A Dalkeith Debut

For today's ride, we followed a well-worn route to a familiar destination. But the day was not without incident. It was characterised by a fierce wind that always seemed to be blowing in the wrong direction, and a potentially dangerous situation involving drawing pins, of which more later.

As we assembled at our meeting point, we became aware that something big was happening on the Meadows. That "something" turned out to be a huge gathering for an Orange Order parade involving 35 marching bands. It was later to occupy the whole of Middle Meadow Walk, not to mention completely clogging up Forrest Road and George IV Bridge  (according to a later press report). Fortunately, it didn't really get started until later in the morning, so we weren't greatly affected by it.

Our leader today was Alison, making her debut as a ride leader. Seventeen riders turned up, including a couple of new faces and a few older ones that we hadn't seen for a while. At this point, the day was dry and reasonably sunny, but very windy and with heavy showers forecast for later.

After Alison briefed us on the route and the lunch arrangements, we set off towards the Innocent Tunnel and the familiar NCN route via Brunstane and Newcraighall. All was going well until we were approaching Musselburgh Station, at which point the cry "Puncture!" was heard. For reasons too technical to go into, and despite sterling efforts by Alan and others, the puncture turned out to be unusually difficult to deal with. It was a good 20 minutes before we could continue. But with tasty home-made cakes being distributed while we waited, the time went quickly.

It transpired that the puncture was caused by no fewer than three drawing pins that had become embedded in the victim's front tyre. We later heard that there had been reports of drawing pins being scattered on various bike paths around Edinburgh, including one particularly nasty case in the Barnton area. It's not clear whether this was the result of carelessness on someone's part or (more likely) a deliberate act of mindless vandalism by some idiot with a grudge against cyclists. Either way, it was clearly very dangerous. Fortunately for us, the punctured tyre was the only casualty, but it could have been worse.

Once the puncture was dealt with, we set out again, heading now for the River Esk path, Whitecraig and the railway path to Dalkeith. It was on that path that we hit the first of the day's heavy showers. This continued as we skirted Dalkeith town centre and reached our lunch stop in the King's Park. With the rain now easing off, most of the group opted for a picnic in the park, but a few headed for the comfort of the café in the nearby supermarket.

Lunch over, and with the sun shining again, Alison led us on a twisty route through the woods to the south of the King's Park, emerging just east of the town centre. We then doubled back along a main road before turning into Dalkeith Country Park. We continued northwards through the park – no problem with the locked gate that had caused some difficulty for us on a previous visit here – before reaching Whitecraig. The wind was much stronger and very much in our face as we now retraced our earlier route back to Edinburgh via NCN 1.

As we approached the scene of the morning's puncture, Graham volunteered to ride ahead in search of any remaining drawing pins. He managed to find around 20 of the offending objects, which he dutifully removed from the path. Good work.

On the last section of the Innocent Path, we were hit by another sudden shower. This was heavy but short, and had cleared up by the time we reached the Meadows a few minutes later. Despite the wind, the rain and the other incidents, it was a very pleasant ride, at a comfortable pace and with a good lunch stop – and a successful debut for our leader.

Leader: Alison

Report and photos: Mike

A March meander to Riccarton

We had an excellent turnout for today's ride to Riccarton (I counted 28 but there might have been more), so leader Michael (Law) wisely decided to split us into two groups. Actually, it turned out to be three groups, but that was by accident rather than design; more about that in a moment.

Michael's group set out confidently and made it to the lunch venue without mishap. But before the second party was able to depart, that oh-so-familiar cry was heard: puncture! A couple of willing hands helped fix the problem, and before long the second group was on its way as well.

The unexpected closure of the canal towpath near Viewforth had forced us to make a hasty adjustment to our itinerary. Because of some uncertainty over the new route, the leadership of the second group was something of a joint effort involving Verity and myself. We were scarcely off the Meadows before we noticed that three members of the party were missing, including the backmarker and his deputy. (Was it not Oscar Wilde who said, "To lose one backmarker may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness." Well, maybe not.)

Rightly or wrongly, we made a decision to carry on without the three absentees. So we proceeded on our revised route down Whitehouse Loan, up Woodehouse Terrace and Braid Road to the Comiston Road traffic lights, and then into Braidburn Valley Park. There had been light drizzle at the start of the ride, but this was now giving way to clearer skies, giving us fine views of the Pentland Hills.

We followed the path beside the Braid Burn to Redford Road, then freewheeled down into Colinton, where we paused for a comfort break. Our route then took us up Woodhall Road, down West Mill Road and onto the Water of Leith path. A couple of miles later, we turned off the path and headed through Currie and into the back gate of the Heriot-Watt campus.

And so we reached our lunch venue, which was the spacious canteen in the university's main building. Considering the place is usually deserted on Saturdays, they offer a surprisingly good range of meals and snacks. As always the staff served us cheerfully and efficiently.

Michael's party had arrived about ten minutes before us, and left about ten minutes before our own departure. Just as we were getting ready to leave, who should arrive but the three riders that we had lost on the Meadows. It turned out that the person who had had the puncture at the start of the run had suffered the same fate again almost immediately afterwards. With no further inner tubes available, and with all attempts at patching the existing tube proving unsuccessful, the puncturee and the two helpers/backmarkers headed for the Edinburgh Bike Co-op for a new tube. The problem thus solved, the three made record time catching us up. But we had no desire to hang around while they gobbled their belated lunch, so we again set out without them.

For the return leg of the ride, we took a slightly devious route out of the campus (to avoid a running race which was taking place that afternoon). Then, after crossing the main Calder Road, we headed along Gogar Station Road and into Edinburgh Park, past the Gyle shopping centre and South Gyle station, and then along the familiar route through Corstorphine, Balgreen, Roseburn, and so back to the Meadows. The first group had made it back a few minutes before us. The three riders in the third group, having finished their hasty lunch at the campus, had made a bee-line back to town on the canal towpath, and arrived not long after the rest of us. Thus re-united, members of all three groups partook of refreshments while sitting in the warm sunshine outside Peter's Yard café.

Leaders and backmarkers: Jim, Glenn, Michael, Mike, Neil, Verity, in various combinations
Report and photo: Mike
Map (showing third group's route): Jim