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Technically in Edinburgh, but really in Dalmeny. I'm talking about how you get past the gate at the end of Main Street.
No dropped kerb. Uneven, unpaved and muddy. Narrow and divided in two by a metal pole.
Yet a key part of NCR 1 and probably used by well over 100 cyclists a day.
It's there to make you feel that the rest of the NCR1 from Dalmeny to FRB isn't so bad after all.
It's really for the benefit of cyclists heading towards Edinburgh. It's a test to make sure that you have the "skillz" required to ride in the city proper.
That is the worst part of the commute, and combines with the one you will have encountered at the bottom of the path up to Scotstoun avenue, about 200m later when heading Westbound, it is a dodgy stretch.
Used to be boulders there which had a gap you could ride through- apparently put in place to prevent motorists from driving down the lane. I did see an abandoned milk float whose driver had not seen the barrier one morning.
Why we can't have a couple of bollards (covered in Hi Vis if necessary) which will stop a motorised vehicle, I don't know...
@panyagua
It's a test to make sure that you have the "skillz" required to ride in the city proper.
Well, I should take a hint and not cycle in the city, because half the time I come very close to failing the test.
Skidding in mud ... picking the wrong line ... going over the wrong bricks ... going too slowly ... going too quickly...
You name it, I've done it.
@gibbo
Yes, I've nearly failed a few times myself - not quite hitting the uneven kerb at a sufficiently perpendicular angle.
I complained* about this some years ago and was advised to go another way (which I do when heading westbound - Bankhead Rd/Station Rd) but that wasn't really my point.
* well, moaned to the converted
another way? is there?
i too dislike that stretch but i dislike the new cycle path 200m later as @paddyirish stated going through the new houses,
i have skidded twice on there and last second foot down, tense up, ready to fall on my side territory,
i am not sure if its the bricks they used for the surface or just the collection of mud / leaves that seems to congregate there - either way both sections, i'd hate to do them on a fully loaded touring bike in the wet.
The cycle path does suffer from
(A) having a lampost right in the middle of the bottom part.
(B) poorly placed (and signposted) chicanes
(C) one of the chicanes being narrowed by a fenced of section that overlaps it.
Presumably they'll remove the fenced off bit.
Having said that, it's been there for months and nothing seems to be happening. So all bets are off.
@rider73
Yes, there are alternatives. On the way home I turn right off Main St and take Bankhead Rd/Station Rd/Burgess Rd/B907. It's actually quicker than the official route, but it's not so much fun in the other direction as Bankhead Rd is a bit of a slog. Or if you fancy something completely different, do what I did this morning and take the scenic route via Queensferry High St (alternative pavé challenge there) and the Dalmeny Estate. Can't beat it on a crisp sunny morning.
@panyagua - will take a look on the mapz - thanks!
I think we have mentioned it before, but we have used the chicanes in the new development as examples of how NOT to build cycle routes in our discussions over the Garden District.
Could easily have been so much better.
I don't (can't) use the cycle route at the end of Main St Dalmeny as I can't get my recumbent handcycle over the kerb without grounding.
I just stay on the roads and go down Bankhead Road and then via Station Road in South Queensferry instead.
This area contains more (probably illegal) barriers that restrict disabled cyclists using NCN routes, I'm thinking of the barriers on NCN 76 at each side of both the Dalmeny and Hopetoun estates.
@handcyclist, that is sad that you can't get full access to either Hopetoun or Dalmeny estates. The road through Dalmeny is possible I guess, but is extremely steep in parts.
Is Dundas Estate possible? there are speed bumps, but they are reasonably rounded
@paddyirish, I regularly use the road through Dalmeny estate as a much nicer, if harder, alternative to the A90 cycle path.
I've only ridden through the Dundas estate once and scraped over the speed bumps so I avoid this and remain on the main roads through SQF and climb up to new roundabout to reach the exit from this estate.
Unless I'm sure, I tend to stick to roads and avoid all Sustrans cycle paths as there is no guarantee that they are free from (probably illegal) barriers and obstacles. A sad state of affairs.
@handcyclist- I think that Dunfermline-Clackmannan railway has at least 2 entrances towards the western end which would be trouble as well. Shame as it is a really nice path. Similarly, I'd imagine cobbled narrow pathways under bridges on the canal having similar issues, and some of the cobbled outlets further west causing problems as well
A sad state of affairs. I assume that you have talked to Sustrans about it and they have said it's the landowner/council's choice?
I can't get my recumbent handcycle over the kerb without grounding.
I thought my velomobile was hard work amongst the chicanery of Dalmeny and SQ, but a handcycle must be even harder work. We both have huge turning circles and can't bump up kerbs. The only advantage I think I have is bumping down off kerbs.
The stupid access between Dalmeny and the FRB - a key commuting route - was a factor in me moving south of Edinburgh instead of north of Edinburgh.
Yes, it's a disgrace. Does anyone know why? I hear/had a hunch it might be owned by Rosebury, who would naturally refuse to do anything about it.
I hear/had a hunch it might be owned by Rosebury, who would naturally refuse to do anything about it.
I've emailed Sustrans asking them. Ironically, their Edinburgh building is named after a Rosebery.
Yes definitely owned by Roseberry whose estate team clearly don't care are they rode the old rubbish gate with a new rubbisher one. It will soon be sold for housing though and they will upgrade it. No doubt putting in non compliant chicanes to match Calas.
I could post their responses about their rubbish but only if anyone hasn't seen it before.
Yes definitely owned by Roseberry whose estate team clearly don't care
But is there anything that stops the council from offering to fix it? (What would it cost? £200?)
This is NCR 1, for goodness sake. You're meant to be able to cycle on it.
That'll be Harry Ronald Neil Primrose, Lord Dalmeny. Deputy Chairman of the British branch of Sotheby's; Deputy Lieutenant for the county of Midlothian; member of the Royal Company of Archers.
Responsible for auctioning Jack Vettriano's painting The Singing Butler for £744,800.
In 2013 rode in the Queen's carriage at Royal Ascot.
Spends most of his time in London, or at his farm by Moffat.
I daresay neither the Earl nor his estate managers could give a monkey's about the needs of cyclists. They're already suffering oiks trampling all over their estate, why give more than a grudgingly mean level of access to the blighters?
Edit: @Beano and @biggles1982 also posted on this here: http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=11145&page=4#post-268634
Chicanes are multiplying. On the wee bit of cycle route from Dalmeny Main Street to Scotstoun Av, 2 more chicanes have been installed as a wee access road has opened up crossing the shared path. So that's 6 chicanes in a 0.2 mi stretch.
At least they have cleared the grot on the north side of Main Street revealing a wide boulevard till you get to the locked gate.
“locked gate”
?
pffft more chicanes - wouldnt mind but that surface of "bricks" isnt the grippiest on that bit of section.
i think when the estate opens up though there may be a way to use the tarmac to get to the back of the final set of flats (or even to the front of those) and then hard right onto the cycle path via 1 set of chicanes!
Yes, I'm sure once it opens not using the lovely wide direct cycle path will be faster than using it and Cala (plus their customers) will wonder why many cyclists are choosing not to. But not once will they engage grey matter and produce a sensibke design.
pffft zig zag zig zag zig zag zig zag
really fed up of the chicane slalom now
its an insult really, isn't it?
I am deliberately refusing to go through their chicanery the grass is no slower although will probably become a quagmire soon. I haven't quite got to the point where I ignore the Northern one yet but if the southern ones become permanent then I'll be considering going through the hedge. Hopefully they will notice that the only thing their chicane is achieving is an ugly mess on their new turf which I'm sure wont please their customers any more than it pleases us.
Dennis from Cala's previous email (6th Dec) stated:
These have been put in place as a safety measure while we are installing the monobloc surface to our main road out of this phase. While these works are on going our clients have to access their properties from the Barratt side and so there will be increased traffic across the cycleway while these topping off works are completed. These works will be taking place over the next 2/3 months as we complete this phase of the site. It is our intention to remove the barriers thereafter.
So if the chicanes are still there on the 6th of March or when the Cala side's roads are complete I'll be sending him another email.
the other path thats been made just further up has got steps on it - but i'm sure with a little imagination and decent braking technique you could go down the edges of that?
wish they would do some "topping off" works to the gate further up - its surrounding edges are getting a rutted and muddy mess !
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