Summer ride in the Pentlands

Those present on today's ride will recognise the irony of the blog post title. Drizzle, light rain, dry but damp and misty - we had the lot on our ride to Harelaw Reservoir. Everything except warmth or sunshine. Early in the ride, one rider said, "if it gets no worse than this, I can put up with it". Granted, it could have been a lot worse, but it is July. Given the weather, it was a pleasant surprise to see 21 riders gather at the start, including several new faces.

It was cool and drizzly as we left the Meadows and made our way to Roseburn Park. A sign at the top of Leamington Terrace told us the road was closed, but threading our way past the sign, we found it wasn't. What we did find was that the road surface was as shockingly bad as ever. We can only hope they are going to resurface it. By the time we reached Roseburn Park, we had encountered no less than three sets of temporary traffic lights. Delays were minimal, and the whole group managed to get through each set. Through the back streets of Balgreen, through Carrick Knowe and Broomhouse and we were negotiating our way through the Gyle centre car park. Via Edinburgh Park, the subway and Gogar Station Road we arrived at Heriot Watt University where we had a comfort stop. Ian passed round delicious homemade cake which would sustain us on the climbs that lie ahead. We left Heriot Watt by the back entrance, through Curriehill and the quiet back streets of Currie to cross Lanark Road West and join the Water of Leith path. In Balerno, we took a slightly different route from our usual one. This one involved the same overall ascent but was spread over a somewhat longer distance, so we  avoided the worst of the gradients. From the number 44 bus terminus, we took a quiet cut through to re-join our usual route at Malleny Mills, and onwards to Harelaw Reservoir. Thanks to the unseasonal weather, the verges on the road to the car park were devoid of cars, and the car park itself was far from full.

Although it was cool and the hills were shrouded in mist, we managed to eat our picnic lunches in the dry. But no sooner had we set off on the homeward leg, the heavy drizzle returned and it turned cooler still. The rough path down towards Clubbiedean was treacherous in places. In the interests of self-preservation, we walked a few short sections. There followed some most welcome surfaced tracks, then more rough stretches. At the bottom of one steep descent was a wooden bridge. It was soaking wet and riding on it was akin to soap on marble. Fortunately, everyone got safely across, but the writer did have a wee heart-in-the-mouth moment. Back on smooth tarmac, all was going well until we met a large SUV heading up towards us. As it took up most of the width of the road, one-by-one we had to squeeze past on the grass verge. All the times we've been down that track over the years, yet no one ever recalled having met a vehicle coming up. The remainder of the descent into Bonaly passed without incident. As did our ride back via Redford, Greenbank and Morningside. At the Meadows, the leader declared the ride officially over.

Thanks to Mike for leading and Alan for back marking. The trip to Harelaw is always enjoyable, but the weather didn't help today. Let's hope for some proper summer weather by the time of our next ride.

Leader: Mike

Report: Glenn

Photos: Glenn

A summer meander to Dalkeith

Today's ride saw us meander our way to Dalkeith on what felt like a summer's day. Summer in Edinburgh so far could best be described as mixed. The preceding week had once again given us a day of wall-to-wall rain. Against this backdrop, we were blessed with a lovely summer's day. There was a slight breeze, sometimes it was a little cool. It wasn't continuously sunny; but it was pleasantly warm without being too hot - a perfect day for cycling. Obviously the weather played a large part in us having 35 starters. As ever, it was great to see a smattering of new faces in amongst the regulars. We split into two groups and rolled away from the start. Over the George Square cobbles, we twiddled through a mixture of back streets and main roads to find ourselves in Holyrood Park via Dumbiedykes Road. We crossed Queen's Drive to join the shared path which was busy with pedestrians on such a lovely day. From St Mary's Loch we began the climb up the road towards Dunsapie Loch. This was our first climb of the day, and was made less pleasant as this narrow road was busy with cars. Half way up the hill we left the road behind and joined the path that would take us through a gate into the back streets of Willowbrae. We waited for the second group to arrive as their leader was not totally sure where to leave the road. A quite indistinct path, it would be easy to miss. All sorted, the first group moved off. The quiet roads of Willowbrae were soon behind us and we made our way into Figgate Park. Through this delightful park and soon we were held up by temporary traffic lights and heavy traffic on Brighton place.

The cobbles on that road seem to get more bumpy every time we go down it. One rider was unfortunate enough to have the top part of their bell shake loose and fall in the road, where it was run over by a car. We then headed towards the beach and joined the Promenade beside the Portobello Swim Centre. Thanks to the weather, this section was very busy with pedestrians, dogs and cyclists. We took it carefully and emerged unscathed onto the road towards Musselburgh. A brief comfort stop at Fisherrow and we took quiet roads, crossed Olive Bank Road and made our way onto the lovely path beside the River Esk to Whitecraig. From there we took the busy A6094 to Dalkeith. Despite us splitting into smaller groups to make it easier for traffic to overtake, we still saw examples of reckless driving as drivers refused to be held up by troublesome cyclists. That road is probably one to avoid in future. Even the most experienced cyclists in the group didn't feel safe on it. Normally we would head into the back of Dalkeith country Park to avoid the road. But that wasn't an option due to the Dalkeith Country Show being held there. With a sigh of relief we left the road behind and twiddled through almost deserted back streets. As that bit of the route was quite tricky to follow, the leader went back to guide the second group through whilst the writer led the first group to the pub and picnic spot in King's Park.

After a nice lunch either sitting outside the pub or picnicing in the park, we were ready for our return journey.  Two riders that wanted to get back quicker tranferred from the second to the first group at this point. We headed out of Dalkeith on Lothian Road and turned into the new housing estate near the fire station. The leader must have got a sore arm as he got the group through the kissing gate. There is no record of how many kisses he received! Through Waterfall Park, across Newmills Road, through another park and we were back at the horrible A6094. Fortunately, we were not going back that way. Instead, cycle paths took us back to Whitecraig via Dalkeith High School. From Whitecraig we took the Grove back towards Musselburgh. But this time we turned off and headed towards the railway station. From there we took the familiar route back to the Meadows via the Innocent Railway. Thanks to Michael for leading us to a familiar place, but by an interesting and less common route. Was great to have something akin to proper summer weather; long may it continue. Was also good to see some new faces. Hopefully everyone enjoyed themselves and we'll see them on future rides.

Leader: Michael
Report: Glenn
Photos: Glenn
Map trace: Jim