.

The walks will be around an hour long at an easy social pace and are perfect for anyone who would like to become more active in the company of other autistic people. We can't always guarantee good weather so please make sure you dress for the weather conditions on the day.

We will be making two stops along the route to sit and observe nature. Attendees are also welcome to stand or lean on nearby structures during the sit spots if anyone does not want to sit.

Please make sure you bring something waterproof to sit on and a notebook and pen/something to record your thoughts with. There will be a few extra mats brought by the walk leader for those who forget items to sit on.

Meeting point - Roseburn Terrace Entrance to the Water of Leith walkway (Top of the staircase)

SWAN groups are safer spaces for autistic women and non-binary people over-18 who live, work or study in the local area.

SWAN is inclusive of all autistic women (both cis and trans) and non-binary people, including those who are exploring whether they are autistic, who self identify as autistic or are clinically diagnosed (private or NHS).

If these descriptions do not match you, we ask that you do not attend our groups unless they are specifically stated to be for non-autistic individuals. If you are a non-autistic person wishing to learn more about autism, visit our website for workshops and training: swanscotland.org/training

We aim to make our walks and groups as accessible as possible - they are led and designed by autisic people, in accessible venues.

If you have any medical conditions which might affect you when you are at a group, please let the facilitator know at the start of the group so they are aware of what to do should anything happen (e.g. epilepsy, diabetes, etc.).

If there is anything we can do to make the experience more accessible for you please do get in touch with us ahead of the meet up:

[email protected]

Start: Roseburn Terrace

End: Dean Village

Length: ~1 mile

Route Terrain: Flat, mostly paved walkway

Nature: river along the way, a couple of weirs, tiny grove of trees and wild flower patch (in the spring/summer), birds and other wildlife

Safe points: Several exits marked on the map by the step symbols and benches along the way

Important information:

We will not wait for any latecomers so please aim to be 5 minutes early.

We will make two stops at sit spots to observe nature and record our reflections.

Sit spots are varied from one walk to another to ensure we get different perspective of nature.

Sit spots will usually be between 5 - 10 minutes long.

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