If there's one thing I really dislike, it's having to sprint up hills with car drivers breathing down my neck. Craiglockhart Avenue is a case in point, and I've always looked for alternatives.
I frequently want to get from Slateford Road to Meggetgate, in order to access the shared path that leads to the canal, in order to access Meggetland View, in order to get to my actual through-route of Colinton Road. As some here will know, the right turn into Meggetgate just before the railway bridge is incredibly dangerous, with no sight of oncoming vehicles until they're RIGHT THERE, and Chesser-bound vehicles zooming past on your left.
The solution until now has been to turn right into Allan Park Road (itself quite a dangerous manoeuvre because the single lane under the bridge miraculously becomes two lanes), then immediately turn left onto the footway :-( and about 10 yards later turn right into Meggetgate. Here is the Streetview of how it used to be (note the long low kerb). And this is the view when you're trying to do it legally.
For the last few weeks that footway has been under repair, and now it's all finished! The kerb is now full height, and a new dropped kerb is provided more or less in line with the pedestrian crossing refuge and the flight of steps to the surveyors' premises. This ably prevents cyclists from making the safe(r) but illegal manoeuvre above.
Non-torpedoists, used to tight turning circles and light weight, may not appreciate just how inconvenient this new kerb setup actually is. I've spent an hour trying to think up how to 'complain' to CEC, because I'm not really without fault either: I've been using the footway here on almost every occasion in order to make the turn safely, even if the footway is rarely patronised by its intended users.
Alternatives are now:
* the legal right turn.
* winching myself up Craiglockhart Avenue and Craiglockhart Gardens.
* using the entirely unsuitable path from Allan Park Road to Craiglockhart Road North.
* using the next available right turn, which is Ashley Terrace nearly a mile down the road, and which leads to the lung-bursting climb up and over the canal just to reach Gray's Loan.
I have to admit I'm not really fancying any of those options.
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