Spare a thought for those on the Capital Trail this evening. They are cycling 237km from Portobello back to Portobello and may well be cycling overnight.
87 riders set off today on the inaugural ride which has attracted some of the best mountain bikers in the UK, amongst them Commonwealth Games team member Lee Craigie.
This is how the route is explained:
“The route is quintessentially Scottish: tough, rugged and scenic at the same time. It features the beautiful Firth of Forth coastline, Fa’side Castle, the Winton Estate and the Pencaitland Railway Path, Saltoun Big Woods, the country lanes of East Lothian, Lammer Law, the Southern Upland Way, Thirlestane Castle, Melrose Abbey, the River Tweed, the Borders and Abbey Way, the Three Brethren, the 7stanes trails at Innerleithen and Peebles, Dun Rig, Kirkhope Law, the Cross Borders Drove Road, the Meldons and Pentland Hills. And to finish a great route the Capital Trail will take you to all the tourist must-do sights in Scotland’s Capital on two wheels. Edinburgh has recently been voted one of the most beautiful places in the world, so you are in for a treat. Once you leave the hills behind you, you will follow the Water of Leith and the Union Canal into Edinburgh, and whizz through the lively Meadows and down the Royal Mile. You might even spot the Royal Family at Holyrood Palace, the Queen’s official residence in Scotland, before enjoying a final climb up Holyrood Park and down one of the secret urban trails the city has to offer.”
The inaugural ride is taking place overnight tonight as part of the Edinburgh Festival of Cycling. The riders set off from Portobello at 8am this morning, finishing before it gets dark on Sunday giving them 40 hours to complete the route.
Photos courtesy of Ian MacNicol ian_mac1966@yahoo.com
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
