Not Really Round the Forth – 25/8/2007

With Sarynna and Chase not planning to be free until the evening, we had a glorious and free summer day on our hands. We decided to follow the first part of “Round the Forth” cycle signs to Blackness Castle then divert to the canal and either pick up the train back from Linlithgow or cycle back to Edinburgh along the canal.

The usual route to South Queensferry treated us to baby Shetland ponies at Cramond. They were very cute and not very shy, eating grass from our hands not-quite-gently. After the ponies, we stopped at the Cramond Brig Inn for chips and juice at our first break of the day.

Back on the bikes for a wee while and we arrived to the Firth of Forth and South Queensferry. We got slightly lost in South Queensferry trying to find the RTF cycle signs. Lost isn’t the right word. We knew where we were, just not where the signs continued.

Third time’s a charm and we were en route to Hopetoun House and the beginning of where the route went really wrong. I should have brought my Spokes map for West Lothian because it would have helped. Next time. Some helpful soul at Hopetoun House decided they preferred cyclists to go around the house grounds rather than across them, so we were routed out an entrance that faced the Forth Bridges. We traced the perimeter of the grounds and found the NCN signs on the other side.

A second lounge break followed and then we officially diverged from the RTF trail by following the NCN signs. Perhaps Blackness Castle was the flag we saw in the distance in the direction we thought we should be going.

The NCN signs led us farther astray until we crossed bridges over some train tracks and then the telltale still water of the Union Canal. We decided to follow the canal home rather than backtrack to Blackness. Brian thought we were just west of Ratho, so we headed east. My doubts grew and then a little over a mile into that, a sign corrected his perception. Fifteen miles to Edinburgh heading east or six miles west to Linlithgow. I chose Linlithgow.

We backtracked, took a third lounge break and rolled into Linlithgow all in less than an hour. The train whisked us back to Edinburgh where we eventually met up with Sarynna and Chase for a late evening at the Sheep Heid Inn.