Quite recently we heard on the local news how some cyclists had saved a woman from drowning in Threipmuir Reservoir. I have to admit that I had no idea where that was, so I looked it up and found out about a network of cycle paths going round and over the Pentlands and surrounding reservoirs (including Threipmuir). This was something we just had to try for ourselves…
On another lovely calm, sunny June morning, we packed the bikes of the back of the car and drove them as far as the car park just up from the Flotterstone Inn, at the west side of the Pentland Hill Regional Park. We set off uphill, heading towards Glencorse Reservoir, which soon appeared on our left. Anglers were out in numbers on the water, which was calm and reflective.
Boat fishing on Glencorse Reservoir
We pressed on further up the glen, and after a short climb we came to the dam end of the next reservoir, Loganlee. The anglers were out in force here too, but the difference here is that bank fishing is permitted. Since the bank is right next to the road, it is important to make sure that nobody is casting as you go past, or else you risk getting a fly in the ear! Indeed, the telephone lines running along the right side of the road are festooned with the results of wayward backcasts.
The Green Cleuch
Going beyond Loganlee, we followed the road till it ended next to a house, then became a path which ran along the bottom of the Green Cleugh: a narrow valley between Hare Hill and The Pinnacle. The track took us through a burn and climbed gently between the peaks till we came out on the other side. We abruptly left the moorland behind and entered an area of grassland, grazed by sheep. The path here was quite twisty and undulating, putting a big smile on our faces as we made our way through, finally stopping at a gate. We had reached Bavelaw, where there is apparently a castle although it wasn’t visible from our position. A proper road was waiting for us on the other side of the gate, and also a warning to cyclists not to go too fast down the hill that lay in wait! We then proceeded at a respectable pace down the straight tree-lined road in the direction of Threipmuir Reservoir, and paused for a break on Redford Bridge that runs across the water.
We then took the path that runs through Redford Wood till we came alongside Treipmuir once more and followed it to the next reservoir, Harlaw. Instead of taking the paved path here, we followed our noses along the rough path that ran through the strip of wood alongside the reservoir. Bumping over roots and dodging branches, this was good fun! We then rejoined the proper track and carried on to the end of the reservoir. Here I wasn’t all that sure where to go next. We took a very inviting path going to the right, that ran around the north end of Harlaw Reservoir until we came to a wall, and looking over it we could see the track that we were aiming for, which ran back up over the Pentlands once more. Rather than climbing the wall with our bikes and going cross-country, we reversed our track back to Harlaw dam and went the direction we should have in the first place. This ran briefly along a road to a car park, from where our route was signposted.
Stopped for lunch
The track ran through the middle of a wheat (I think) field, then climbed onto moorland, heading upwards into the hills once more. We stopped here for a spot of lunch, then got back into the saddle for the hardest part of the day’s outing as the track got steeper and steeper. We were down to a crawl at one point, then unfortunately Colette’s front wheel skidded from under her as she went over a slippy plank of wood, causing her to fall. Despite the slow motion nature of the incident, she picked up quite a bit of bruising to her wrist, and her palm took a sore hit. So we carried on, but a bit more warily.
Once we reached the top of the pass, we had a great view back down to Glencorse Reservoir and beyond, but first we had to negotiate a steep and very rough track through the Maiden’s Cleugh. I managed to do most of it in the saddle, but with lots of braking. It was past exhilirating and into outright scary territory! Colette walked her bike down most of the way, as her injury made it difficult to grip the brake lever. Amazingly, one guy passed at speed us on his up, which we found very impressive!
Near the bottom of Maiden’s Cleuch
Once we were back on the road, it was just a quick spin back down the hill to the car park. It had taken us well over two hours to go just 12.8 miles, but we were still proud of ourselves for traversing the Pentlands by bike. That is something that I would have told you was way beyond my capabilities just a year ago.