Route out – Gorebridge to Edgehead to Whitecraig to Newcraighall. For route map click here.
Route back – Newcraighall to Brunstane to Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh to Gilmerton to Eskbank to Newtongrange to Gorebridge. For route map click here.
See route on Strava.
- Weather – dry and sunny but very windy and cold.
- Bike type – road bike
- Distance travelled – 25.7 miles
- Riding time – 2 hours 10 minutes
- Maximum speed – 25.9 mph
- Average speed – 11.8 mph
- Height climbed – 1400 feet
A couple of Sundays ago Dad and I managed to get out for a cycle to Edinburgh, or to be exact, Newcraighall on the Eastern side of the city. Unfortunately we were fooled by the weather though. Looking out the window at lunchtime, it had looked like a lovely sunny day, perfect for a bike ride. Sadly, as we cycled along the B6372 from Gorebridge towards Edgehead, we soon discovered that it was very windy and it was blowing straight from the north. This was 90 degrees to our direction of travel, making cycling in a straight line very tricky and the wind chill was very severe too. As well as making us cold, the wind also slowed us down a lot (especially me…) but rather than turning around and heading home, we soldiered on and we actually had quite a nice time.
After turning off the B6372, we headed extremely slowly into the wind up the steep hill through Edgehead. Eventually we reached the top of the hill and got some brilliant views over to Edinburgh and Fife in the distance. Soon we turned right onto the narrow and bumpy road to Fordel Mains Farm and we stopped at our usual spot around halfway along to enjoy the views of Arthur’s Seat and the Pentland Hills. We didn’t stop for long though as we had to try and keep warm… After the farm we took the A6124 and sped down the steep hill as fast as we could manage without freezing to death (probably only about 20 mph today). Another cyclist zoomed past us at about twice the speed! We stayed on this road for a mile or so more of gentle free(ze)-wheeling until we reached the roundabout just outside Musselburgh. Here we turned left and cycled through the village of Whitecraig (not much to see there) and then turned right at the mini-roundabout, following the signs for Cycle Route no.1. Soon after that we turned left and followed the cycle route off road onto well surfaced cycle path that takes you right into the centre of Edinburgh with very few road sections. The path was quite quiet today (not many dog walkers around) and relatively sheltered from the wind so I enjoyed this part of the ride as we skirted round the golf course in Musselburgh and Queen Margaret University before reaching Newcraighall train station. We didn’t see any trains today annoyingly.
Soon we came to another station at Brunstane. This is the toughest section of the route as you have to cycle up and over the footbridge to get to the other side of the railway line. With our road bikes, we found this impossible so we just pushed our bikes but if you have a mountain bike, you may manage to cycle up those wooden steps. Not long after that we came to a signpost pointing to Rosslyn Chapel. We hadn’t been this way before but knew it would take us in the direction of home so decided to give that signposted route a go. It turned out to be quite a nice route, well signposted and mainly on quiet residential streets and shared use paths, taking us through Craigmillar with its amazing
high rise flats, passing right alongside the Royal Infirmary and then taking us through Moredun and Gilmerton. It was all uphill and quite a struggle at times but eventually we came to the outskirts of the city, not far from the bypass, and we got a great view southwards to the Moorfoot Hills in the distance. We could even see Gorebridge from here. So we free-wheeled down the new shared use path at the side of the busy Lasswade Road and at the mini-roundabout we ignored the sign for Rosslyn Chapel and turned left and cycled for about half a mile on a fairly busy “C” road until another mini-roundabout where we popped off the road again onto another shared use path next to the A772. (Interestingly, there is a new cycle path being created that runs alongside the “C” road on an old railway line. It looks like it will be finished soon so we are planning to be the first people to use it!) Anyway, we stayed on the path for a while and it took us past Dobbies Garden Centre before we reached the busy A7 road. Here we had to be very careful crossing over onto the path at the other side of the road.
After that we took the B6392 road until Eskbank Toll roundabout in Dalkeith. It’s a busy road at times but it has a cycle lane at the side of the road to keep you safe. Then we cycled down the hill past Newbattle Abbey on the B703, before a rather long and slow uphill slog through Newtongrange for the last couple of miles to Gorebridge. It was a hard cycle, much hillier than you would imagine and very cold and slow because of the annoying wind. Thankfully, Dad made homemade pizza for tea (with king prawns, black olives and mushrooms) so that was excellent!
Rowan's Recommended Riding Routes 