Edinburgh is where the action is

1:38pm Tuesday 19th February 2008

EDINBURGH is not the first Scottish destination you would think of for an active holiday, with most of the country's extreme sport thrills to be had in the highlands and the northern islands.

However, the capital provides an attractive base for an adrenaline-fuelled break and one which also provides the come-down charms of history, fantastic shopping and some of the best bars and restaurants in the country.

There is surfing at Belhaven Beach, East Lothian - make sure you're wearing a thick wetsuit, the beach may have golden sands but that is where the Bondi Beach similarities end - and The Edinburgh International Climbing Arena boasts the world's largest climbing centre.

Get to the city over the weekend of March 29 and March 30 and you'll even be able to take part in the Welcome the World 5km run, an open event which is followed by the World Cross Country Championships, featuring many of the best middle distance runners in the world.

The city is understandably proud of hosting the event and the country's tourist board, Visit Scotland, organised a two-day stay for me which included the chance to run The Great Winter Run around the international race's striking course which climbs extinct volcano Arthur's Seat in Holyrood Park.

It's an intimidating sight as you desperately try to warm your limbs on another icy Edinburgh morning but I and the thousands of other runners were rewarded after the tough ascent with fantastic views on the way down of Edinburgh Castle atop its dramatic crag and the Lothian coastline stretching into the distance.

For more details on the race and how to enter, go to www.edinburgh2008.co.uk/ In need of a hot soak in a tub after my exertions, I was pleased to return to my hotel. The Point in Bread Street is a centrally located three star with many of its luxurious rooms afforded a view of Edinburgh Castle and in easy reach of the city's historic shopping areas such as The Grassmarket. Price for a standard room starts at £145 per night with breakfast included. For more details, go to point-hotel.co.uk An important part of an active holiday, and, for me, the most enjoyable, is the refuelling. In Edinburgh, you are spoilt for choice.

The Old Town is full of restaurants. The Outsider is a stylish brasserie which offers hearty, organic food ideal for those with big appetites. Its starters on kebab-like skewers are ideal for sharing.

To book a table at The Outside, call 0131 2263131.

There are plenty of ways, apart from extreme sports, to get your adrenaline going and not all of the spirits in Edinburgh are served in a wee dram. Ghost tours are everywhere. The city's grisly history of murder, torture and hangings has left it with more than its fair share of aggrieved ghouls.

I joined Mercat Tours for a journey into the city's old town. The company is one of the few to win a Scottish Thistle Award and our guide was as bloodthirsty as she was knowledgeable. The tour ends in the underground vaults, once home to all manner of illicit trade and now, apparently, to ghosts with attitude. The vaults have been featured on Living TV's Most Haunted show and our guide behaves as if she is going to be attacked at any minute. Plenty of our group are keen to believe her stories and one says she can hear sounds of ghosts drunkenly carousing. Our host, rather disappointedly, has to tell her that there's a pub next door full of very much alive revellers.

Still, the place does have a really unsettling atmosphere and it's something of a relief to return to the sharp fresh air of the Golden Mile.

For more information on the ghost tours, visit mercattours.com/ghosts-and-ghouls.asp The next morning we are off bright and early to The Edinburgh International Climbing Arena - about twenty minutes drive out of the city.

The centre holds the world's largest indoor climbing arena built into the rock at Ratho Quarry and is an astounding architectural feat.

It offers climbing for all standards. While I was there the fourth best young climber in Scotland looking to perfect her skills was pointed out to me - a slip of a girl who was scaling the arena's most vertiginous ascent with dispiriting ease. There are also climbing-themed soft-play areas for the toddlers and plenty of routes up the rock suitable for beginners.

My guide Dave doesn't mess about and in a matter of minutes I am in my harness, wearing my safety helmet and taking on my first climb.

It's 50m to the top with nice big hand and foot hooks so I make it with relative ease. However, while I am there I hear the sound of children laughing way above me and look up. None of them older than 10, they are walking across rope ladders and seemingly having the time of their lives on the world's largest assault course which stretches across the roof of the area. Suddenly, my achievements are put in perspective.

I do scale a 100m ascent before my hour is up. I allow myself one look down after I have completed it and rather wish I hadn't. Allowing the ant-like Dave on the ground to take my weight, allowing me to abseil down seems a leap of faith my brain is not prepared to make. For a few seconds I cling white-knuckled to the top before letting myself lean back and descend grim-faced as a young boy scampers up his route parallel to mine without a concern.

The centre is a health club with a difference for members, who can hire climbing gear and use the arena as well as working on that vital leg strength in the well appointed gym and relaxing in the sauna and Jacuzzi.

For more information on the centre, go to eica-ratho.com/ To warm my insides after the chilly climb - the cavernous arena gets very cold so bring plenty of layers for climbing - I am taken to a whiskey tasting session on the Royal Mile, in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle.

I learnt about the involved process of whisky making which dates back to the monks of the 15th Century, but the free drams of single malts and blended malts soon made all the facts blur.

The tasting house has its own restaurant, Amber, which, unsurprisingly offers more than 300 different Scotch whiskies and a unique collection of whisky cocktails to accompany its excellent food.

For more information on The Scotch Whisky Tasting Experience, visit whisky-heritage.co.uk. To book at the restaurant, go to whisky-heritage.co.uk/restaurant For the latest cultural events going on in the city to provide you with some down time from your daily action, pick up a copy of free magazine The Skinny while you are there or check the website ahead of your trip at skinnymag.co.uk

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