Kenny of this parish introduced me to the path alongside the tram the other week (it's convenient to connect the office with Screwfix on a homeward bound commute).
Interestingly it's in danger of becoming my preferred route home for the winter. Ordinarily I come off NEPN and go up to the canal, then come off at Westburn for Donkey Lane.
Instead I can now hook across on the mud by Murrayfield to the eastern end of the tram path, then cut up the canal at Cutlins Rd.
I have picked up a couple of tips already - I use Saughton Mains Rd so that I can force my way across the road even if the crossing is red (left turn then right turn is much easier to time than straight over). I then wait for a gap in traffic as I'm riding west down the straight before the Broomhouse Rd roundabout and bunny hop onto the road (so far I haven't had to stop at the roundabout, just zoom straight over). I continue on the road to the next junction and either use the right filter to get back onto the path, or use the straight ahead light and hook across (at the crossing) onto the path anyway as there's so little traffic coming the other way. Probably illegal.
Thanks to all the anonymous commuters who've been showing me the secrets over the last week or so!
At the end it's a bit odd. Cutlins Rd has a few metres where it's one-way, so I bounce from one pavement to the other (east side of Cutlins rd) and ride up it for a few seconds first. I'd be surprised if this was technically legal, despite there being hundreds of cycle pavement signs everywhere, but the alternative is a massive detour.
Anyway, you'd think all of this would be much slower than the direct route along the canal, but I've already got my time from NEPN to Westfield down to 17:45 compared with a PB of 18:15 on the canal. Much room for improvement too.
I have no idea why they haven't built light bridges to extend the path over the top of the main roads. There's a huge amount of room to foot the bridges on and it would cost peanuts.
posts
