Circumnavigation of Edinburgh
Sat 10th March 2012

After this little detour Jim and I ran on to catch up with the rest of the group who were being led by Richard, one of the original architects of the route. By the time we caught them at Monktonhall it sounds like they had had a few more adventures than us, managing to find a broken sewage pipe that wasn’t on the route I’d chosen, but all was good.

It’s a bit more of a mess even than normal at the old colliery, though we passed the most bizarre mound of car bumpers – must remember that if I ever need a new one. We then ran through the Newhailes estate (very nice) down towards Portobello with a few taking in some sand on the way to a bacon roll stop. With great timing the cyclists met us as we were on our way along the promenade.

We ran up from Cramond along the edge of the river up through the Cammo estate past the now closed recycling centre up to the RBS headquarters. On the tarmac dogleg that we need to take thanks to the tram works (though those pesky cyclists cheated and went through the depot!) Digby decided that his legs didn’t work anymore and called it a day.
We regrouped at RBS and then headed up to Woodhall Road where we joined up with Margaret F who supplied us with some fabulous tablet. I’m not sure what was in it but everyone was able to blast up the hill to the reservoir in record time... We caught the Four Cyclists of the Apocalypse (tm) on White Hill and overtook on the climb but they caught up again when everyone stopped and Jim said, “Hey, why don’t we go up Caerketton, it’s just up there” . Most of the runners go yep, good idea and off we go up the track Jim was pointing to. Keith had the better and more measured answer of “No” and headed along the original route to the pub. Now if you don’t know this part of the Pentlands too well, as proven in this instance, there’s quite a bit more to these parts of the hills than you might think. Jim was about a hill or two short of where he thought we were so there were quite a few tussock strewn and heathery steep climbs before we made it finally up to the top. It was, however, worthwhile as we got to sit at the eastern cairn and look back over Edinburgh and got a chance to see the route we had just run. Oz summed it up well – “It’s a bloody long way”. No argument there. The other good thing about coming down from Caerketton is that you can see the pub on the way down; it’s always a great sight! Even with knee shredding and extra hill climbs we finished in daylight a little ahead of schedule thanks to the boundless energy and pace from all involved with Graham and Hilary H leading the way in that respect.
All the finishers plus a few we’d lost along the way ended up in the Steading for a well deserved beer or two and some good pub grub. I’m going to use Jim's description of the run – it’s a very long pub crawl but with a lack of pubs. Much sympathy to Willie G who turned up at the pub to join us for a pint just as everyone was leaving! Thanks as always to everyone who came along for great company and chat to make this a great way to spend a Saturday and well done especially to the record eight runners and four cyclists who managed the whole route. Many thanks also to Keith for organising the cycling as always.

Andy Millard

Industrial Cycles around Edinburgh

The advantage of a bike for this outing is that there’s a fair proportion of tarmac that can get a bit tedious at running pace.  On foot you only have three gears: run, jog and walk.  With the marvels of Shimano, Campag, SRAM or even Sturmey Archer you have the wherewithal to fast-forward the dreary sections and enjoy the rough stuff.  It’s all about impedance matching.  That’s the theory anyway; add on the practical stuff of equipment breakdown, man-made barriers to progress (railway track blockages, sleepers, hedges, barbed wire and tram depots) and the relative merits of foot vs. wheel begin to even up.  Without apportioning ownership between the four of us, we suffered saddle clamp fracture, puncture, toe-clip self-disassembly, multiple chain throws and a spectacular slide on White Hill.  Along with some more relaxed stops for bacon rolls and tea, all these factors helped to more-or-less synchronise our finish with the runners (who surely can’t match the varied entertainment value of the bike).  
Our route had minor (usually lengthier) detours off the Lathian purist parliamentary boundary route to take in both disused, working and embryonic (Borders Railway) sections of the railway network, Edinburgh sewage treatment works, some challenging field margins and the Clockwork Orange country around Millerhill with its National Car Fender Archive and Fly-Tipping Training Centre.  These are our local examples of industrial renewal following the not-too olden days (1960s) of Monktonhall Colliery and the Millerhill hump marshalling yard.  The middle game along the shore was routine with some useful drafting into the strong headwind.  After lunch at Cramond we made an interesting detour around the western margins of the Cammo Estate and through the tram depot.  At the canal I gave a solitary wave to the memory of John Scott Russell as we crossed his memorial bridge, musing on the assistance of one of his own for the climb to Currie.  The dramatic contrast of White Hill at dusk was a fitting finale to a day that shows there are indeed cheaper alternatives to joining a golf club, despite what the magazine In my dentists told me last week.  The exercise was almost as entertaining as the scenery.  

Keith Burns