February's ride to the Reservoirs

We had a large turn-out for this ride - 26 people despite the February chill and slight drizzle.

Feb 2011 ride to Reservoirs

Alan led us on a fairly direct route out of Edinburgh, up Colinton Road (quite busy when there are parked cars in the bus lane) and then up through Bonaly to the reservoirs: Torduff, Clubbiedean, Harlow and Thriepmuir. It felt like a lot of climbing! (Someone calculated about 1000ft of climb overall). And some of this track is quite rough, however even those who came on bikes with thinner tyres seemed to manage all right and made it to lunch without incident.

After a nice lunch in the pub in Balerno (they had soup-and-sandwiches on the menu for us), we headed back into town along a Very Muddy Water of Leith path, then along the canal. My white bike turned black! It was almost all downhill though, which was a welcome relief after the morning's uphill sections.


View 20milers Feb11 to the Reservoirs in a larger map

Next month (12th March) I (Livia) will be leading the group out to Cammo with lunch in Cramond, then return along the Waterfront and back through Leith. Not nearly as much hill climbing, except at the very end when we have to get back to the middle of town. There will be a couple of very short stretches of busy road, but most will be on quiet roads and tracks.

February's route

Our leader this month will be Alan. His current plan is to take us out towards Colinton and Bonaly, and then alongside the Pentland reservoirs, and down to Balerno for lunch. We'll then have a nice easy return trip to town by the Water of Leith path and the Union Canal.

 

The route involves some short stretches on main roads, and a couple of moderate climbs, both of which will be out of the way early in the day. After that, we can expect some excellent cycling along quiet lanes and paths, with fine views of the Pentland Hills for part of the way.

 

The total distance will just about 20 miles, which we'll take out our usual gentle pace.

 

As always, the route should be regarded as provisional. If the weather turns bad, we might choose a shorter route, as we did in January.