East Lothian - Pencaitland railway trail

Well, another couple of weeks of lockdown have passed. I’m not bored (yet) and have been enjoying my local trails for longer cycles at the weekend. One of these is the wonderful cycling route along the disused line of the Pencaitland railway, which starts a few miles from my house. I set out there last weekend with my friend Graham. We cycled a suitable social distance apart!

The railway opened in 1867 and was part of the Edinburgh to Macmerry branch line. In 1901 it was extended to Gifford. Its biggest customer was the local coal mining industry but it also carried passengers, agricultural goods and whisky. At its peak 30,000 passengers per year travelled on the trains and the journey from Edinburgh to Gifford took an hour and eleven minutes. The engines of the trains were known as “stoorie pugs”, stoorie meaning dusty. Inevitably coal mining declined and the demand for road traffic increased, so the line was closed in the 1960s. Thankfully it’s been preserved as a traffic-free, 7-mile route across the East Lothian countryside.

Our trip there started by cycling south out of Portobello on a warm spring morning. We skirted Musselburgh and passed through Whitecraig before joining the start of the trail. Much of the route was wide and open with views across the surrounding farmland and over to the Garleton Hills and Traprain Law. But here and there it dived into dense woodland where we were wrapped up in the trees. The world was beginning to turn green after the washed-out colours of winter and the hedgerows were alive with birds. 

Every now and again we would pass an inscribed stone marking the former location of an old pit – an epitaph to an industry and a way of life. What’s really incredible is that this is not ancient history, with the last mines only closing in the early sixties, but there is already no trace whatsoever that they were ever there. Nature has taken control over much of the place, as it must be doing now all over the world while the human population is in lockdown.

As we were cycling along the old line where it passed above Pencaitland, we started to ask ourselves if continuing much further would no longer constitute “local” exercise, as required in lockdown. We thought probably not, so decided to turn back. Just before we did, we happened to explore an offshoot of the trail that neither of us had cycled before. We soon found ourselves on a beautiful path that meandered through a springtime beech wood to Glenkinchie. Tall trunks reached to a blue sky and sun dappled the forest floor which was covered by the yellow stars of celandine. It flowers early, before the canopy comes into leaf. It was a stunning discovery and a perfect turn-around point for our ride.

The anticipated tailwind didn’t materialise on the way back, although we seemed to have a headwind on the way out! It didn’t matter and we’d still had a great ride. In time, the discovery of the Glenkinchie path will encapsulate for me the joy that can be found during lockdown, by exploring more deeply the places on our doorstep.

Fact File
Start/finish: Portobello
My route: Cycled south along Brunstane Road to pick National Cycle Route 1 and followed it towards Musselburgh and Whitecraig. After Whitecraig, the route is another disused railway line and after about 1km, the Pencaitland trail is signed to the left. Follow the cycle route up the hill, turn left at the top, then right at the traffic lights. The Pencaitland trail starts just after here on the left and is signed. Closest Hamlet to the start of the trail is Crossgatehall.