[Closed] Pentland route for a visitor

That would work. whereabouts are yo based? Maidens is best done in the other direction - just more fun that way

Don't go expecting anything too crazy, pretty basic up the Pents.

Thanks TandemJeremy. I'm not expecting "by the seat of your pants" stuff - just a spin out somewhere new although there looks some decently steep descents.

Oops - forgot TJ. I'm in the city just now but based near Lancaster

I meant whereabouts in the city of Edinburgh - I usually ride out to the pentlands and climb into the hills from the other side - around colington or currie. One of the advatages to the Pentlands for me is that you don't need to drive to them

If I knew where you were starting from I could maybe pick you a route that avoids all the tarmac along the reservoirs and has more interesting stuff such as doing maidens the other way

Oh I'm not sure where my hotel is yet so can't really say.

You're probably better doing that in the other direction. At least, Maiden's Cleugh is more fun in the other direction.

On the other hand, in the other direction your route would involve a descent down Beech Avenue from Green Cleugh to Thriepmuir. It's mainly a steep road (though there's some basic singletrack at its sides) so that's not ideal. As an alternative to that you could push up to Black Hill from Green Cleugh and ride the singletrack down to Black Springs and over to Harlaw but that may not be so obvious to navigate if you don't know the area or have a map with you. Hmm.

When going round Harlaw keep an eye out for singletrack in the trees that lie between the main paths and the reservoir itself. This is on the SW and NW sides of the reservoir.

If you're interested three of us will be leaving the Edinburgh bicycle Co-op (in Bruntsfield) at 6-ish for a ride tomorrow (tuesday). its supposed to be a merida marathon training ride, but the pace should be very average, i'm just trying to get used to my bike again. It won't be a 'classic' Pentlands route but will take in most of the sights and a couple of tops as well.

And ignore the naysayers, the pentlands are great unless you're expecting groomed trailpark trails or something out of the Alps...

just to muddy the waters...driving to Bonally car park will start you a lot higher!...and get you to more interesting routes (IMO)

If you can get on a group ride I'd do so...but am happy to suggest a route if you need to go solo. You might want to hi-jack a edinburgh road club ride (google them for theie web-site) they may do an evening ride.

I think it's mostly been said - do that loop the other way round - i.e. head for Green Cleugh first. When you get to the tarmac road, try some of the singletrack at the sides of the Beech Avenue (I prefer descending the one on the left).

After the bridge, you'll see a good path heading off right - take this through to Threipmuir. When you get to Harlaw Reservoir, look for paths in the trees on your right. These spit you out onto the main track again a couple of times, but it's worth diving in again when you can.

You'll then have an easy climb of Maidens and a nice descent back to Glencorse.

There's tons of lovely singletrack in the Pentlands, but most of it isn't on any map. Go up onto White Hill and you'll see various tracks down, some grassy and very steep, others made by local yoofs to a pretty decent standard. Or just follow your nose and head down any track you see heading into the heather. Most of the woods in the Pentlands have nice, rooty tracks in them too. We have a route up there that takes around 4 hours to do and has some fantastic riding. Unfortunately it's almost impossible to describe to someone who doesn't know the area well.