Today saw us head to Lauriston Castle for our last ride of 2025. As is now the custom, our December and January rides are shorter than usual being half day rides finishing around 1300 back at the Meadows with no lunch stop. We had a new leader in Julie Matthews. Whilst Julie has led other rides, this was her first time at the helm with the 20 Milers. The weather forecast suggested it would get windier, with strong winds and rain by the time we finished. Fortunately, the weather was kinder to us than expected. Yes, it was windy at times, but not too bad; the strong winds held off until after the ride had finished, and the rain stayed off until everyone was home. Given the forecast and the fact that it's the December ride, a low turnout would not have been a surprise. Instead we had a very respectable eighteen riders make the start.
Following Julie's briefing, we left the Meadows and headed to Leamington Bridge via Bruntsfield Links. The novelty of riding down the smooth road that is Leamington Terrace remains several months after it was resurfaced; if only more roads in Edinburgh were like that. From there, we pressed on via the canal, Fountain Park, across the Western Approach Road and the new cycle path to the zig-zags on Russell Road. We paused there whilst the leader briefed us on the next section of the route. Instead of heading through Roseburn Park as we so often do, we made our way up to Roseburn Terrace and took the CCWEL cycle path to Wester Coates Terrace, where we joined the Roseburn Path to Craigleith junction. We then took the Blackhall Path; a familiar route as if we were heading to Barnton, but instead of going straight over at the crossing on Quality Street, we turned right to join the busy Cramond Road South and into Lauriston Castle Park. We paused in front of the castle whilst Mike offered round sweets to the riders.
Leaving the park, we turned right to re-join the busy Cramond Road South. In the interests of safety and consideration for other road-users, the leader had us split into three groups of six for this section. At the traffic lights we turned right onto Cramond Road North. A short distance further on we turned right and headed through an archway. A slightly muddy path led us through lovely grounds to Cramond Kirk Hall. After a brief pause we headed out onto Cramond Glebe Road to emerge on the esplanade beside the River Almond. Whilst it wasn't warm, it was nothing like as cold and windy as it might have been, so we paused for a while to admire the views. We then made our way along the quiet Silverknowes Promenade, before climbing up to Marine Drive. The signs told us that Silverknowes Road was closed, but we rode up it anyway. One half of the road surface had been scraped off, but the other half was fine. The old barriers were gone and we didn't have to share the space with other traffic. So it was a pleasant climb up. It had been recced previously, of course. At the roundabout, instead of going straight up the hill to the Blackhall Path, we turned right along Lauriston Farm Road and up Silverknowed Drive to get there. From there it was an easy run back to the Craigleith junction, along the Roseburn Path and down the zig-zags at Russell Road. We then more-or-less retraced our outward route back to the Meadows where the leader announced the ride officially over.
Everyone enjoyed the ride, which given the time of year and the weather was just right. Fortunately, the weather was better than expected. Thanks to Julie for leading us on an interesting ride. Thanks to Mike for middle-marking and Alan for back-marking.
Leader: Julie
Report: Glenn
Photos: Glenn
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