CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Leisure

Offroad, child-friendly routes near Edinburgh

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  1. macartain
    Member

    At the weekend, we had a great cycle round some of the Loch Leven trail - even my Wii-loving 6 year old really enjoyed trying out his new Ridgeback... This route was a bit of a discovery for us - we normally hit the prom at Silverknowes or the heavily-oversubscribed Flotterstone road...

    Any other suggestions for child-friendly routes like this, reasonably near the capital i.e. driveable? I mean routes that are totally traffic-free and not too hilly! (I also normally have the other sprog in a front-loading bike seat which limits how rough the trail can be - but he won't be there forever..)

    Posted 11 years ago #

  2. kaputnik
    Moderator

    Haddington, Penicuik and Pencaitland railway paths?

    Posted 11 years ago #

  3. cb
    Member

    Rosewell to Penicuik railway path. (Park here). Includes a high viaduct and a couple of tunnels for added fun. Can get a bit muddy, but generally fine.

    Cousland to Pencaitland railway path (Park here)

    Longniddry to Haddington Railway path. There's not an actual carpark directly at the Longniddry end but access is here so you could get to that point via the pavement from the village.

    Society to Blackness (Park down to road on the right, about 100m or so - Streetview dowsn't go far enough)
    Follow NCN Route 76 signs. At Abercorn you need to drop down to the shore; possibly a couple of options, but the one I 'know' is to go down this road and look for the path to the left of the church. It might be more obvious today than it was a few years back.

    EDIT: snap with Kaputnik on the first three.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  4. cb
    Member

    Route 76 along the north of the Forth is quite interesting.

    Route 764 following a similar line, a few miles to the north, is easier going (flatter, good surface), but less exciting I would say.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  5. DaveC
    Member

    There is a nice quiet railway path from Dunfermline to Alloa. Its tarmaced the whole way and has hardly anyone on it.

    Park here and setoff follwing the signs. The path is at its highest in Dunfermline but its nothing a 6 year old can't manage from the Alloa side towards Dunfermline.

    We have a 4 year old and a 6 year old who love tootling along the line.

    You can also cycle to Haddington from Longniddry from here and then carry your bikes over the railway bridge to the south side and then cycle east to Haddington. Its a very gradual climb from Longniddry to Haddington, but nothing a 6 year old will notice.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  6. shuggiet
    Member

    Can't beat the NCN76 from Russell Road to Dalmeny Estate, picnic by the beach and back again.. Small bit hilly, but picnic bribe worked a treat for us. You can make a big circle by going onto Queensferry (possible train back to Haymarket), or onto Kirkliston, Ratho and canal back for a big day out..

    Posted 11 years ago #

  7. allebong
    Member

    Plenty of great trails up the Pentlands though they can be tough to actually link together. For child friendliness, there's Threipmuir reservoir, which has a fair bit of hardpack/gravel paths winding in and out of the woods. Further up there's a reasonably easy going cross-country style trail linking Glencorse reservoir to Redford wood. The trail itself is doable on a CX bike but the actual climb up there is quite severe. You might have done this already since it's near Flotterstone.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  8. fimm
    Member

    Water of Leith path at Colinton village (not sure how good the car parking is I'm afraid)?
    Or park on Lanark Road where the WoL foot/cyclepath bridge crosses, and access either the canal or the WoL path there?

    Posted 11 years ago #

  9. Cyclingmollie
    Member

    From Holyrood Park it's possible to cycle out to Pencaitland almost entirely off-road.

    Go Innocent Railway, Brunstane Station, Brunstane Burn path, Newhailes Estate (cafe), trading estate cut-through to cycle path past station and on down to the Murrays. Turn right after the footbridge to Cowpits then pick up the cycle path again the other side of Whitecraig. Leave that at the steps up to the bridge and the farm road to Crossgatehall. The end of the Pencaitland Railway Walk starts there and ends near East Saltoun. And there's a cafe in Ormiston.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  10. macartain
    Member

    Great! Loads to check out - thanks all.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  11. LaidBack
    Member

    This is route we used to get to Gifford and was able to get tandem though. Connection here is sometimes bit overgrown....

    So branch off uphill from the Dalkeith path and join the Pencaitland Path with some short road sections.


    (Almost) Traffic free link with no steps by LaidBackBikes, on Flickr

    Posted 11 years ago #

  12. chdot
    Admin

    Now with new section, a nice 20 mile trip (mostly off road) from Haymarket to see a castle and steam trains -

    http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=13569&replies=15#post-174395

    Posted 9 years ago #

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