Hi Folks,
I have not ridden in the Pentlands for many years, due to the walkers standing in front of me waving their arms about ad I tried to ride past. Has the situation up there got better since then? Do riders and walkers co-exist now or do they still hate our guts and our metal riding machines from Hell…
I used to ride from the Balerno end, but was scared for my life in the car parks there, so I was thinking of riding from the Flotterstone end now, if the riding is good and worth a trip up there.
If anybody has any comments about riding up the Pentlands, i.e. good routes, times to avoid etc, they would be muchly appreciated.
Cheers, Rob

Been riding the Pentlands for years, never had an issue with walkers.

i imagine terror gangs of OAPs still lurk in the car parks, but i’ve never had a problem with walkers.

will be muddy as shit right now though, i’d probably wait for it to freeze for a more enjoyable return.

Its fine, obviously it gets busy on a sunny sunday, but its all about mutual respect. It is very muddy up there at the moment though!

If you are getting that sort of reaction then it might be worth considering why. I live in Balerno so I have been going up there on a bike regularly for more than 10 years. I’ve had one slightly questionable incident in that time. I was also a Volunteer Ranger for a while and can confirm that there is little, if any, animosity between the various user groups.

As has been said, lots of the tracks are very wet and/or muddy at the moment, so be prepared.

Cheers for the info. There used to be dodgy folk and burnt out cars in the Balerno end car parks. I hope to do some night riding up there too, but will try it out in the daylight first, get some routes sorted. Is the one over the top OK, over Turnhouse Hill and Carnethy Hill then back on the road, might try that one first.

I’d leave going over the tops for a quiet summer evening myself.

Over the tops is muddy as hell right now. Ran over there on Saturday night and it was slippery to say the least.

No trouble with walkers or burning cars when I was up there and riding the Pentlands. I suspect “bigbadbob” is perpetrating a smear campaign for a rival range of hills.

The Ochils or perhaps the Lammermuirs? Most probably the Campsies – they always looked kinda shifty to me…