railway trails

today dawned clear skys,yipee..,only a raging gale blowing,i headed out on the 29er into a killer wind for 10 miles on the road to head for todays area of trails around the pencaitland to whitecraig railway line walk,recently resurfaced and signed i reckoned should make for a better day than slogging through slop on the local trails,it also meant an out and back into the gale which would blow me home,turning offroad at penston this rough track was once an old road and actually has kerbing in bits under the grass...

the old branch railway to macmerry is all weather surfaced now...

and crosses another trail through winton estates woodland,the next 5 miles west of here is crisscrossed with tracks and trails,there has been alot of woodland management aswell...

the estate has built alot of trails for people to enjoy and provided information signs and there is alot of sculptures...

rejoining the macmerry branchline i joined the main railway line near the old ormiston station,it runs from west saulton 3 miles south from here passing pencaitland...

once again some great information signs,click on the pictures to full screen to read...

they are informative and have a sense of humour too...

theres a couple of the original signals near the old station platform,though the tops have been removed/stolen...

the surrounding coal mines (referred to as pits) are marked with memorial stones...

the old railway runs 4 1/2 miles west from here to smeaton,where various other lines now also walkways go into edinburgh and musselburgh...

along the way there are more new signs...

and we pass more mine memorial stones...

i love the scots spelling on the signs as if the writing is straight out the mouth of the local older generation who provided the stories and still rememmber when the railway and mines provided employment for so many local people...

the stonework on the bridges is perfect as was all victorian building of the times...

coal mining and the railway was once the way of life for generations of familys through the lothians west of here...

a path crosses the railway here,once a busy thourghfare,alot of these paths like this one went to churches,once well used on sundays...

theres a good sign here...

heres a 2minute film of the branch of the railway,listen to the interference when im under the pylons,well freaky!...

heres the film of the ormiston line...



i headed towards faside castle next...

now above the old railway line down in the vally...

faside castle is really a fortified house restored a few years ago and it was in ruin for years,the view over edinburgh from here is nice...

and to the east over gullane links,right in the centre of the pic is where the midget submarines are,covered in the pic by the tide...

heres a 2 minute film from the end of the railway to here at faside hill...



i had now done 25 miles and had around 10-12 to get home so although only 2pm headed for home as cycling tomorrow again,it was a blast having a gale tailwind home,down the old A1 the karate monkey seemed to just cruise at 25 mph!!!,wierd how quiet it is when your riding with the wind,i remmembered about the old WW2 pill box outside macmerry so stoppped for some pics...



heres a 2 minute film looking around the machine gun pillbox...



i cleaned the karate monkey once home..,i used the costic traffic film remover i was on about in the last post in the chain cleaner,look how clean it is...,told you its good stuff!...