photo of Kate with new Brompton on her rail commuter journey
Part of Kate's entry, including picture on Forth Bridge bike path... 5. If doing it as a there-and-back route from Edinburgh the Honeypot cafe in South Queensferry is lovely. Lo ok at all of the single track roads and paths in Dalmeny Estate and take a different route home. Highland cows and their calves are a particular treat in late summer. 6. On days when the weather plays fair, my commute home is the best part of my job. Crossing the Forth Road Bridge, the view always stops me. No matter how many times I’ve seen it, the wide sweep of water and sky makes me feel lucky to live here. Often my colleague and friend Tom rides with me. We always stop on the bridge, take in the view, and let the working day fall away. From there the route drops into Dalmeny Estate. The lanes are car-free and quiet, lined with trees and fields where highland cows and sheep graze. Pheasants dart out and, for a while, the pressure of the day is replaced by simple rhythm — turning the pedals, moving forward.
more from Kate's entry; pictures of cows & landscape At Cramond Brig we pause again, a small ritual that gives us time to catch up outside the hospital walls. Those moments of conversation and quiet are as important as the ride itself. The Roseburn Path then carries us back to the city, busy with other cyclists heading home. There’s a kind of shared purpose, even without words. The new link to the canal makes the route flow easily, and by the time we reach Bruntsfield Links the ride feels more like a privilege than a commute. The last stretch, past James Gillespie’s school and down into Morningside, is quiet and familiar — a gentle end to the journey. I work as a paediatric radiologist, and the job brings its own intensity. Families depend on the decisions I make, and the responsibility can be heavy. But this ride — when the weather gives me the chance to take it — restores perspective. It makes me grateful: for the beauty just outside my door, for work that matters, and for the chance to share the journey home with a friend.
😍 #SpokesComp prizewinner #KateThomas won a contribution to a @bromptonbicycle.bsky.social
"My new #FoldUpBike! No trouble getting this guy on the #train - my #commute is so much less stressful"
@edi.bike @edfoc.bsky.social @keithirving.bsky.social @railfuture.bsky.social @railmag.bsky.social
![#SpokesComp 2025 : My Favourite Bike Ride
Stop Press: Due to holidays, judging will not be until early October. We have therefore extended the closing date for entries to Sunday 21 September. [Please repost our bsky post about the extension].
For our 2025 summer competition we’d like to hear about your favourite local bike ride, in Edinburgh and/or the Lothians. It may be a leisure ride, or your daily commute or perhaps the school ‘run’ with your kids.
Latest: Do you get a lot of pleasure from a regular ‘utility’ bike ride such as the daily commute, shopping, or taking your kids to school? We’ve not had many entries of that sort yet, so if that ride means a lot to you, it could be your entry!
In judging the competition, we want to know not just the route itself but, most of all, why this ride is so special to you. Hopefully your entry will entice or inspire other people to get on their bike and try the same or something similar.
So that the competition does not require technical skills, judging will be based on written entries. Your route should be fairly easy to describe, without too many intricate instructions, frequent turnings, etc. Photos and/or a sketch can be included and often help, but are not essential. You can also include electronic mapping if you wish, but this will not be included in the judging.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2ood4k4wojq5jku2zl3myqco/bafkreie7akvmehsqvvyll6x7seqfcrcxeu2glp36yn5grf6xtbcwm3jnoi)
![PRIZES
Top prizewinner gets first choice of prizes, and so on till all prizes allocated. Runner-up entries which don’t win a prize will get to choose a free Spokes map or buff
Museum of Scottish Railways (Bo’Ness) Family annual pass to the extensive museum
Bo’Ness & Kinneil Steam Railway Family ticket for one return trip
Ember Bus [takes 2 bikes] £50 bus tickets credit
Edinburgh Bicycle £50 Edinburgh Bicycle voucher
Camera Obscura Family ticket
Cameo Picturehouse Tickets for 2
Laidback Bikes Recumbent tour or cargobike hire
Harts Cyclery One-week ebike hire
Edinburgh Festival of Cycling Urban Arrow Cargo-bike day hire
Lanterne Rouge bike cafe, Gifford £20 voucher
Lanterne Rouge bike cafe, Gifford Blue/white no-plastic Africap from Sierra Leone
Rosebean cafe or Dower House cafe £10 voucher
Spokes £1000 voucher* towards cargo-bike purchase
Spokes £200 voucher* towards e-bike purchase
Spokes Set of all 4 Spokes maps
RUNNERS-UP Spokes map or Edinburgh map-buff](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2ood4k4wojq5jku2zl3myqco/bafkreigc7r3ewq5n37db3kkz3radpex4dgqcov4vtcy52ruzuz3zh7ejku)
