Going to be in Edinburgh with the bike on Monday and looking for somewhere to go. Pentlands seems obvious choice but with all the talk of avoiding certain bits when ground wet puts me of a wee bit not knowing the area at all. Are the bits to avoid marked as such or is it obvious to see? Will the visitor centre have sugested routes. Any help guidance appreciated thanks.

This route is a good starter for a few hours out on the bike. If you are riding there from Edinburgh, you can start above Currie/Balerno to the east of Harlaw. I normally do it clockwise, and most of it is reasonable in the wet.

Avoid the path you can see on that map which goes along the north side of Black Hill, as it is boggy when wet.

If doing it clockwise, the part of the route at the west of the map which goes down a road lined with trees just before it crosses the reservoir has some singletrack either side of the road, so you aren’t wasting a descent on the tarmac.

Cheers for that. Was thinking of riding out from BlackHall area depending on the day.

Thats a decent route – email me if you want some to ride with

Hey islander – it all depends on what the weekend is like, the Pentlands really need a few good dry / warm days to start to dry out. There are still routes that are not too bad when it is wet. How long a cycle do you want to do? Couple of hours? Half day? Longer?

I am not sure if the visitor centre will be that helpful.

Official map is at http://download.edinburgh.gov.uk/Pentlands/Pentland_Map5.5_RGB_Low_Res2.pdf

Google maps is at http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=http:%2F%2Feucc.eusu.ed.ac.uk%2Fpentlands.kmz&jsv=107&ie=UTF8&t=h&ll=55.830034,-3.322733&spn=0.155503,0.228526&source=embed

In that case, I’d head up the Water of Leith (pick it up at Murrayfield by Roseburn Park) to get to the Pentlands. When you get to Currie, head up the Kirk Gate (tarmac road climb) or the nearby Poets Glen path (tricky climb to keep momentum up) to get up to the Pentlands, and you can pick up the above route just beyond the top of the Kirk Gate.

Poet’s makes a nice descent too back to the Water of Leith when you are done. There are lots of other little options, but that will give you a good basic route.

Hope to get a half day in but no fixed plans as depends on other halfs movements. TJ kind offer.
Hadn’t really sussed out a route there so thanks for putting that up. How long roughly?

ooooo, the blatant plagiarism of Druidh’s map…

There might be some interesting reading in this previous thread, Islander.

That one up there is my standard wet-weather, got-to-get-a-ride-in lap, works either way but clockwise is preferred I reckon. It’s not amazing but it’s nice.

pixelmix’s route is the most common route I think. I agree that clockwise is better – the singletrack down the tree lined road is short but very sweet. It is only a 1 1/2 or 2 hour route though.

True. Maybe 3 hours door to door if riding up the Water of Leith to get there. TJ will be able to show you some minor deviations.

A lot of the bits on Druidh’s google overlay map are best avoided in the wet, but will give you a few ideas.

Thanks all, plenty info there to give me good few options.
TJ mailed you.

the singletrack down the tree lined road is short but very sweet.

Whereas the climb up is endless and bitter