Edinburgh misc. thread

I’ll be driving from central Edinburgh to Glentress tomorrow for some mountain biking, if anyone wants a lift?

similarly, I've never had any issues with windfarm access. they usually just ask you to observe the outdoor access code and be respectful around any working machinery... usually bastard hard riding inside them, mind, since they all seem to be built on big hills

Just saw a bunch of folk doing an e-bike tour down the innocent railway path. Did I hear someone on here runs them? My DAS by the Jewel was met with looks of confusion so not you I guess

There’s a firm down in Newhaven who have set up doing ebike tours - they were still setting up last time I went by (summer 2020 IIRC) - which would be in the right place to see them on the old railway (never heard it called the innocent railway but google confirms we’re on about the same place). Didn’t seem like forum types when I stopped to chat but you never know.

We have 6 E bikes in our fleet, so might have been Ricky (Tall, beardy, on a Cinelli.) Ive been away drinking my body weight so wasn't me anyway. There is another few folk doing tours so maybe not us but yeah we take the Innocent Railway Path. I think the brakes on my Tour de Fer are too shit for skids :(

The bikes were a kinda ebike/brompton/fatbike mixup. Tail rider was indeed bearded and on a regular bike. Too busy with kids to pay close attention to exactly what the ride was.

Guess the e-assist stops non-regular riders struggling up the hills and being outside minimises the plague risk. So not a bad wheeze for tourists on a sunny day! Gets them away from the royal mile without being on one of those terrible buses

'Tis very popular during "the season" and of course more so pre-plague, will wind down now but don't completely close down.

I'm back at it tomorrow.

Reekie folk - What hotels are worth it these days for a long weekend for my partner and I?

Neither of us have been there for a looong time, and, to be fair, never actually stayed in hotels when we were up there.

I assume the Caledonian and the Balmoral are still overpriced tourist traps?

I walk by this regularly and always thought it looks nice inside. The Bonham Hotel
https://maps.app.goo.gl/RkWZmpzb92xLHzUu6

the eden locke ? if you can get one of the cheaper rates

Thanks for the recommendations, both - we've ended up booking a small hotel in the West End

If anyone fancies some Strava art...there is a tiny bit of gravel involved.

https://www.strava.com/activities/6242681283

Anyone know any other arty routes?

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Sorry a bit OT, but I'm coming up with the kids early april and we want to get cheap tickets for the camera obscura. ScotRail have a promotion on, but I'm not 100% sure what we would need to do to get the discounted price. It's £80 for the five is us, any advice gratefully received

Anyone got a bike or bike-frame sized cardboard box going spare?

If all else fails Edinburgh Bike usually have them for a £5 donation to charity

Any recommendations for a skip service? My girlfriend's mum needs to do a massive clearout of old crap

Me again - anyone have any recommendations for poster or flyer printing services?

Depends on size/quantities but Copy Shop on St Mary’s St is cheap and fast.

Anyone had cycling gear fixed up at any place in town?

Need some bib shorts fixed around the pad from rubbing on the stitching.

Will just end up at the place on Bruntsfield if there are no glowing recommendations of elsewhere. Cheers.

Hiya, I'll be spending some time in the city over winter. Anywhere particularly cycle friendly/places I should know?

Cheers!

What sort of things are you looking for? As a cycling destination Scotland is world class in all disciplines and Edinburgh is good too, doesn't take long to get out of the city and onto lovely quiet roads/gravel. 45 min drive south you're in the Tweed Valley, the home of Scottish mountain biking.

I can give you some strava/komoot routes etc.

I suppose places to ride to from city centre ish. Quite familiar with Tweed valley already! Looking to bring my SS & cx bikes across for some road ish based riding/exploring.
Routes would be ace!

How far do you want to go?

100km will get you to Dundee and take in some beautiful, quiet lanes along the way. Then you can sip a beer or two on the train back as you cross the Forth Rail Bridge.

Dalmeny is good for a shorter gravel/CX blast.

Pentlands is good too for longer gravel/CX stuff.

And East Lothian for road stuff.

There’s a Hills ride on Tuesday evenings, basically a load of cobbled hills that you can ride as fast as you want. It’s a no-drop ride and goes at chatting pace between the hills with a pub at then end. Look up outliers.cc on Instagram.

Any recommendations for good/engaging histories of Edinburgh, or any other local history? My mate came up from London the other day, asked me about the history of the city and reminded me I know nothing about it.

Do mean walking tours etc? The tours of the South Bridge Vaults are pretty decent, loads of operators run them but they're all essentially the same. I went on the one run by Mercat Tours

https://www.mercattours.com/view-tour/ghostly-underground