Korean War Memorial, Witch Wood Craig

First Sunday of the month  means a Spokes Ride. This month we are headed for Linlithgow. in West Lothian. Its a lovely sunny day as well. Factor 50 is packed in the bag.

July also means most of Scotland is on holiday, so only 5 people head out from the Usher Hall. Its out along Fountainbridge, onto the cycle steps and cycle path to Dalry Rd, Murieston Crescent, Russell Rd and on to the cycle path.

We follow the cycle path out to Sileverknowes and back road through Barnton to Cramond Brig. The Burnshot bridge is out, so we use the underpass to take the sliproad and on to the Carlowrie Rd which takes us to Kirkliston.

We have a wee break here. We follow the B9080 out of Kirkliston for a wee while, then turn left on to a back road to Niddry. Down to Winchburgh, then on to a a wee road through Faucheldean,  Ochiltree and Riccarton to Dark Entry in Linlithgow.

A friend has opened his garden as part of the Linlithgow Greenpark garden open day. This is where we have lunch. We get to see around the garden before it is open to the public. Extra 1 shows a Common Spotted Orchid growing on the lawn, self seeded.

As 1 person has left to take the train back to Edinburgh. I can take a slightly different route back to Edinburgh. West to Preston Rd, and then up hill. This area is affectionately known, to cyclists at least, as the Bathgate Alps. It climbs quite quickly, and so there are three stops. One at the west end of Dark Entry, the next at the turn off for Wairdlaw, and the last at the Korean War Memorial at Witch Craig Wood. (the main blip)

After a walk around the memorial, there is a short cycle up hill before we follow a long descent through Tartraven, to South Mains. A left and right  leads us to the Wilderness. There used to be a herd of alpaca here, but instead there are horses and cows.

At the end of the Wilderness, there's another short climb to West Binny. Then a short fast descent to Ecclesmachan. We carry on east to head towards the bings, then south to Broxburn, across the A899 and A89 and on to the canal path.

There are no more hills. We follow the canal path to Ratho, where we stop for a wee refreshment at the Bridge Inn. Then back on to the canal to Craiglockhart in Edinburgh. the end of the ride.

The full route can be seen at Relive here.