@paddyirish, OK, that is The Secret Path. Known only to the odd runner and dog walker.
@unhurt, the tailwind does help. We had. Headwind 75% of the time on Arran. I have lodged an official complaint.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Commuting
The "I had a lovely ride today, thankyou" thread
(2685 posts)-
Posted 5 years ago #
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@gembo- cheers. Any idea who was behind it being made and why? If relatively few cyclists know about it, it seems a lot of effort for the benefit of a few.
Have to say though, whatever the history is, I thoroughly enjoyed what I rode of it.
Posted 5 years ago # -
@paddyirish, can you give more details of how to find this path please? Is it on any Spokes map or the Pentlands cycle path leaflet?
Posted 5 years ago # -
@cyclingmollie, you have mail
Posted 5 years ago # -
You've peaked my curiosity too!
Posted 5 years ago # -
If its the path I'm thinking of it was put in by the estate themselves for access. Last time I was there it stopped up towards the watershed and after that you'd need a MTB for it to be enjoyable. The track over to Wester Bavelaw is known as the Yellow Brick Road and is rough but doable on a MTB.
Posted 5 years ago # -
A remarkably rare tailwind that propelled me from Joppa all the way along Seaview this morning.
Regardless of their political leanings, if someone could implement that, they'd get my vote.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Cheers paddy. I'm always on the look out for places to go running.
Posted 5 years ago # -
@paddyirish
That's the path they were building when I did the Borders drove road last year. Gets quite exciting if you keep going to Carlops.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Thanks all, as always here, I have learned a lot and am definitely planning to go back to explore further. Watch this space
Posted 5 years ago # -
@Gembo, We had. Headwind 75% of the time on Arran. I have lodged an official complaint.
Definitely worth complaining about such a low level of headwind. They'll be getting rid of some of the hills before too long if it's allowed to continue.
Posted 5 years ago # -
@acsimpson, as part of my complaint I asked that the east wind this morning remained to blow me home tonight. St Aidan and St Cuthbert, to whom I complain, did not decline to acquiesce to my request
Posted 5 years ago # -
Madame IWRATS and I decided to spend Saturday night with Cailleach and Bodach at their shrine in Glen Cailleach, high in the Breadalbane hills. Truly magical place.
Packed the big tent and some lush rations into the trailer and headed for Pubil. Ambled into the hills over Lubreoch dam, the river crossings only ankle-deep and the tracks dusty, the excellent azure canopy fretted with golden fire.
Pitched a respectful distance from the shrine, watched the sun go down in a place with no visible trace of humanity and only a countable number of midges. You couldn't even see the path in. A rather tatty golden eagle drifted over, high enough to catch the sun behind the hill. Snipe drumming at night, sand martins and ravens in the morning.
Had intended to climb one of the hills but wound up snoozing in the sun in the sleeping bags to keep the wind off. Two more eagles chose to play in that wind, jousting over the crag. A landscape artist dropped by on his way to Iona.
Rattled back out, madame stopped for a swim in a hidden pool of the Eos Eoghannan. Drove back in more blazing sunshine until we hit the bypass and the mercury dropped ten points under the frozen Presbyterian shroud of the haar. The dour Gods of Edinburgh not pleased at our dabbling in pagan stuff.
Posted 5 years ago # -
My youngest rode down to the beach on his balance bike this weekend so, for the first time, I had all three kids out together on bikes with me. Very happy dad.
I suspect that at less than a couple of miles this may be shortest ride ever reported on this thread.
Posted 5 years ago # -
@urchaidh
Loveliness much more important than length. All kids cycling is wonderful.
Posted 5 years ago # -
I watched a young relative of mine having enormous fun with a balance bike this weekend. Hard to say how far they went, since not much of it was in a straight line, though.
Posted 5 years ago # -
@iwrats, you told me face to face about the wee family of Stones they take out of the wee stone sized bothy?
@frenchy. @urchaidh - good to hear of the young ones on their bikes. Lot of them on Arran the other weekend all cycling on their own not a care in the world
Posted 5 years ago # -
@gembo
Aye, out at Beltane, back in at Samhain. Their mini-bothy has been restored and the family are dancing in a circle before it to celebrate.
The landscape artist carried water from the well on Schiehallion and mixed it with water from the well on Iona on a previous trip. He reported that there was no explosion.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Can I be greedy and record 3 lovely rides (it is a long weekend afterall)...
On Saturday, with a little bit of coaching my nephew cracked the tricky art of transitioning from balance to pedal biking. Setting off was proving difficult but with enough practice he nailed it.
Yesterday, I had a glorious ride through the Cairngorms doing the 3Pistes sportive (Pitlochry to Cairngorm Ski centre via Glenshee & the Lecht) and returning the same way. It was past midnight by the time I finished but was a lovely day/night. Didn't see a cloud all day, and the view of the full moon AND Venus was only improved by a stunning pass of the ISS.
Am now currently sitting in the sun on Corstorphine Hill watching my kids do their introductory ride for ERC juniors. And no surprise they are loving it.
Posted 5 years ago # -
@HankChief - some weekend! And thanks for confirming that was Venus next to the moon, I forgot to check after seeing it last night.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Sunday evening roundabout route home:
Posted 5 years ago # -
Frenchy: Indeed, a fantastic weekend. The only downer is that picked up the wrong helmet yesterday morning, so did the whole ride in a kid's helmet and have a sore head as a result. Ho hum..
Posted 5 years ago # -
...not one of the full-face helmets I assume? Though you would have needed help getting it off after I suspect.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Sunshine. Dysynni Valley. Enough said
Posted 5 years ago # -
@amir, it is lovely there for sure, and with sunshine well , even better.
Posted 5 years ago # -
No choughs or kites yesterday but beauty besides. Today's adventure was the cycle path to Caernarfon. Caernarfon is a lovely place but the experience is much better by bike (or steam train) than the undoubted frustration of driving.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Sunday evening, went for a spin Shandon to Portobello via Innocent, back via Leith/NEPN. (I don’t do this a lot so I know it’s distinctly unimpressive, but one of my longer rides in recent times.) Both paths and streets absolutely deserted, with warm weather and lovely light. Bliss.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Took the kids up past Pentcaitland on Saturday on the railway path and camped over in Saltoun Big Wood. Home yesterday via the Brins Water and Tyne, Ormiston Yew, Elphinstone and Carberry.
Mostly off road and quiet roads, though the 200m of the B6414 at Carberry was terrifying - never again! I think a fair bit of yesterday was part of The Capital Trail, but in reverse.
Posted 5 years ago # -
I was a tourist in the Dear Green Place this weekend. No.1 son had an event over the weekend, and I was his escort. What to do with six hours to kill in Glasca until the return train? Day one was on foot, galleries, bars (for food, honest) and shopping. Yesterday I decided to take a bike on the train in order to get to a few more far flung bits of the city.
I was glad I did. What a scorcher! Costa del Clyde as one wag put it. As well as exploring some segregated on-street cycle lanes and bus bypasses, After lunch ion Tramway's Hidden Gardens I took a spin along Sustrans Route 75eastwards. Along the way was accosted by a lady from Sustrans who soon realised she was preaching to the converted: I suggested she flag down one of the many riders using the city's hire bike fleet to take a wander. I went along as far as Cambuslang, and decided that was far enough east, or I'd start heading to Edinburgh. It's really an amazing path on the eastern stretch of the Clyde, much of it densely wooded. Some impressively designed new housing has sprung up in that part of the city in recent years.
After a wine gum break I retraced the path and then headed west past the big crane and stopped by the Riverside museum for a glimpse of the old Clydeside further west. Here I met a garrulous rider who extolled the virtues of the hire bike scheme. Then back along Route 7 for a wee bit, which skirts the motorway and is not very pleasant. Over one of those 1960s footbridges and then back past BBC Pacific Quay, some crap shared use in the new precincts, and then a rather good segregated lane along the south of the river.
My trusty Spokes/GoBike cycle map was put to good use, even though it's now rather out of date not that much has changed in a decade. Glasgow is decently cyclable if you know the quiet routes, but as expected some busy and hostile roads with plenty of flash Harrys in powerful sports coupés gunning engines at the lights, etc.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Decided to do something I have been thinking about for a while and cycle home from work (in Livingston) via Carnwath. Went out through Fauldhouse and up the climb to Climpy (which was not as tough as I remember it, but I still managed to have my slowest time up it).
On the way through Braehead I was passed by a large peloton who seem to have come from a junction near Carluke and stopped for some beer in Thankerton. There were 20 - 30 of them; no club kit which I found unusual in such a big group; some of them have named their Strava activity "Milk Run" (or versions thereof).
I stopped in Carnwath to text Mr fimm and buy some Irn Bru. Then it was a long slog up to the high point of the Lang Wang. Nearer to Edinburgh I was passed by a handful of cyclists in a yellow and black club kit, and one or two others out on their own. Lovely evening all round and I never added any layers to my shorts and teeshirt.
Mr fimm had been out on his mountain bike in the Pentlands enjoying the views of Edinburgh. He was just first home and we had pizza for dinner.
Posted 5 years ago #
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