Bolts of steel from an ashen grey sky: the Edinburgh Gravel Ride 2025

The rain drummed a hard tattoo on the roof outside my bedroom window. This wasn't light rain, the kind that makes you wonder if you should put your jacket on or just ride through it. This was hard, heavy, cold, so-thick-it-was-almost-sleet rain, falling like cold bolts of steel from an ashen grey sky. Absolutely pouring down.

I looked at the clock - it read 5am. It will be alright, I thought to myself, the gravel ride doesn't start until 10am.

23 hardy souls turned up to the start line at Alpkit Edinburgh, just before 10am that morning. It would have been 24 but the very first rider to arrive was so wet and dispirited by the conditions that he decided to turn around immediately and ride straight home. The prospect of riding for 4 hours in this rain was clearly daunting. Briefed on the ride and chatting to keep our spirits up, reassuring each other that it would be alright, we set off into the downpour, knowing we had 70 kilometres of differing terrain in front of us.

All rides that start in a city centre involve a certain amount of tarmac, to get out of the city. This ride was no different. However, city streets, soon gave way to cycle paths and quiet sections of road and soon enough, we were tackling the first climb of the day up towards Fa'Side Castle. A quick stop at the top to catch our breath and look back at the view of Edinburgh this elevated position gives you. The Edinburgh skyline looks magnificent on any day, but it looks particularly dramatic when it's capped off with a wintery, wild, Scottish sky.

Leaving Fa'Side Castle at our back, the gravel begins, and so with it comes the mud. The all penetrating, sucking mud that will somehow find it's way in to every nook and cranny of the bike, despite, days later, having been washed, still there as a reminder of the conditions. And so to the first downhill, indeed, as promised a woop-woop inducing chute between the fields high up on the hill, sending us thundering down towards the Pencaitland Railway Path. This is an ancient place, in fact Pencaitland is one of the oldest inhabited places in East Lothian. Home to buzzards, deer, heron and a whole host of other wildlife - so close to the city, but yet such a different feel.

As we made the turn off to start the second climb of the day, I thought to myself, has the rain eased off slightly? Or, now that we're in the trees, are they sheltering us?

We persisted, one pedal stroke after another, stopping only to open and then close gates. Feeling grateful for the trees that now surrounded us. We swept down in to Winton Woods, then into Winton Estate and down on the the River Tyne Walkway. No herons today, no deer and no buzzards. Everything, it seemed, had hunkered down to avoid the drenching rain.

Two riders said hello and passed us by. Then another, as we stopped to open a gate for him. His feet, he exclaimed, had appeared to be magically transformed into blocks of ice. A theme that would recur all day long on this ride. He told us tales of catastrophic punctures and torn tyre walls in the pack of riders behind us. Everyone was safe and sound, but now faced with a conundrum of what to do next. Continue on, or limp back to Alpkit Edinburgh. The rain cared not for their woes, and poured on regardless.

We passed Saulton Doo'Cot with the grand Saltoun House imposing itself on the horizon of the woodland we were navigating through. Then a short section on the road and we were heading for Saltoun Woods. Alexander Hamilton - the reputed wizard of East Lothian - confessed he met the devil himself in these woods in 1629. Today though, we had the woods to ourselves as we started the climb to the far back corner of this beautiful place. Passing by many yew tress, I'm minded to think about how lucky we are to be out here doing this, even on a day like today. In my opinion, there are few pleasures as great as riding bikes in the woods with your mates. This is why we do it. This is why.

We stop, eat in silence, listening to the trees and the rain, and then begin the fast double-track, then single-track descent that will take us all the way out of the woods and join us back up to the Pencaitland Railway path again. We'd earned a coffee by this point, and it was great to chat to other riders at the cafe stop, opting to sit outside rather than foul the cafe's interior with our head-to-toe mud covering!

Next through Dalkeith Country Park (DCP to the locals!) and out to the shock of a busy road. Here, I came across a pal helping another rider with a flat tyre - everyone lamenting that their feet were cold however, mercifully now it had stopped raining completely.

The route took us a winding way through the outskirts of Edinburgh, through nature reserves and publicly accessible roads through golf courses. All the time, pedals turning, our little group growing in numbers as we navigated back towards the Alpkit store, and the promise of hot soup and snacks.

Finally, we were back in the city - noticeable because the drivers all seemed to be in a hurry and were less than impressed at our plucky, but very muddy band of cyclists. A short climb up past Edinburgh University's King Buildings and everybody knew that we were within a kilometre of the shop - when suddenly, another puncture! The rider in question jumped off and told us to keep going, saying she'd be fine and walk the last 5 minutes or so.

Back to Alpkit Edinburgh, and the Sonder Winter Gravel Series route was complete. Well done to the plucky bunch who braved the elements and came along - this was certainly a ride to remember.

Feel like you missed out on all of the fun? The next gravel ride takes place in Bristol on the 7th December.