November's ride

The next ride will be on Saturday 14th November.

This month's ride

For this month's jaunt, Jenny Meek will be taking us out to the Balerno area. The total distance will be about 22 miles, which we'll take at our usual easy pace. From what I can see of the route, there are no particularly difficult hills to worry about, and much of it will be away from traffic. Jenny has also promised us an excellent pub for our lunch stop; those of you who prefer al fresco dining are welcome to bring a picnic.

 

The details

We'll meet -- as always -- at the north end of Middle Meadow Walk, in time for a 10.30 start. The ride is free, open to all, and does not require advance booking.

 

But do please make sure your bike is in good condition, and don't forget to bring front and back lights. Although the ride should finish well before dark, there's always a risk of delay. It would also be helpful if you could bring a spare inner tube of the right size for your bike. If a puncture strikes, having a spare tube could make the difference between a short delay and a long one.

October's ride to Craigie Farm - Cranes, Trains and Planes

Today we had 22 people on our ride. We were anticipating some not-particularly-nice weather (the forecast had been for rain) but after a chilly, damp, misty start it turned out very nice for most of the ride. The wind was gentle and we had plenty of sun. Perfect cycling weather.

View 20Milers Oct09 in a larger map
Our route today headed out through Roseburn Park, Balgreen and Corstorphine, then through South Gyle and a very quiet Edinburgh Park (I imagine that it must be very busy on a weekday - at the weekends it is dead!) with a pretty section beside the small burn that runs through the site. We then headed under the Bypass on an excellent secret path beside the burn and out beside a crane yard on the Gogar Station Road. From there we turned North and headed over the RBS bridge over the A8, then turned East briefly and then back out towards the Freight section of the airport (so we could watch planes land while we ate some jelly babies kindly provided by today's route leader Andrew). A more undulating section followed (that's code word for "hilly") as we made our way to our lunch stop at Craigie Farm where there is a deli and cafe and picnic benches.

After lunch, which was quite late today at 2/3 of the way round the route, we had a straightforward run back into town along Route 1, saying goodbye to people as they headed home until only about 5 of us were left at the Leamington Lift Bridge where the ride was declared officially Over.