Colleague of mine who use to cycle to work moved to Burntisland and now relies on the train, which is not always convenient time-wise. Wondered if it was too far to cycle? Any advice from you hardy Fife commuters?
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Questions/Support/Help
Burntisland?
(15 posts)- Started 12 years ago by SRD
- Latest reply from DaveC
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Posted 12 years ago #
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I drive to the Ferrytoll park and ride from Burntisland, and then cycle from there to Edinburgh Uni central area.
Drive takes about 15 minutes, then an hour and a bit from Ferrytoll, reckon it could be done in under an hour by someone fitter than me though.
The train is by far quickest method of getting in though if that is a factor (not for me), 45mins on train followed by a 10 min walk. An hour and a half by car/bike, and usually about an hour by car.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Hovercraft to Leith and then transfer to the tram for a swift journey to the centre.
Oh, wait...
Posted 12 years ago # -
http://www.scotsman.com/news/transport/bid-to-revive-forth-ferry-crossing-by-next-summer-1-2232110
"TALKS are under way to bring regular ferry crossings back to the Forth, reviving a service that last ran almost 20 years ago.
Pentland Ferries, which operates between Caithness and the southern tip of Orkney, hopes to introduce a passenger service working between Burntisland and Granton harbour by next summer"
I think this is a case of believe it when we see it.
Posted 12 years ago # -
I think this may be a little premature. If the tram were in place in Granton to join with the city centre then it might work. I don't think the hub at Granton is sufficient enough to make this a viable long term option, unless Lothian Busses lay on extra services. Its a shame as this would be great for us Kingdom dwellers to cut out the nasty Scotrail franchise who are cutting services in Fife, whilst puttig up fares.
If we could get Sustrans / ECC to join up the path which currently ends before Granton on Lower Granton Rd, near Wardie Steps, and a proper crossing onto the cycle path which leads to 5 ways junction, then this may be viable.
Chatting to Baldcyclist last night, if they were to open up the tunnel between Scotland Street and Waverly providing access to the city centre then one could cycle right into the city without too much of a hill climb which might encourage those choosing to cycle in fro the north of the city.
Posted 12 years ago # -
"last ran almost 20 years ago"
Last time I used it was after a St. Andrews Ride (the next day), very useful shortcut!
Obviously for this ferry to run it needs to be 'viable'. In the last 20 years many more houses have been built in Fife and more people are commuting to Edinburgh (some by bike!) so there are certainly potential customers.
The attempt to run a hovercraft from Portobello failed (apparently) because Stagecoach couldn't get enough 'subsidy'.
Generally Public Transport is 'subsidised' but the same word is isn't used for new road infrastructure (inc. new Forth bridge).
Apart from all the practical considerations (and weather) it would come down to passenger numbers - fares would be a crucial factor and the issue of whether they would be reduced by 'revenue support' (as such things were once known).
Posted 12 years ago # -
I really wouldn't fancy the main road between D-Bay and Burntisland because of the blind dips and ubiquitous risk taking driving attitudes.
Ferrytoll to top of Johnston Terrace at the castle in Edinburgh is under 40 minutes on a carbon road bike via the direct Queensferry Road route.
Posted 12 years ago # -
"I really wouldn't fancy the main road between D-Bay and Burntisland because of the blind dips and ubiquitous risk taking driving attitudes."
What's the coastal path like along that bit?
Posted 12 years ago # -
"What's the coastal path like along that bit?"
Unlit, and no good for a road bike, MTB or X would be OK.
Nice walk on a Sunday with the dog though.
Posted 12 years ago # -
"Surely, somewhere, the Scottish Government can find a couple of million pounds to help provide what are relatively modest ferry terminals at Granton and Burntisland so that this very important service can finally commence."
Posted 12 years ago # -
One thing, reading this article is that modern services don't work as well due to 'committee' mentalities. In the victorian era one person, the company owner, controlled everything. This included the ferries, the harbour, even the bus links to town centres. This meant there were no obsticles to setting up a successful service. In these modern times everything has long been Nationalised and then re privatised for the 'supposed' good of the public. The problem now lies with the splitting up of infrastructure. Instead of privatising a complete route end to end, Govenment has split up the different roles within the End to End Journey. In this case transport. So we're left with one Co operating the ferry, one Co owning the harbours and another Co operating the connections from ferry terminal to Centre. Thus we're left with multiple organisations, all wanting to have it on their best terms and the one thing which suffers is the overall transport system End to End.
Posted 12 years ago # -
My parents live in Burntisland and what I often do is cycle to Dalgety Bay/Aberdour from Edinburgh and jump on train to cut out coastal path. You can cycle that pretty easily on quiet roads/paths.
It's just the path between Aberdour and Burntisland that is useless at night or at any time on a road bike. Road is not cycle friendly due to idiotic drivers
I also sometimes get train to Kinghorn as it means you have a nice wee hill to roll down to Burntisland.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Nice one duffin89. We looked at Burned Island when we were looking at buying a house up here but rumours had it some dodgy characters from Livingston with a distinct lack of hair and who rode a bicycle was moving to that part of the Kingdom, so we thought better of not moving there.
;-)
Posted 12 years ago # -
I live in Burntisland, I cycle home most summer evenings that work allow. There are quite a few road bike users in the town who cycle all the way from Reekie on the coast road. But I tend to use the Sustrans Route 1 path, I use a Galaxy touring bike with maybe 28s or 32s, but do use the road bike occasionally. With the road bike on 23 tyres I ride Sustrans all the way to Aberdour and then ride the last bit on the coast road, that bit of coast road has a good short climb and avoids a lot of the dips and bends you get between Dalgety Bay and Aberdour.
I must say I take my hat off to the organisers of Saturdays event, a splendid day out, but the very happy crowd helped too. I saw on one posting something about negative feedback from bystanders, can someone elaborate because it all seemed so well mannered.
GaryPosted 12 years ago # -
Hi Gary,
Welcme to CCE (I don't know if you have posted before?), I'm Dave from Dalgety Bay (Alan's mate). Sorry we didn't spot you but tbh it was a big crowd ;*)
Posted 12 years ago #
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