This tour will visit the Bush estate in the Pentland Hills south of Edinburgh. These Hills, composed primarily of igneous rocks, have an elevation of between 200-600 metres. The area was glaciated during the last ice age, and the soils that have formed there since the retreat of the ice (about 10,000 years ago) are strongly influenced by this feature of their history. Bush Estate hosts work by both the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH) and Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) and exemplifies the local complex patterns of Stagnosols, Cambisols and Podzols that occur in this upland area of south Scotland. All three soil types will be shown. The journey back to Glasgow takes in Castle Law, providing a panorama of the agricultural landscape of the Midlothians from the hills to the coast and, following a visit to Roslin Chapel, demonstrates the increasing encroachment of urban sprawl sealing off fertile agricultural land.