Edinburgh commuting?

Myself and the Mrs are looking at moving up to the Tweed Valley (probably Peebles).  Only problem is that Mrs B will need to travel down to Sheffield and/or Birmingham every two or three weeks to do a block of ‘in office’ days (stopping overnight to avoid really long days). She’ll only have to put up with this for about 3 years before retirement, so is thinking it’ll be bearable.  We’ve been visiting the Tweed Valley for years, so reasonably familiar with it, but I’m slightly sceptical about the reality of commuting.  We are thinking of going up for a couple of weeks to rehearse this commute first, but I’m looking for some feedback from anyone else who’s done similar.

The plan is to either get the train from Galashiels to Edinburgh, then on to Sheffield – or, if we’re in Pebbles, for me to drive in and drop her at Waverley (avoiding rush hours if poss).

Does, or has, anyone on here got experience of commuting in & out of, and ‘darn sarf’ from Edinburgh? If you have, can you let us know how you find/found it please.

A bit left field but maybe fly Edinburgh to Manchester then train commute to Sheffield?

I drive from peebles everyday used to be straight across the centre of town but now i’m on the outskirts. Its not difficult but is tedious as any commuting is.

The bus will get you to waverly pretty much and they’re okay busses some take bikes aswell.

Cycling is doable too but its a bit wacky races sometimes.

I’d say gala into Edinburgh is a better bet. Also gives options more into the tweed valley. Depending on what type of lifestyle you want. But Innerleithen or if your willing to bet on creeping gentrification then walkerburn. Selkirk is nice enough and puts you 10 mins or so from tweedbank for the train.

Ah, now we hadn’t thought about Selkirk (had wondered about Gala) – thanks for the suggestion.

Oh, and flying….hmm.  My green credentials would guilt me out flying, but probably not bother the Mrs if it knocked hours off the journey😁

If you’re in Selkirk or Galashiels, maybe quicker to drive to Berwick for the train south?

I live in Innerleithen and used to commute to Sheffield for 2 nights every second week. I drove to Berwick and jumped on the train. Worked quite well. Was less stressful than driving all the way. I now commute to Edinburgh all the time and it’s bearable as long as I don’t sleep in and hit the bypass at the wrong time.

Thanks for the replies.  Sounding like there’s a few options, and great to hear from someone else who’s done the commute to Sheffield.  Driving to Berwick was another one I’d wondered about.  I’d only looked at the Berwick option via Google, and I’d just discounted it on the driving time – but the route Google suggested looked a real roundabout journey.

Saves driving north and fighting through the traffic in Edinburgh to catch the same train you would get in Berwick. The road to Berwick has hardly any traffic either so you can get a shift on. The fares were very cheap also as it’s not exactly a busy route. Parking was a doddle and cheap too. The only negative was the way home as the trains were overcrowded until past Leeds. Someone was always in my pre-booked seat and reluctant to move which was a pain when it was everytime.

I used to live in gala, now in Hawick, to be honest if it’s tweed valley you’re after then the closer to the gala end the more you’ll get for your money. Gala is having a bit of a slump at the moment as is hawick. Selkirk not so much. Clovenford is ok decent pub.
You’ll get twice the house at that end of the valley.

Could your wife drive to Birmingham or Sheffield. I commute daily from Peebles to Edinburgh it’s a nice drive. Doesn’t see many HGV’s as it’s not really a major thoroughfare.

I dont really know the trains, but if you are based in Peebles and your wife works in Birmingham it may be less hassle to get her to Lockerbie and catch a grain there. To get to Edinburgh from the Tweed Valley you have to head in the opposite direction. Getting to Lockerbie reduces this. You might get cheaper fares.

When buying a house you’ll get more for your money in Gala than Peebles. However there are reasons for that and they are very good reasons.

I live in Peebles. If I am travelling down the west coast main line then I drive to Lockerbie station via A701 to Moffat then M74, takes about an hour but cuts the out the drive north to Edinburgh Waverley and then train south. Parking is free at Moffat too. The A701 can be tricky in winter weather but there is an alternative via Biggar and Abington.

For east coast main line, personally I’d rather drive / bus to Edinburgh Waverley for the train, as the cross country drive to Berwick is tortuous.

Or A7 to Carlisle

When buying a house you’ll get more for your money in Gala than Peebles. However there are reasons for that and they are very good reasons.

Ha ha, you’re talking to people who moved to an ex mining village in England because of the appealing cheap house prices, so we know what you’re saying🙂

My green credentials would guilt me out flying

But not driving all over the country, apparently! 🙂

the cross country drive to Berwick is tortuous

A longish drive over totally empty A roads, zero traffic and really reliable journey time is tourtuous? I would live to know what your idea of a good journey is then?

Peebles to Berwock is a longish drive though. If it is only every few weeks for three years though then I would find it very doable. I guess you just need to be clear what is your priority. Is it the the ease of commute or longer term plans to stay in Peebles area.

I live in Melrose. 35 minutes drive to GT, riding form my door and (unreliable) train to Edinburgh. The reality is though that we are in the middle of a motorway vacuum. You do need to drive or train for one hour to get to a motorway or any mainline railway. If I was going to Sheffield I would not head north to Edinburgh to only travel back south again. I would drive one hour accross to Berwick and 3 hours south on the train.

As you’ve mentioned mining villages I’ll recommend Midlothian. Only half an hour from the valley, train or bus into Edinburgh. Some nice old miners housing or plenty of new builds on or near the A7 if that’s your thing. Depends on what your reason for moving to the Valley is. If you want the kind of riding 2 or 3 times a week then great. I love being close to Edinburgh for eating out, cinemas, museums etc, my other half loves the sea and the beaches in East Lothian are really underrated. We have miles of old school woodland singletrack in the local woods. You’re also a little closer to Stirling and the proper hills further north.

I guess you just need to be clear what is your priority. Is it the the ease of commute or longer term plans to stay in Peebles area.

Yes, that’s good advice. After years of moving around, we are looking at finding somewhere to settle for our retirement.  MrsB has 4 years to go….and I don’t even want to think how long I’ve got to wait until my pension kicks in. (I’m a self-employed part-time home worker now, so commute location is not really an issue for my work).

Quite like the idea of Peebles or maybe Innerleithen because of potentially having shops in walking/short riding distance for stuff like bread & milk. We’ve previously lived in villages where a car is absolutely essential, and also places where we can walk to nearby shops – we’d really prefer not to have to rely on a car for nipping out to the shops.  The riding in the valley is a massive appeal (obvs!) – but we are also thinking of non-biking stuff like local gym, running club, walking club, and a bit of social & cultural stuff like art classes/societies, local history/archaeology groups etc. I wouldn’t mind trying my hand at fishing again.  I think this is why my wife is more drawn to Peebles as a place to live.

Peebles is a really good call for what you are describing. In the spirit of recommending where you live, have a look at Melrose area. It was listed as best small town to live in Scotland in last years Sunday Times survey. Close enough for proper Tweed Valley riding but that bit closer to getting over to Berwick for the train or getting a train up to Edinburgh. I’m not saying it is better than Peebles (I would move to Peebles tomorrow if I could) but perhaps has more non biking options for the things you want to do.

Thanks for advice and suggestion Frank.  I think myself and MrsB are both aware of not wanting to repeat our mistake of moving to an area just for one thing, such as the mountain biking or climbing – so, we’ll check Melrose out, as it sounds like another decent option.