Myself and my girlfriend are moving to the UK this summer and we’re trying to decide what city to live in. I’m Irish and she’s from New Zealand.

For me mountain biking is going to be a substantial deciding factor. I’ve lived in London before and biked around Surrey Hills (which were great). I used to commute to the trails via train which while inconvenient, was possible.

I’ve never been to Edinburgh and would love to know how the mountain biking in the area is?
How do the trails compare to Surrey Hills?
Are there trails accessible by train or is a car needed?

Open to suggestions to other cities or any general opinions on Edinburgh would be appreciated.

Cheers
Tom

I’ve never been to Edinburgh and would love to know how the trails compare to Surrey Hills? Are there trails accessible by train or is a car needed?

I’d say simply you can’t compare the 2 they are so different!!
https://www.trailforks.com/region/london-116/
https://www.trailforks.com/region/edinburgh/?lat=55.943873&lon=-3.325572&z=9&m=trailforks
Whats the main driver for location is it work or something else sending you there.

Yes, mainly work. We chose the UK as I can work there being Irish and she can get a work permit easily. I work in Software Development (been on an extended career break in a Whistler Ski Resort :D) and my girlfriend works as an Accountant. Edinburgh and London seemed like good choices career wise. Edinburgh appeals to me as its smaller than London and not so expensive.

Unless you are set on those 2 places I’d probably condsider spreading the net further for the right job in the right place, personally it would take enough money to work 3 days a week to move down to London so I had enought time to escape, from Edinburgh you could nip down to Peebles/Glentress in an hour. Glasgow is well located too along with Manchester/Leeds etc.

Edinburgh, if you want to stay in Europe..

Plus, access to heaps of natural riding very easily.

They are quite different, one is a provincial town in size (though called a city) the other a true ‘world city’.
Depending on what you are looking for either might suit.

Bristol!

They are quite different, one is a provincial town in size (though called a city) the other a true ‘world city’.[/I]

Not ‘quite’ but ‘very’.

Two totally different places (I’ve worked in both and use to live 40 miles from London and now live 40 miles from Edinburgh).

And yes you’ll need a car in Edinburgh, tbh you pretty much need a car in any city IMO if you want the flexibility to go MTBing as/when.

Check out:

https://www.trailforks.com/nearby/?lat=55.950254&lng=-3.187606

Look south of Edinburgh, Tweed Valley. MTB mecca.

I live close to London and regularly ride-out to the Surrey Hills. I’ve also been making regular visits to Scotland and the Tweed Valley and there’s no real comparison. Evening trips to Glentress on a bright, sunny day and you’d have the place literally to yourself. We’d move to Scotland tomorrow if circumstances were right. Furthermore, drive an hour or two north from Edinburgh and you’ve got some real mountains.

I lived in London for about 4 years, and whilst managed to mtb a lot, found it a massive pain. As much as I loved living there, and like going back, I can’t recommend to anyone who wants any type of outdoors lifestyle.

They are poles apart, riding from your doorstep in Edinburgh, cheaper to live, better all around quality of life probably. Without question I would choose Edinburgh.

Another option is Bristol, it’s where I moved, trails close by town, and amazing riding within an hours drive.

Also, crying out for Software developers in and around Bristol.

In Edinburgh you will get double the size of flat for your money!

I have a house in Edinburgh (on the edge of the Pentland Hills) and a place in London (Essex border – very close to Epping forest) and for mountain biking there is no comparison, Edinburgh is vastly better. If you wanted to balance access to decent jobs and lifestyle with access to mountain biking I can’t think of anywhere better in the UK, especially if you pick a location right on the edge of the Pentlands. I find that in Edinburgh most of my riding is mountain biking, where as in London I mostly do road biking.

If your job allows think about the Bristol area, south Wales, FoD, Quantocks, Dartmoor and BPW, Afan, Cym Carn all within easy reach

@northerntom living in Guildford I had a fabulous outdoor lifestyle with superb riding and walking on my doorstep. 1 mile to the station and 35 mins on train to Waterloo. 1hr to coast. Alternatively lived in central London and 45 min drive on a Sunday morning to Surrey Hills.

OP depends upon your balance between work and play. Work wise I have to believe London will be much better in terms of opportunity and pay (double?). Edinburgh is going to win hands down for outright play opportunities. Yes younwill need a car, services like ZipCar are great but quite expensive (£50 a day which makes a ride £££ but freely available and bookable via the app) or just buy a £1-3k small-ish weekend car you can put bikes/kit in.

Jamba – how many software developers have you hired to work in Edinburgh? No shortage of opportunity and rates are good (not quite London silly, but then house and beer prices are only crazy rather that totally ridiculous). But obviously the streets of London are paved with gold.

jambalaya – Member
Work wise I have to believe London will be much better in terms of opportunity and pay (double?). Edinburgh is going to win hands down for outright play opportunities.

Not sure on pay. I’m not a software developer but work in IT in Edinburgh. The difference in salaries for my role between the two cities is minimal and definitely doesn’t offset the extra cost of living in London. I’d be a lot poorer living in London than in or near Edinburgh.

@jambalaya – Guildford isn’t London (as I’m sure you’re aware). The OP is talking about London. When I lived in hammersmith it was usually at least an hour drive to Peaslake, and usually worse on the way back, up to 2 hours on a Sunny Sunday.

Whilst Guildford is a great compromise for working in London and still having a bit of the outdoors, it doesn’t compare to what is on offer in Bristol and especially Edinburgh. Industry dependant, pay certainly isn’t double for living in London. I would say anywhere from 5-25% higher. I took a £10k paycut moving from London, and I am better off because of it.

I’ll put it this way, my mortgage for a 2 bed house in central Bristol is the same as my rent for a room in a 3 bed flat in Hammersmith.

Go to London! I guarantee you’ll either be mugged or not appreciated. Catch the train to London, stopping at Rejection, Disappointment, Backstabbing Central and Shattered Dreams Parkway.

I’d be choosing Edinburgh all day long.

Tech companies seem to be springing up all over the place at the moment, house prices are reasonable and with the tram and trains in place even commuting isn’t too much of an issue.

Edinburgh, easy winner.

Surrey Hills riding is brilliant, but the Tweed Valley is on another level – metaphorically and literally.

PS. Mentioning Tweed Valley as it’s similar journey time as SH from London. Quicker in a lot of cases.

Not sure on pay. I’m not a software developer but work in IT in Edinburgh. The difference in salaries for my role between the two cities is minimal and definitely doesn’t offset the extra cost of living in London. I’d be a lot poorer living in London than in or near Edinburgh.

It’s an interesting question. When I moved from Edinburgh to London my salary increased by 50% however when attracted me to moving wasn’t really money but more the access to opportunities as pretty much all the larger consulting firms are HQ’d here (and even when they have offices elsewhere they still prefer their senior folks to be London based). In my current role I’m not specifically required to be London based however I couldn’t really do my job effectively without being down here a lot, hence the move.

Edinburgh.

London is oppressive, and sod driving that long to still be somewhere as rammed as the Surrey hills.

@jambalaya – Guildford isn’t London (as I’m sure you’re aware). The OP is talking about London.

When people say London what they usually mean is “reasonably commutable into London”.

Edinburgh, even if I didn’t ride bikes.

Bristol would be alright too, but Edinburgh is just the best.

I worked at the Amazon development centre in Edinburgh (can recommend). The difference in pay between Edinburgh and London for a graduate was about 10K.

Cardiff worth a look too.

I was brought up cycling in the borders including the tweed valley before it became famous, on a rigid bike with v-brakes. When I moved south, to Colchester then farnborough, I kept looking for all this great biking that the mags talked about near London but was disappointed (spoilt by what had gone before). Sorry but the South Downs are nice but there’s no comparison.

You could buy a 4 bedroom detached with garden and an hour commute into centre of Edinburgh for less than a two bed flat with the same commute in London. One will be in the green countryside the other off a high street.

Scrap that, you could by a small estate for the price of a two bed in streatham

I moved from Wellington to Edinburgh, have also lived in London.
Very different cities and depends what you want but for sheer access to hills then Edinburgh has some, is near some and lets you drive to lots !
There’s loads of alternatives I’m sure but as said before depends on what you want.
On jobs, there’s plenty of opps here but as epicsteve said if you want to climb the ladder get ready to join the sheep on the 06:40 to City on a monday morning. I hold a senior role and manage it down to a couple of days every few weeks with lots of Hangouts and Webex time but I work hard to do that as I hate being in London.

EDIT: Riding from town is not exactly hard, i live in Colinton mainly as its at the base of the Pentlands. You can ride from home to Peebles and Inners and back in a day offroad if you are that way inclined (I am). Also done a few train adventures, train to Perth Glen Almond then round that way. Train to Blair and ride to Aviemore etc. Heaps of access.

You could buy a 4 bedroom detached with garden and an hour commute into centre of Edinburgh for less than a two bed flat with the same commute in London. One will be in the green countryside the other off a high street.

Scrap that, you could by a small estate for the price of a two bed in streatham

Yep.

We’ve an old mill with numerous outbuildings and about 1/2 acre an hours commute (train or car) from central Edinburgh (my wife works in the centre).

When we moved up 5 years ago it was worth exactly half what our 3-bed detached went for in Aylesbury (which isn’t an expensive part of the SE by any imagination).

I live in London, and ride at Swinley Forest and (much more recently) the Surrey Hills via train. In your position, I’d choose Edinburgh.

You could buy a 4 bedroom detached with garden and an hour commute into centre of Edinburgh for less than a two bed flat with the same commute in London.

As it happens I own a 5-bedroom house in a very nice part of Edinburgh (Balerno) and a 2-bedroom flat in London (well, just into Essex but still under an hour into central London) and both are roughly the same value. The flat isn’t on a high street though – it’s in 200 acres of parkland.

10 minutes to the station and an hour to central Edinburgh. £2600 for a year season ticket. Surely London can’t offer this for a work life balance for the money.

no bad like

Have you thought about trying out New Zealand instead OP? Wellington is a pretty amazing place to live. I know it’d be you looking for the work permit there, but software devs are on the long term skills shortage list so you shouldn’t have any problems…

If Edinburgh’s on the list you might want to think about Glasgow. Roughly the same size but mountains (proper actual mountains) are closer and I found cycling around much easier within the city (canal towpaths, riverside walks and the like). Also, I found Glasgow a lot more vibrant than Edinburgh.
London has all the attractions of a swarm of exploding killer bunnies as far as I’m concerned.

If Edinburgh’s on the list you might want to think about Glasgow. Roughly the same size

Glasgow is a fair bit bigger than Edinburgh and quite different in character. I quite like the place, and there are some really nice areas, but wouldn’t really want to live there.

but mountains (proper actual mountains) are closer

Probably more of interest if you’re a hillwalker than a mountain biker and not really that much of a difference anyway. On the other hand Edinburgh has the Pentlands and decent borders hills nearby.

and I found cycling around much easier within the city (canal towpaths, riverside walks and the like).

Edinburgh is also pretty good for cycling within the city as it also has decent towpath and riverside options.

Also, I found Glasgow a lot more vibrant than Edinburgh.

Vibrant as in, higher likelyhood of getting stabbed…?

I’d be choosing Edinburgh all day long.

Edinburgh, easy winner.

This! Quality of life is everything.

Glasgow

I think Living in edinburgh is a bit shit. Its fine but not great

Glasgow is much more betterer

Or move to peebles and commute.

For me mountain biking is going to be a substantial deciding factor

If you’re serious about this, it’s rare for anyone to put London high on their list. Particularly comparing it to Scotland

I live in London, I don’t live here for the mountain biking. I love it here, but I was born here so I live here because my life and family are here. I’ve spent the last few days in Snowdonia and whilst I enjoyed it I’m a townie so a big city suits me

1 bed flat in Streatham now c£400k – you’ll struggle to pay less than £400 for a 2-bed anywhere in a London postcode now…

Data shows 30-somethings are leaving London now – partly cost of living, partly it’s having the soul ripped out of it culturally – all the independent businesses, the clubs, the music venues, the artists are being pushed out by corporate money and the huge sums of corrupt foreign money being laundered through property and the City… The immigrants as well as indigenous are leaving IME.

London will still be a great city IMO but it’s losing the appeal it had which made it so popular in the first place.

You may find it easier to get a job if people are leaving of course but cost of living will still be astronomical and for me there’s no point living in a city if you don’t have the cash to make the best of all the opportunities it offers.

I’ve moved out now (50 miles away) but stay with a friend at weekends in zone 2. I’d move back if I could afford it but right now it’s cheaper to live out and pay for accommodation at weekends than it would be to either rent or buy in a London postcode

Glasgow is a great city, feels more down to earth than Edinburgh. Do the stats say it’s more violent?

b r 1hr from Edinburgh includes most of the central belt.

Edinburgh is great for riding from your door – road also. Glasgow is much bigger.

On that affordability point I suspect that’ll be a significant factor in this. If you can afford a decent lifestyle in London (either because you’ve already got cash or can earn a lot more there) then it becomes a more viable choice. Edinburgh isn’t cheap by most standards, but it most certainly is compared to London however there aren’t as many career opportunities.

I’m still slightly torn as part of my is thinking that I could just downsize to an studio flat in London for when I’m down here, but make Edinburgh my main base. It’d mean my wife changing jobs though as she also works down here and doesn’t have the flexibility I do with locations.