Well we had a wonderful bike ride to Dunfermline today. We visited Pittencrief Park, where we enjoyed a leisurely lunch in the Conservatory Café in Pittencrief House. The weather was very kind to us, being quite wary after yesterday’s downpour, we missed all the showers apart from a light shower at South Queensferry, and we were dry all day.

We left the Usher Hall at 10:15, went along to Fountainbridge, then down Dalry Road, along Murieston Crescent to  Russell Rd and on to the cycle path to join National Route 1 at Roseburn. We had one puncture at Barnton Ave West, some of us opting to offer moral support / lending tools, some others opting to wait at Cramond Brig. Just after 11pm we continued our journey. At New Burnshot, up the cycle path from Cramond Brig, we turned off route 1 to follow a minor road to access StandingStane Rd, turned on to Railway Path at Dalmeny. This path is now tarmac’d along its entire length to South Queensferry Scotmid supermarket. From there we went along Morrison Gdns to access Forth Road Bridge. We waited a wee while for Geoff and partner who were on a tandem and Mike H who was on his troubled recumbent (shame Rebecca wasn’t on the ride today). After a wee while waiting for them, we crossed the bridge.

Mike H wrote to me to say he saw us crossing the bridge, but he headed for Rosyth. We continued along Route 1 straight through Inverkeithing, across the double roundabout at Bois Bridge, turning north on to B981 (North Road). After about 750m (1/2 mile), we turned left on to Masterdon Road , which presented a stiff climb, but only up 35m. We crossed straight over the B916 (Aberdour Road) to follow Linburn Road.  After 1.5 km, Route 1 turns off the road to follow Lyne Burn up to the A907, we crossed over this to join the first part of the Dunfermline – Alloa Railway Path. We journeyed past East End Park (Home to Dunfermline Athletic), the along Ley’s Park road, Holyrood Place and East Port  to access the High Street and finally Bridge Street to arrive at our destination Pittencrief Park at about 12:45pm.

We left at about 2pm, we went through the Pittencrief Park, which had some stunning views of the Bridges and the Pentlandsto access the B9156, Limekilns Road, then along the A985, turning off at Hilton Road to go through Rosyth, along Ferry Toll Road to access the Forth Road Bridge. There were a few sports of rain at Rosyth, some people adopting waterproofs just before the bridge, other just after. After the Forth Road bridge, we retraced our steps (tracks), with a light shower as we went through South Queensferry and along the path to Dalmeny. We arrived back at Cramond Brig, sans rain, at about 4:30 pm. There was a quick chat about August ride possibilities, then we departed for home.

Thanks very much to all those who turned up, hoped you enjoyed it. I hope to see you on the next ride on August 1st.

Statistics

Distance:          70km (43.75 miles)
Average Speed:     18.3 km/h (11.43 mph) slow after an initial fast start
Total climbing:   668m (2192 feet)
Max Temperature:   20 deg C (68 deg F) what a difference from May, but the temperature did dip to 15 deg C in the shower.
Time cycling:       4 hours 12 mins