Update on the least used cycle path in Scotland. The path from Hyndford Brig up to the backroad to. Carmichael has been scraped of mud and grass etc and is easily ridden on a road-bike for the full 500 metres of its existence
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Commuting
The "I had a lovely ride today, thankyou" thread
(2720 posts)-
Posted 1 year ago #
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(Yesterday)
Linlithgow to Bo’ness to Dalmeny
Posted 1 year ago # -
Now is the time to get round from Thriepmuir to Harlaw Reservoir. All the potholes have been filled in and despite heavy rain, few puddles. I did it on a lunch time spin and what would have been a Woodstock style mudfest was very pleasant indeed
Posted 10 months ago # -
According to the CycleStreets app (which allows multipoint route planning) I cycled about 15 miles around Edinburgh yesterday. (Used app afterwards).
Mostly on road with use of convenient sections of NEPN.
Fortunately I know Ed well enough to piece it all together in my head, but CycleStreets ‘knows’ complex (and unsigned…) routes like the one through the Dalry Colonies over the WGR to LaidBack.
I continued on to visit various shops and people in Morningside, Abbeyhill, Inverleith, Newhaven, Crewe Road South, then Waverley via Stockbridge.
I’m fit enough do that (probably) because I cycle. And I have a suitable bike (which most people could have).
I really couldn’t have done it by bus in any sensible time.
No idea how long it would have taken in a car, but the amount of traffic I filtered past or avoided by routes not available to motors was significant.
However
I am well aware that ‘most people’ wouldn’t cycle because of ‘fears’/amount of traffic etc.
As ‘we’ know, the cycling was fun, convenient and essentially ‘healthy’.
I was the only person on the train with a bike - reinforcing the idea it’s not normal…
Posted 9 months ago # -
@chdot - we should be glad that it's not normal as only limited number of bike spaceson train and path network 'squeeze points'!;-)
I note you avoided the zig zags by Megan/ ModaCity?
For some (families in particular) on standard bikes this is better option as they can get across Dundee St at crossing and up to Leamington. Then along Rope Walkk to shop through pend to arrive at Viewforth Bridge.Very soon there'll be a direct route from Leamington to bike crossing at Grove St. Handy for getting to Haymarket if you don't mind being out in traffic on Morrison St.
The patchwork network is increasing which is good.Posted 9 months ago # -
“we should be glad that it's not normal as only limited number of bike spaceson train and path network 'squeeze points‘“
Yes/no
Posted 9 months ago # -
“I note you avoided the zig zags by Megan/ ModaCity?“
Usually use if going east, though 50/50 with Torphicen/Morrison.
That’s the thing, ‘choices’
More coming, as u say.
Just not fast enough - or in much of a logical/prioritised way.
Posted 9 months ago # -
Cycled down to Aldi at Chesser for the ten pound champagne, on the way back where the much suggested Sainsbury Bridge might be built one day a crowd gathered photgraphing the river. A young otter kit was frolicking in the current. Smashing,
Posted 9 months ago # -
“Then along Rope Walkk to shop through pend to arrive at Viewforth Bridge.“
Ah yes.
Was going to say ‘it’s SO secret that CycleStreets doesn’t know about it’.
BUT it does.
Which means that someone has put info on OSM!
Posted 9 months ago # -
Was going to say ‘it’s SO secret that CycleStreets doesn’t know about it’.
BUT it does.
Which means that someone has put info on OSM!
mapped by drnoble who does sometimes post here as well, at least 3 years ago!
Posted 9 months ago # -
As a frequent LB / Joe's Bike Garage customer, this has been duly noted!
Posted 9 months ago # -
Oh my giddy antlers that was a commute home. Blown to a standstill at times and blown sideways too. Was glad to get down onto the WoL Path. One tree down near Currie but passable
Posted 9 months ago # -
Cycling uphill in Holyrood Park yesterday evening was quite something. I used the cycle track (which I normally don't bother with) as steering was erratic due to gusts.
Better up in Newington with occasional excitement at certain corners due to wind shear.
Posted 9 months ago # -
Wind slightly. Gentler than yesterday when the block headwind back from Elsrickle to Carnwath was brutal.
Went down Macbiehill from the west Linton Moor Road, that is what I call a. Descent. Then up Shiplaw to the Observatory Then along the cycle path which removes a horrible bit of road. The left at Eddleston and over the beautiful Meldons and along to Stobo and over Dreva to Broughton Stores. Then back via Biggar and Kaimend onto Lang Whang. Was a grand day out.
Posted 1 month ago # -
I planned to go to Lowther Hill on Thursday and spent Wednesday evening prepping the bike, but woke up feeling a bit bleurgh and decided against making the trip. It was good decision: the weather was pretty grim.
On Friday I was full of beans and decided to go for it, but had an appointment mid-morning, so didn't leave the house until noon. The weather forecast suggested a breeze in my face on the way there and a good tailwind for the return. I got as far as Colinton before realising that the 'prepped' bike didn't have any water bottles on it...
I left the house for the second time (this time with water bottles) just before 1pm.
I trundled to Lowther Hill on the usual route: A70 to Carnwath, Libberton, Quothquan, Thankerton, A73 to Abington, Leadhills, Wanlockhead. There was a headwind much of the way, but nothing too onerous. Coming into Thankerton, I caught up with a chap who opened the conversation by asking if he could get a tow off me (which was surprising as I wasn't going quickly enough for a tow to be worth having, and I definitely wasn't going quicker than him). We had a brief chat about my bike and where I was headed, and he turned right and I turned left.
By now it was 4pm, and the A73 was less busy than I'd expected so the leg from Thankerton to Abington village, which I always find a bit stressful due to number and speed of passing trucks, wasn't too bad and passed unexpectedly pleasantly. I noted some very chunky bulls in a field.
Through Abington it was a steady grind up to Leadhills and Wanlockhead and then a stiff climb up to the golf ball at the top of Lowther Hill. I took it as gently as I could, conscious that the top was only halfway through the ride.
The view from the summit was the best I have seen there: the Southern Uplands faded off into the distant haze and lowering sun in shades of grey. As usual, I had the place to myself.
Heading back down, having taken the obligatory photo and added a layer or two, I was surprised to hear a voice beside me. A Wanlockhead resident called Clive was on his way off the hill too, and we completed the descent together, while he talked how he'd been to a concert with songs in Cornish and Welsh. At the bottom he shook my hand and wished me luck for the return to Edinburgh.
The 10-mile descent to Abington village wasn't as good as I remembered: I didn't need to use the brakes and had to pedal more than I expected, so there wasn’t much opportunity to recover from the hill climb. A sandwich stop in a bus shelter in the village came to an abrupt end when the midges found me.
Heading out of Abington, I saw a rider coming towards me and prepared a conventional and courteous wave, but as they approached I realised it was @bill, on a mission (it later transpired) to review motorway service stations. (It also later transpired that @bill stopped to chat with me, but I didn't stop to chat with them. Sorry!).
The rest of the ride home was very lovely. There was no headwind (and perhaps a gentle tailwind, but not the promised stiff breeze). The sun was setting and the traffic had died away. By the time I was back on the familiar A70 it was properly dark, but the passing traffic was all well-behaved and the bike (slowly) ate up the miles homeward and I pondered the infinite in a pleasant bubble aboard it.
I was back home just before 10pm, tiptoeing in to a slumbering household after a very pleasant day out. Just over 100 miles, 6,000ft of ascent and Scotland's highest paved road.
Great Dun Fell awaits...
Posted 2 weeks ago # -
GDF is a lot more brutal than Lowther Hill :(
Posted 1 week ago # -
@Murun - very true. Last time I did it involved pushing the bike up the final ramp (in the dark) because the wind was too strong to ride against. It didn't help that I had ridden from Edinburgh via Lowther Hill that day, so the tank was quite empty...
I'm planning to start from Penrith this time (missing out Lowther Hill beforehand) so I hope it's a bit less of a battle.
Posted 1 week ago # -
Took the 0812 Manchester airport train this morning. Two bike cupboards. Four bike spaces in total. Alighted at Lockerbie. Took B723 out of the town, turned right before the M74 at the huge sawmill. Road to Boreland, five miles up that road hang a left sign posted Wamphray 5 Moffat 12. There is then some climbing for sure. Had to stop for coos being mooved. Descended to the old Carlisle Rd to Moffat, stopped for excellent Espresso at the Moffat Distillery which was on my route. Bought some rather pricey “whisky” for the great guy putting a new roof on the CTC hut. With anothe4 great mate of his both tricyclists. As was the chap the hut was built in honour of. There is a social media blackout tho there is a big CTC SIGN. Anyhow, great grind up beeftub and tremendous descent. Wind mental at Broughton. Main Biggar to Carnwath road shut beyond Liberton but options there. Laying New Tarmac is what is causing the south llanarkshire closures at the Mo. usual shit driving on the Whang. Many types of weather, mainly tailie.
Posted 1 week ago # -
@gembo "coos being mooved"! :-)
Did well getting on the TP train. Cupboards work ok for classic road bikes but unusable for offroad 29r's I think?
Local economy got a boost it seems. Trycyclists mentioned will be of upright kind I assume? These need a lot of skill to ride I think.
Wamphray - Mrs LB's mum lived in farm near there and went to the primary school before going to Lockerbie High.
Posted 1 week ago # -
TookShandSkinnymalinky so yes classic road bike butstill a tight squeeze. Had Carradice Super. c on loan from Bill which worked well
Posted 1 week ago #
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