Taking a cycle back in time
A ROUND TRIP from Edinburgh city centre to the 15th century Rosslyn Chapel in Midlothian gives a wonderful day out on the bicycle and will cost you nothing, except 24 miles of not very hard work and a possible coffee and cake in the visitor centre café.
Mind you, it starts with a bit of grind uphill to Gilmerton, four miles out on the south side of town (A772). But before you get to the City Bypass, you’ll be much relieved to find a brand new cycle route, heading south-west, which will take you safely under the traffic and out to Straiton Pond nature reserve. Pause here to get your breath, admire the swans and leave the busy 21st century behind.
Soon after that you will be flying across the Bilston Glen Viaduct, built for the Loanhead and Roslin Railway in 1874 . (Roslin is how everyone, except the chapel people, spell Rosslyn). It’s a “box lattice girder” bridge and a fine example of Victorian engineering.
By now you are enjoying the open fields where Dolly the Sheep once roamed at the agriculture research centre. Up a slight hill, on the right is a memorial to the Battle of Roslin, a Scottish victory against the English in the First War of Independence in 1303. Cycling into the village itself, you pass the lovely old Manse (1837) on the right and then, at the first crossroads, you see signs for Rosslyn Chapel. Perched on the edge of the dramatic North Esk Glen, this fantasy in stone was built by the Earl of Rosslyn and Prince of Orkney in 1446. Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code has added extra tourism interest and there’s a fine visitor centre. You’ve been away for a day and time-travelled for 700 years. Time for a well-deserved, socially-distanced High Tea.
Midlothian Cycle Map available from the cycling campaign Spokes and all good bookshops