Edinburgh

ben@31

Hello,

I'm new to Edinburgh, have cycled in and out of the city centre 3 or 4 times now. A lovely looking city but the road surface !!! Absolute terrible, perhaps the worst I've came across. Has the roads ever been resurfaced since they were built After 10 minutes I was thinking about going back home and swapping my road bike for my full sus MTB.

Can anyone recommend any nice routes to do on an evening? From Colington Rd, Napier Uni ? I'm still exploring and trying to find the best roads and where the cycle lanes are (without getting run over or shaken to bits).

I'm impressed by how many cyclist commuters they are in Edinburgh, at first I wondered why few waved back but then my hand hurt from constant waving I've learned I need to get a bell for the canal tow path too.

Thanks.

P.S. Does anyone know what the costal route from Leith to south Queensferry is like (part of national cycle route 76) ? Is it doable on a road bike or is it a gravel path.

andyrr

Evening route ?
You are tarting from just up the road from my parents place so I know the area well - my Dad still cycles most evenings so you might bump into him (careful, I don't think he's the most attentive person in the world ever !)
I know that some of the road surface around there is appalling - having said that , I live a few miles outside of Edinburgh itself now and when I've cycled into the centre I am sometimes still shocked by how bad the roads are, I would ride an MTB if I had a cross-city commute.
If you want a shortish evening ride from there then I am not sure what I would recommend TBH - say an hour circular route, you can get away from the busier parts in that time but you are not yet onto the quieter roads.
If you head for Biggar (A702 past Snowsports centre / Lothianburn Golf club) - A702 is a pretty busy A-road, A701 towards Penicuik is also quite busy although if you head for Roslin or Auchindinny then you do start to get away from some traffic, Once off the A701 you can head on some B-roads towards Rosslinlee/Carrington ?

A70 Lanark Road is also probably reasonably busy until you get through from Currie but that is you heading away from streetlights and might be too far ?

If you have a greater distance available to you then you could head towards Innerleithen, Romannobridge etc,
Not so sure about the route across towards S. Queensferry, I have done that in the past but not for a few years and I used to find it a bit of a trek.