Colleague and partner have moved to Edinburgh. Living near Leith links.
Looking for recommendations of routes out of town.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Questions/Support/Help
Routes out of town from Leith links
(16 posts)- Started 2 years ago by SRD
- Latest reply from chdot
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Posted 2 years ago #
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To anywhere, or just out?
Leith Links - Leith links path - Seafield bit of Restalrig Path - Seafield street - Seafield shared use path - prom - thence:
Musselburgh, then east, or along the river, or prom as far as the pool, then over the High St to Hope St to Innocent (thence anywhere?), thence to Brunstane Burn path, or Musselburgh again, or halfway to Musselburgh then through urchaidh's underpass, round the back of Kinnaird and along to Shawfair/Miller hill, then Ikea/Roslin etc.Leith Links path almost connects to WoL via John's Place/Links Lane/Giles St/parliament at/Coalhill/Sandport/WoL, thence anywhere.
Restalrig Railway Path has connections to Easter Road (50m south of Tesco entrance), Hawkhill Avenue opposite the snicket to Lochend Park/Lochend Butterfly Way (inc. cut through to Meadowbank or Bothwell St), Restalrig Road, Findlay Gardens (thence easy-ish back ways to Fishwives' Causeway), Seafield Street or back to Leith Links. Pirniefield and Lochend Road accessible via steps.
I'll do a wee scribble in the morning.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Leith Links to Wol, Prom, wee pathround the back of Seafield etc.
Note that Salamander Place, Elbe St etc. are all horrorcobbles but there's a recently-opened cut-through to the Ropemaker/Sailmaker development down the side of St Mary's/Pillan's Place, which is less cobbly and quiet. It leads to Salamander St/Baltic St etc. which is not quiet.
leith_links_to_A_WoL_Prom_etc by wingpig, on FlickrDetail of using the Restalrig Railway Path to get to the top of Easter Road (thence to Montgomery St, thence across west to Mcdonald Road, St Mark's Path, WoL/NEPN/etc.) or through to Meadowbank (using the newish bridge and Lawrie Reilly Place cut-through, now permanent after the removal of the scaffolding hanging off the wall beside the railway) or to/through Lochend Park.
The Findlay Gardens exit off the Restalrig path is quite handy for avoiding as much Craigentinny Road as possible to get to Fishwives Causeway (thence Porty, or Mountcastle, or through to the Innocent via quietish-roads) and whilst it is marked "cycling" green on Google Maps it's only a rubbish paint lane in the door zone which I usually avoid using, though I'll usually get to Fishwives' Causeway using Findlay Gardens, then Craigentinny Road as far as Christiemiller Avenue to minimise the distance on the unpleasant Portobello Road.
leith_links_to_B_Fishwives_Easter_Lochend by wingpig, on Flickr
Posted 2 years ago # -
fab! thanks wingpig!
Posted 2 years ago # -
There's not really a non-evil route south from Leith any more with the closure of the Leith Walk lane - out of Lochend, Restalrig and Easter Roads, Easter probably suffers least from steep uphill bits, parking both sides and people thinking they're taking a shortcut. It's wide enough and with enough official parking bays to have a lane each way for most of its length. Using the Restalrig Path and Lochend Butterfly Way skips most of Easter Road (at the expense of directness) but I'd not recommend going south across London Road/Norton Park to Abbeyhill, as it's steep and full of the motorised impatient, so my usual route to Holyrood Park is Restalrig Path, Lochend Butterfly Way, Lawrie Reilly Place, cut-through behind Sainsbury's, a wee bit of London Road then down Abbey Lane/Abbeyhill/past the parliament, or backwards along Spring Gardens.
Other useful wee cut-throughs like Alemoor Park will be added...
Posted 2 years ago # -
Useful wee junction-bypassing cut-throughs and other info:
Bernard St to Carpet Lane: https://edinburgh.cyclestreets.net/journey/74685300/
Alemoor Park: https://edinburgh.cyclestreets.net/journey/74685319/#fastest
St Triduana's Rest:
https://edinburgh.cyclestreets.net/journey/74685339/#quietestIf going from Easter Road to Leith Walk, Lorne St is by far the least rattly option. It was resurfaced recently and is still almost flat.
Leith Links to WoL on Cyclestreets but ignore the bit where it doesn't route along Giles St/Parliament St as it mistakenly thinks that Giles St is one-way for bicycles:
https://edinburgh.cyclestreets.net/journey/74685397/The bottom bit of Restalrig Road is a nightmare - parked cars both sides, bus route, impatience, so unless I'm heading straight down to go through the Links Gardens space-for-people I'll cut through Ryehill and Cornhill to get to lower Lochend Road, or Hermitage Park if not using the Alemoor cut-through. The red X marks a path which is blocked by a locked gate.
ryehill cornhill by wingpig, on FlickrNot all paths in Lochend Park are cycleable - the one round the east shore is narrow rutted dogpoo and the junction by the playpark is usually flooded above crank depth, but the paths marked are fine if taken slowly.
lochend by wingpig, on Flickr
Posted 2 years ago # -
All my usual routes out to the east are currently severed by crowding at Portobello. If they're ok with slow progress (or a rainy day) then:
* QR10 (Restalrig Railway/Seafield)
* Bellfield Street
* St Mark's Place
* Hope Lane
* Magdelene wiggling[1]
* Innocent
* Brunstane Road South
* Newcraighall
* QMUGets you onto the Esk path to Dalkeith/Musselborough or continue through Whitecraig (not great) out towards Crossgatehall and the Pencaitland Railway Path.
You can also access the lanes around Fa'side Castle from Whitecraig, though the road is busy and pavement narrow/broken.
[1] alternative routes along the main road or via steps can get you to the underpass to access Brunstane Road South
Posted 2 years ago # -
Going west I would get on the NEPN via Tollbooth Wynd (is it quieter with Links Gardens closed?) or Coatfield Lane/Giles Street/Parliament Street then you have your pick of routes depending on how far out of town they really want to go.
Posted 2 years ago # -
I sometimes head east from the WoL through Tollbooth Wynd/Queen Charlotte St (avoiding the right-turn-across-traffic-at-an-oblique-angle-over-a-dropped-kerb-to-Coalhill) but generally don't go west through there as it's cobblier (if obeying one-way systems) and at the moment it's doing a lot of heavy lifting for impatient/disgruntled would-be-Constitution-Street-users, already subject to additional gruntlement reduction by the absence of Links Gardens, who don't seem to like following people who are going quite slowly to make safe turns on wet cobbles or going slowly to avoid the juddering making whatever's in their panniers leak.
Posted 2 years ago # -
@wingpig good point about the one way. I'd forgotten I used to dismount and walk that bit.
Posted 2 years ago # -
I wish there was a way to get from Hermitage Park to Lochend park safely, with children.
And similarly, from Lochend park to Holyrood park... (crossing London Rd is properly awful, wherever you try it)
Serious gaps in a safe network
Posted 2 years ago # -
@neddie there are bike lights on the Meadowbank crossings but I don't really understand where you're supposed to go on either side.
Posted 2 years ago # -
You can also access the lanes around Fa'side Castle from Whitecraig, though the road is busy and pavement narrow/broken.
You can head up onto the Pencaitland Railway Path from Whitecraig, then onto Ormiston and to Ephinstone and round to Fa'side, pretty much all on tracks and gr*v*l. Bit of a roundabout route, but fun.
Tracks across to Tranent from there link up with the old Wagonway path down to Cockenzie which makes for a handy wee loop.
Posted 2 years ago # -
That looks a fun route on my new bike. I've previously followed the route through Prestonpans station. Do you loop back along the coast road?
Posted 2 years ago # -
Yeah, there are a number of options for getting back down to the coast, depends on how I and the kids are feeling. Down to Cockenzie Harbour is my favorite, though the last wee bit can be a faff if you want to stay off the road.
The coastal path through The Pans is all cycleable except at high tide, and except for a wee bit of shingly beach near The Goth unless you have 3" tyres - depends how precious you are about your bike.
Posted 2 years ago # -
“cycleable except at high tide”
Nice path but can be slippy in places where high tides reach.
Posted 2 years ago #
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