CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 15years old!
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resolvedSighting pillars? There's one inside a tower next to a Long Cairn (on OS map) in a forest clearing.
There is also an aqueduct visible here https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@55.6738497,-3.4124951,3a,75y,247.32h,83.57t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1swHZF9Y5aeg64QpAvK5r7eQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
For ages I thought it was an isolated train bridge. Doh!
@amir
Following the pillars south and west you reach the tower in Despsyke Forest as someone in Canmore did in 2008.
Looking at the photos.
They also went north and east to Bilston Aqueduct?
Have taken to Stand Up Paddling after buying Mrs Paddy a board for Xmas. Have picked up 3 deep water tiles in the Forth as a result. HAve my eye on landing the two missing tiles for Loch Leven by SUp as well.
Also, by looking at Veloviewer with the OS layers on the map, it seems there are some tiles in the inner Forth that look like they will be accessible by Land at low tide.
Cycled to the top of the granites, and stopped to have a wee wander past the quarry just west of the corner at the top of the big straight climb.
Which gave me the last tile I needed for a 15x15 square.
Well done Frenchy, beat me to 15x15 by a day or two. You look like on VV you have a very simple trip to Musselburgh for 16x16.
I finally got the SUP out on Loch Leven this morning and got the two tiles I needed to jump up from 13x13. I now have a clear route to 17x17, 1 more SUP near Kinghorn plus a road ride in the Ochils. After that I'll need to spend a long time off road in the Ochils.
I think some of my walks are set to private so won't show up for you on VV. I think I got all the accessible tiles in Musselburgh already.
But 16x16 only needs one bike/hillwalk trip near Gladhouse, and a couple of walks in the Pentlands will see me to 17x17. After that it gets significantly harder...but I said exactly that when I got to 12x12, so...
Ah fair enough. That makes sense. Next step after 17x17 could be to take to the water...
I spent enough time in the North Sea as a teenager to last me a lifetime. Walking through bogs like at Auchencorth Moss is genuinely more appealing nowadays.
The relevant walks should now be visible to you, though.
Took my square to 16x16 and my cluster over 500 today, with a couple of walks near Gladhouse.
I would advise anyone looking to get the square in between the square which contains Mauldslie Farm and the square which contains Torfichen Hill to try walking east from the eastern corner of Gladhouse reservoir. Trying to get to it from the south would involve climbing deer fences.
Great work.
The map shows a track into it from Maudslie Farm. Is that not a good option?
I was out around Harburn on Saturday so took the opportunity of grabbing the square to the east of Cobbinshaw. The map hasn't yet been updated to include the windfarm. The existing track has now been pretty much abandoned but is still passable. Coming back out on the windfarm access road was much easier.
Is that not a good option?
Actually, yeah, if just popping in and out, it'd probably be absolutely fine. Entering a grey area of access rights as I understand them (not completely clear whether it'd be regarded as a farmyard or not), and the owner is...probably not the most welcoming landowner.
Good work both. I've never been anywhere near Gladhouse, needs to be done once I'm back South of the Bridge.
Still need to get the tiles E and SE of Cobbinshaw- once done that will be much tidier in that area too.
I got my square to 17 x 17 with an Ochils trip last weekend. Had to go off road and off track for a couple of tiles. Will have to go a lot further off road and off track to extend that, but it is possible.
This weekend did some tidying up in the Trossachs on a cycling /camping trip with Micropaddy- no change to my Cluster, but 9 new tiles means the next trip should increase it hopefully as far as Loch Katrine. Was hoping to move from Ben Cleuch to Ben Ledi as the highest point in my cluster, but didn't quite make it.
Finally got the tiles I needed to bring St Andrews and Tayport into my cluster a ride for fewer than 20 tiles boosted the cluster by 64 to 1209.
Now my attention is looking west. My cluster has Loch Venachar in it, but to reach the west coast (Arrochar), I'll need to do 5 trips I think
1) Great Trossachs trail to Inversnaid + souch shore of Loch Katrine
2) Climb Ben Venue
3) Climb Beinn a'Choin
4) SUP on S shore of Loch Arklet
5) A ride covering West Bank of Loch Lomond, Tarbet and Arrochar.
https://rideeverytile.com/tiles/heatmap shows the tiles that haven't been captured yet by anyone in the Ride Every tile Strava Club.
If I can do the above will have to be the first to bag a number of these.
The ride every tile site only includes riders who have their veloviewer data set as public. I keep mine private so various squares I've been in don't show as visited.
It's a shame the settings aren't more granular as I would happily share which squares I've been to but not all my activities.
Got some squares in the western Pentlands last night.
3 from Mid Crosswood farm and up the Crosswood burn on a landrover then quad bike track. There is a gate at the Crosswood reservoir end which is combination locked but I lifted the bike and there is room to squeeze round the side.
3 accessible (kind of) from the forestry on the northwest slopes of Harrows Law. The forestry tracks get you so far but then it is faint ATV tracks and animal trods. The forestry is enclosed by deer fencing so there are gates on the eastern and northern sides that you need to find...
@ murun, we were out that way but on the other side on recce for the covenanter’s grave tonight
Desolate
Also @murun did you find the memorial to Simon Lockhart of Lee at the Crosswood?
@murun, ‘deed I do. We were at the martyr’s grave last night about seven miles south. Beautiful sunset, @sheeptoucher’s Kelly kettle did us proud. I strapped it with bungees to the top of the rack and then somehow managed the two panniers. Going down East side from the top of west Kip shoulder was hairy. But the A702 surface was superb, east wind too and not that manny nutters driving. Our protege was early at Carlops as had not factored the east wind into calculation. Drank three pints of tenements lager. Seemed to help her off road skills a good deal.
Note - I typed Tennants lager but tenements is good.
Not sure the artefact I linked to is the Shepherds Grave gembo. Managed to find a photo of it online and it appears to be in the heatherlands, not the grasslands, and on the ridge line or east of it (ridge being a very very relative concept in the Southern Pentlands, of course), rather than where I was. Glad all had a good time at the CG.
@murunbuchstansangur
I shall consult the oracle, Neebo McKneebo
The description I had sounded to be in that square,
There is a great gravestone down at Harperig a massive monolith really at the boundary of the last property heading west before you get to Cairns Castle. But that is to a modern dad. Not Simon McDonald Lockhart. He could have been a shepherd but also a major landowner from Crosswood through Carnwath to Lanark. Though they sold their castle after 24 generations to an American. But not the surrounding land.
We still don’t know how the man from Tarbrax we met heading south got home.....
@murun, Neebo has come up trumps NT070532
The next square up from the Covenanter heading North
I finally ascended East Cairn Hill in the clouds last night. It was strangely warm despite visibility of less than 50m at the top. Naturally though I am now thinking about the next tiles which I can access.
Has anyone made it to the 3 squares to the east of Crosswood Reservoir's southern end? The eastern one has a path running over West Cairn hill and following the council boundary into it but the other two look less hospitable. It looks like there might be a lot of hike a bike in heather involved for either.
@acsimpson
Yes was warm out last night
Well done on east cairn not that hospitable
As you say the path off west cairn probably linked to colzium farm exists but after that you are on your own until Crosswood
I think Neebo McKneebo has been and decades ago the 23rd Simon Lockhart. The first brought the Bruce’s heart back from the Levant
@acsimpson, great work!
I think Murun visited the westernmost of those 3 about a week ago. See above.
In my pre-Strava days about 15 years ago, I accessed the Westernmost one. It was a walk West Linton-Byrehope Mount-West Cairn- East Cairn and return to W Linton. Great day out never saw one other person after I left the bus stop in West Linton on a May Bank holiday. Think the middle one is pretty easy to get from the route. Repeating that walk is the plan for accessing a lot of that area.
@Paddyirish, you are right that walking is probably easier but I'm still keen on riding each tile from home, which limits my options somewhat.
Thanks for the reminder about Murun's ride. I've now saved his ride as a route. It looks like the middle one might be accessible from the north. Strava shows a track but there's nothing on the heat map.
Everything will currently be turning to bog up there again tonight.
Yes the Dry Season might be over
See also midges
Yes, if I have the right 3 squares, westernmost one’s accessible from Mid Crosswood farm.
Doing the other 2 from anywhere except over West Cairn Hill/Byrehope Mount would appear to be fighting geography and drainage IMO
You know it's a good square when climbing two 500m plus hills is considered not fighting geography. Looking at the contours it does appear there is a bit of a plateau which can be used to access the middle square from the east.
After a few road laps I went out with the gravel bike on Saturday with the aim of corridoring* round the Pentlands. The lowlight was the squares which are easiest linked by using the A702 but thankfully it mostly had an acceptable pavement to use.
My first off road segment took through the back of the bush estate shortly followed by Penicuik House, somewhere I was previously ignorant of. It appears popular with dog walkers for obvious reasons.
On the way to Nine Mile Burn I took a detour which Strava said was accessible but left me on the wrong side of a locked driveway gate (Now added to OSM).
At Nine mile burn I left the A702 and other than a brief visit at Carlops didn't return for a long time. Unfortunately in Carlops I missed my turn and forgot to duck into the car park at the Alan Ramsay Hotel so my cluster only makes corner contact there for now.
Next was the Roman Road followed by the actual road up to West Water, followed by a shooting track over a hillock and onto the trail to Garvald. This trail came and went and at some point seemed nothing more than a worn patch down the side of a field but perhaps I missed something there. Once in Garvald I then started filling adhoc squares most of which aren't accessible on tarmac. As this is already getting to be a long post I'll name these based on features which are in them:
Shaw Hill
Black Mount
Easthill Wood
South Medwyn
Craigie Burn
Pettinain Burn
I was invited to vacate the track in the square behind Newbigging Quarry as "all the gates were closed". Thankfully I didn't need to go through any and as I was already in the square I wanted I'll never be back on that track.
I had hoped to get the Dykefoot Farm square on the way up the Lang Whang but instead I found a large, unwelcoming and locked driveway gate. This time I was thankfully on the right side of it as they had made sure there was no easy way round. It's now also on OSM so hopefully Strava will stop trying to claim it's a passable route soon. Instead I'll go back and access the square from the windfarm at the other side.
As that had been my last planned square I decided not to end on a low so headed up the forest track from Harperrig to West Cairn Hill to grab a couple of squares I've had on the radar for a while. The first of these was a special square as it increased my max square to 15.
All in all a successful trip, it's not often that I can increase my cluster by so much in a single ride any more and this will probably end up as the largest jump of 2021. A couple of bonus buzzard spots and the new max square were nice footnotes too.
*I'm not sure if corridoring is an applicable terms where you create a loop rather than connecting a far away place but I'm sure you can work out what I mean.
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