CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Leisure

Loch Leven circle trail - Fife

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  1. DaveC
    Member

    On Sunday we rode part of a trail round Loch Leven. The trail goes round the top and east of the loch to the SSPCA centre on the south side of the Loch. Its pretty much a hard standing surface of stone cruched to form a hard surface for walkers and cyclists. Most of the path goes through sheltered woodlands or across new plantations, circling the Loch.

    We set off from the Findatie car park, a little way east of the SSPCA and stopped off at Loch Leven's Larder which is ~500m to the north of the path on the North East side, before heading back. Its not a long way I'll grant you but our 4 yr old was tired.

    Its not marked on any OS map, we have both 1:25k & 1:50k which is a shame. But on the plus side there is a circle bus which calls in every carpark along the route for walkers.

    I can recomend it as a family cycle.

    Dave C

    Posted 13 years ago #

  2. chdot
    Admin

    "I can recomend it as a family cycle"

    YEP

    http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=392011

    We went via Lochgelly Station and returned from Cowdenbeath.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  3. DaveC
    Member

    Just found it on Cycle Streets, dhoop!!

    Might have guessed.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  4. chdot
    Admin

    "Just found it on Cycle Streets"

    That's why I did the trip - wasn't on OSM.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  5. chdot
    Admin

    Of course it isn't actually in Fife (but you go through it first) -

    http://www.scottish-places.info/councils/region15.html

    Cycling in Fife

    Posted 13 years ago #

  6. DaveC
    Member

    yeh yeh... I look at the large land mass between the Forth & the Tay as "Fife". Anything else is just pedentry.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  7. chdot
    Admin

    "Anything else is just pedentry"

    Anyone on here from Fife....

    http://www.lochlevenheritagetrail.co.uk

    Posted 13 years ago #

  8. SRD
    Moderator

    but our 4 yr old was tired

    12.5 km??!! not bad. We've cycled a bit under that when ours was 3, and it didn't exhaust her, but wouldn't have wanted to push it much past that. she'd be fine if the wheels on her bike were bigger!

    Posted 13 years ago #

  9. DaveC
    Member

    I've just reread my post, Clarification. Our 4 year old, who had been on his bike most of the day, (I'm trying to teach him to ride without stableizers) only managed 3/4 of the way to LLL. We chained his bike up at LLL and popped him in the trailer with his 2yr old brother. After 5 mins on the return he was asleep :D

    Posted 13 years ago #

  10. chdot
    Admin

    "I'm trying to teach him to ride without stableizers"

    Try the 'remove pedals trick'.

    It's mostly a question of being able to balance.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  11. DaveC
    Member

    Oh he's progressed from a wooden balance bike to a 'big boys bike'. He's an expert on the wooden bike. He can 'under duress' free wheel along on his metal bike, when I let go of him. But he's becoming used to me pushing him along, without stablizers, so won't peddle. Its daft as he'll happily wizz up and down the street with stableizers on. I think we just left his stableizers on when he moved from the wooden bike to his metal bike.
    The worry is he's becoming so fast that he's prone to falling over at speed as he uses his stableizers as a crutch instead of leaning into the corner as we do on two wheels.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  12. SRD
    Moderator

    My daughter just never got all that into the balance bike. She liked it and all that, but never quite got up the speed/enthusiasm that other kids seem to (maybe it was too heavy?). So if the ground sloped up hill or the pavement was rough, she struggled. So, she was VERY happy to move to bike with pedals (and chain - she really liked having a chain like the big people).

    Posted 13 years ago #

  13. DaveC
    Member

    Camie has asked for some bike clothes like daddy and I've bought some lights from Poundland in St James for his bike so he can be like daddy with lights on.

    I'm sure he'll get it, he just needs to want to. We have no probs with Louis, who soaks in all Camie does and copies him. Louis loves the stableizers as he can climb on the bike and pretend he's cycling along (peddling backwards)... :D

    Posted 13 years ago #

  14. SRD
    Moderator

    Yup. My small one covets my gloves. She's got little 'smart' lights on her helmet. And the 'knog' lights are great, cause you can stick them on small bikes easily too. Definitely recommend both to anyone with kids.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  15. amir
    Member

    Unfortunately the trail doesn't goes all the way around. When we were at the RSPB centre recently we overheard some walkers who were a bit distraught at finding that out. They were trying to decide whether to catch a taxi back to town.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  16. chdot
    Admin

    "some walkers who were a bit distraught at finding that out"

    Can they only walk in one direction?

    The Kinross to Cowdenbeath road was quite OK (Sunday pm)

    Posted 13 years ago #

  17. DaveC
    Member

    chdot you silly billy, I imagine if I'd walked 3/4 the way round and only then found out it was not a complete circuit, I'd be dissapointed. I hope they heard about the circle bus, and didn't call for a taxi.
    But then its not too far if walking along the road.

    Were you cycling up there on Sunday afternoon chdot? We saw a couple of individual cyclists on the road up though Scotlandwell, when heading back to recover Camie's bike.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  18. chdot
    Admin

    "walked 3/4 the way round"

    Ah yes, I was thinking it was more like 1/2 way.

    Hard to not realise the path doesn't go all the way though.

    Went October 17, 2009 - which was actually a Sat.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  19. steveo
    Member

    Can they only walk in one direction?

    Walkers are like Haggis...

    Posted 13 years ago #

  20. DaveC
    Member

    "Walkers are like Haggis..."

    What, there is a season for hunting walkers? Eek, let me know so I refrain from taking a stroll at that time.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  21. SRD
    Moderator

    to recover Camie's bike.

    when we rode to duddingston, we took trailer and bike seat. bike seat for small person, trailer for her bike! Not sure how we would do it now that there is an extra occupant in trailer.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  22. DaveC
    Member

    We finished the first leg out with Camie's bike hanging out the back of the trailer, which is why I chained it up at LLL. I now think I need a bike rack for the bike trailer, as he usually gets tired and wants in to the trailer with his brother.

    I might have to explore steel tubing, elbows and some form of clamping system for our Halfords MK1 bike trailer.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  23. Cyclingmollie
    Member

    Walkers are like Haggis...

    ...which have two long legs and two short legs that allow them to run around steep hills but only in one direction.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  24. chdot
    Admin

    Close by

    http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/kilmagadwood/Documents/Portmoak_Moss_leaflet.pdf

    Posted 13 years ago #

  25. chdot
    Admin

    Route completed.

    Posted 10 years ago #

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