the ubiquitous blog

Spring is definitely here, the spring cleaning has been done, the allotment tidied up, time to get some cycling in. We have been out a few times this year, there was the ride out to Linlithgow Park Bistro Bistro for lunch with friends (who had also cycled from Glasgow, Stirling and the wee Kingdom), the jaunt out along the coast to enjoy the sunshine, and somewhere else which I have forgotten. One of the great things about Edinburgh is that there is a wonderful range of countryside just outside the city, and now, with summer on the way, we were looking for new access routes out to enjoy it. The standard route out to the east is along the Sustrans NCN 1, but there are sections of this route which we would rather avoid, so the search is on for new routes.

Having looked at the Spokes cycle map, Ulli wanted to try a route which would avoid the Niddry neds you sometimes come across on the Innocent Railway path, and the foot bridge at Brunstane Station. I do sometimes wonder if the people who plan the Sustrans routes ever try cycling them first, routing a long distance cycle route over a railway foot bridge makes no sense. Our route took us out through a traffic clogged Porty, apparently there were road works on Sir Harry Lauder Road, either way those trapped in cars were looking fairly miserable, which just served to show there are better choices than the car for local journeys. We tried a wee off road path, called the Christian Path (named after Major Hugh Henry Christian, Provost of Portobello, who campaigned for it as a shortcut between the station and Argyle Crescent in the 1880’s, apparently), which was passable but looked as though it could become overgrown later in the year. This pops you out on Argyle Crescent and provides a useful means of bypassing Sir Harry Lauder Road. From the end of Argyle Crescent we headed south and found our way back on to the NCN 1 by Brunstane Station on the far side of the footbridge, which then wends its way through “the Wimpeys”. I always find this bit architecturally challenging, it is as if a small housing 1980’s housing estate has been uprooted from the English home counties and dumped on the edge of Musselburgh with no regard for the local vernacular.

We carried on along the NCN 1 to Whitecraig, where we parted company from it. On a previous ride (which I half wrote up then never got around to publishing) we had the followed the NCN 1 route. This takes you through Whitecraig then just at the end of the 30mph speed limit, with very little notice tells you to turn right on to an off-road cycle path.

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The last place you want to execute a right turn as a cyclist, at short notice, is where the speed limit changes from 30mph to 60mph, because you can be absolutely certain the drivers following you will have just seen the national speed limit sign (known by police traffic officers as the GLF, motorist see it and they Go Like F… well you can work out last word for yourself). Many will be desperate to overtake and will not take kindly to the cyclists in front, either signalling a right turn or even stopping while they try to pass. If you use the Street View above, you will see that not only is the direction sign hidden by a bush, but you have to dodge around the end of the railings and there is no dropped kerb, fun, fun, fun, not. Once you have managed to join the off-road path, it leads off towards a couple of old bings. Nothing wrong with that, apart from their popularity with the local neds using quad and trail bikes. Being passed by a 14 year old on a quad bike travelling at about 40mph (65Km/h) on a narrow path is rather disconcerting, and not an experience one is inclined to repeat.

Therefore, we parted company with the NCN 1 and turned onto the A6094, which we followed for about 500 m, then turned off onto a farm road and headed uphill towards another bing. There are a number of old bings in this area, reminders of Midlothian’s mining and industrial past. At some point along this road we had joined Cycle Route 73 which we followed until it turned off along an old railway line. In the past we have cycled along this path, but this time we decided to follow the road up into the village of Cousland. The villagers seem to be much exercised by the prospect of a new opencast coalmine, so it looks like mining is not just in Midlothian’s past, but to judge by the number of posters, it is not popular with the residents of Cousland. We were looking for a shop but there wasn’t one here, so we pushed on to Ormiston, where we bought refreshments at the local Co-Op, taking it in turns to stand with the bikes. While I was waiting for Ulli to get her shopping, a number of the locals turned up, some tough looking lads who could have been intimidating if they hadn’t been discussing the late spring and that they were only just getting the carrots and onions sown on the allotment.

Suitably refreshed, we headed back the way we had come, then turning south rather than going back into Cousland. There was a short downhill section, I was just starting to crank up the speed to enjoy a sprint when a car appeared around the bend at the bottom and I had to slam on the anchors, drat and double drat. For the most part these roads were quiet with little traffic, even when we had a short section of A road. We picked up the B6367 and rode on through rolling farmland, and just before Pathhead we turned off onto a minor road which runs south, roughly parallel to the A68. Again this was pleasant cycling along quiet roads, highlights included the Doocot at Whitburgh House, a pair of wheatears (Oenanthe oenanthe) flying along a hedgerow, and a splendid cock fowl (Gallus gallus) outside a cottage.

At one stage we went down a wee road so little used, there was grass growing in the middle of it. This road then dropped steeply downhill through woodland, it was strewn with debris left over from a recent storm, which made for interesting cycling. This led us to Fala Dam, a pretty wee place, but uphill to get out of, first we tried Fala which would be a nice place if it wasn’t for the main road (A68). Then we tried the other way out of Fala Dam and crossed the A68 to find a wee road leading to Crichton, which gave us views across open country to the Lime Kiln House, which featured on Grand Designs, it’s huge.

Having reached Crichton, we stopped to revise our plans, originally we were going to work our way round south of Gorebridge to pick up the NCN 1. However, as we had set out late in the day, we decided to go for Pathhead, from where we took a wee back road, initially 10% downhill to the village of Ford. After crossing the Tyne Water the road climbed steadily uphill again. As we passed through Edgehead, a couple of the locals helpfully told us that we were over halfway to the top. Topping out at 187 m it was then downhill again for a couple of kilometres, until we crossed the South Esk in Dalkeith. We then turned for home through Gilmerton.

There is a map of our route here.

My stats were:

• Distance cycled – 62.3 Km
• Time spent riding – 03:15:00
• Max Speed – 66.5 Km/h
• Ave Speed – 19.2 Km/h
• Vertical climb – ca. 610 m

All my adult life (and most of my childhood) I have owned and ridden bicycles, yeah sure I drive, I learned to drive at 17 and was for a time in my twenties a fully qualified driving instructor, but driving these days just ain’t as much fun as riding a bike. I bought my current bike, a Norco Volante, about six years ago and it has served me well. However, as everyone who cycles knows, the ideal number of bikes can be calculated be the simple mathematical equation i=n+1, where i is the ideal number of bikes and n the number of bike currently owned. So when a friend of mine said that he was going to upgrade his bike with a custom made Ti frame, and did I want his old frame, I leapt at the chance. Thanks Steven!

I was told it would just be a bare frame as all the other components were to be moved to the new frame. However, when the box arrived I found there were a number of other bits which hadn’t been used with the new frame for one reason or another. Just to recap, my new “half bike” is the remains of Genesis Croix de Fer (2009 model) which is a steel framed cyclo-cross bike, with a carbon fork and formerly had cable disc brakes (which is unusual for a cyclo-cross bike, apparently, but something I intend to reinstate).

The box of bits having arrived, I thought it best to check that the frame is the right size for me and to find out what size the new components need to be, before going any futher. I decided that the best way of doing this was to nip down the road to The Tri Centre for a
bike fitting, a bargain at £35. Now, I like The Tri Centre the staff are very friendly and knowledgeable, and the places is stuffed full of bike bling. If I were ever to win the Lottery it would be my first stop in the search for the ideal bike. Of course there is no such thing as the ideal do it all bike, so it would have to be i=n+1 and with a lottery jackpot The Tri Centre is a good place to start.

Mean while back to the story, the bike fitting showed that the was about the right size for me (although I could do with a longer top tube) and with the right sized components could be tweaked to be a good fit. So starts the shopping list; first off wider bars drop (440 mm, the original Genesis Croix de Fer bars were 420mm) and a longer stem (125 mm, the original Genesis Croix de Fer stem was 110mm), the ones in the box will no doubt be welcomed at the Bike Station. Also I now know that when I come to buy, the length of cranks I need is 170 mm. The rest of the drive train I have yet to decide on, but given that I have inherited Shimano 105 STI levers and Shimano 105 Derailleurs, so I have options open to me. As I say above, I am going for disc brakes as I like the better modulation and stopping power of discs, and the fact that you can stop in the wet, also that your rims last longer. The choice here is cable (mechanical) or hydraulic disc brakes, my preference is for cable as they are cheaper and easier to maintain. The original specification gives the brakes as “Shimano BR-R505 Disc”, but I might look around and see if there is a better choice. Then there is the wee matter of wheels, a pair of Bontragers has been suggested, but I am not sure, maybe it would be better to get the rims, disc hubs and spokes separately and have Andrew at the Bicycle Works build them up for me. Or should I take a one day wheel building class at the Bike Co-op and then use the jig at the Bike Station?

Other bits, such as the seat post, saddle and pedals are easy, that is the sort of thing I have already done with my Norco, but I have never actually built a bike before, this is a big learning curve for me. So suggestions are welcome, Oh, and Bernhard, if you are reading this, you are welcome to ride my spare bike next time you visit, so long as you help me build it first…

Next: Bike build project (part 2): Gathering bits.

After what seems like an age toiling away at the HTML/PHP/CSS coal face, I think that the new Bot Soc web site should be declared open for business. Not that I did most of the work, the scripting was done by John Garlinge of JDG Web Design, my role was more project management. What am I on about, I hear you say. Well Botanical Society of Scotland (or Bot Soc to it friends) now has a nice shiny new web site, which I am in the process of adding the finishing touches to. However, as with all living web sites it will never be truly finishing, web sites are (or should be) dynamic and constantly, if they are static they are dead.

The Botanical Society of Scotland was founded in 1836 as the Botanical Society of Edinburgh mainly for the purpose of collecting and exchanging botanical herbarium specimens. Monthly meeting were also held between November and July for the reading of “papers and communications on Botanical subjects” this a tradition which continues, as is the tradition of “making Botanical excursions”. It is interesting that from the start “Local Secretaries” where appointed, while we still have a number of Local Secretaries they are restricted to Scotland and sadly no longer scattered across the globe, in such places as London, Dublin, Monmouth, Wiltshire, Cape of Good Hope, Madras, Jamaica, Switzerland and United States.

By 1840, the Society’s herbarium had accumulated over 50,000 specimens, not just from the British Isles, but from around the world, including the Alps, the Indian subcontinent, the west Indies, “New Holland”, and “a small collection of about 100 species obtained during Captain Parry’s voyages”. This collection was later (1863) to form the basis of the Herbarium collection of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, now one of the best in the world. This was followed in 1872 by the donation of the Society’s small, but valuable, library to the RBGE.

The first meeting to discuss the formation of the Society was held at the home of John Hutton Balfour (later Professor of Medicine and Botany at the University of Edinburgh, Regius Professor of Botany, Keeper of the Garden and Queen’s Botanist in Scotland) on the 9^th of February, and was attended mainly by students of the University of Edinburgh. However, by the time it was inaugurated on the 17^th of March, it had a far wider membership. The members consisted of “Honorary, Resident, Non-resident, and Foreign Members”, also “Ladies, who shall be denominated Life Members”. This was just as well, as the Society’s first Patron was HRH Queen Victoria, her husband Albert was also a member. Resident members (i.e. those living in Edinburgh) were required to pay One Guinea on admission to the Society and One Guinea annually thereafter at the November meeting. Persons not residing in Edinburgh could join if they were “recommended by two members of a Scientific or Literary Society, and paying a contribution of Three Guineas”, however no annual payment was required. Ladies, “whether Resident or Non-Resident” could become life members for a single contribution of Two Guineas. Membership rates nowadays start from a more reasonable £15, which you can even pay on-line.

The Society has always attracted an international membership, as the founding rules allowed a “Person residing abroad” to be admitted as a “Foreign Member, on the transmission of 500 specimens of Plants (including at least 100 species)” or provide a piece of work which they had written. Among the foreign members listed in 1840 were: His Majesty Frederic Augustus, King of Saxony, Adolphe Brongniart Professor of Botany Paris, Auguste Pyrme De Candolle Professor of Natural History Geneva, Benjamin Baron de Lessert, Elias Freis Professor of Political Economy Upsal, Janus Wiken Hornman Professor of Botany Copenhagen, Alexander Baron De Humboldt Berlin, G. Daniel Joseph Koch Professor of Botany Erlangen, Henry Frederick Link Professor of Botany Berlin, Charles Frederic Philip de Martius Munich, C.F. Briasseau Professor of Agriculture Paris, Christian Gottfried Nees von Esenbeck Professor of Botany Breslau, Auguste De St Hilaire Paris, Le Chevalier Michael Tenore Professor of Botany Naples, John Torrey Professor of Botany Chemistry New York, Ludovic Christian Treviranus Professor of Botany Bonn, Le Chevalier Govanni Gussone, and Adrian De Jussieu Professor of Botany Paris (he even got his face on the Society’s medallion). Not bad for an organisation which had started just four years earlier, more or less as a student society, the Bot Soc of the University of Edinburgh, but then this was Edinburgh and not some quiet backwater in the English Midlands.

The Society started its first Journal “Transactions of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh” in 1844. The name of the journal was changed to “Botanical Journal of Scotland” in 1990, and still continues today as “Plant Ecology & Diversity“.

So if you are interested in things Botanical, go and have a poke around.

Listening to the Today programme radio this morning I couldn’t understand how John Humphrys could decide that the Climatic Research Unit at UEA had some how mislead us all on the basis of a reports he hadn’t even read. What ever happened to objective, fact based, reporting? The news agenda seems to hijacked by small lobby groups, it used to be Greenpeace on the loony left, but they have been replaced by the loony right climate deniers, nether group bothered with the science or with all of the facts. The facts and the science are somehow lost along the way, it doesn’t help that Humphrys, by his own admission doesn’t understand the scientific issues, and can’t count (later in the programme he was insisting that 1968 was over 50 years ago). Professor Tom Burke, did try his best to show the story up for the a storm in a tea which it really is, but was constantly interrupted by Humphrys, who was determined to show the depth of his ignorance. He also seemed to be insisting that one small group of climate modellers, were central to the whole of the climatic change research, which is also a massive exaggeration. Some members of the group may have egos big enough to think they are the centre of the universe, but the fact is this group only plays a small part in trying to predict the future impacts of climatic change. Their work is based on a far larger body of evidences which shows clearly that the global climate is changing and that the current change is largely driven by human activity. That is the thing we need to understand and focus on.

Listening to The World at One, Martha Kearney was asking if there where any “climate sceptics” on the review panel which looked at the work published by CRU. This is worrying as it show that BBC News readers can tell the difference between science and politics. The word Science is from the Latin scientia, meaning “knowledge”, it includes the use of careful observation, experiment, measurement, mathematics, statistical analysis, and replication. To be considered a science, a body of knowledge must stand up to repeated testing by independent observers. The word “Politics” comes from the Greek word politika, it is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions, this is based opinion (facts are not . Politics can be informed by science, but science should not be driven by politics, that just leads to bad sciences.

Just recently I have been watching, with some amusement, a battle between a pair of property developers and a number of prospective but unwanted tenants. This highly desirable city centre property is a renovation of an older property, but which has taken a bit of a battering in recent time. I am keen to see the property developers succeed in their endeavours as I think they will be a good influence on the neighbourhood.

At this point I should, perhaps, point out that the property developers in question are a pair of crows (Corvus corone corone). The property is a nest high in a sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus) which they built last year. In previous years they have nested in Elm (Ulmus procera yes we do still have elms in Edinburgh) further away from my view point at the kitchen window, so this was an improvement as it gives me a better view. Fast forward to this year, the crows have recently set about rebuilding their nest after the buffeting of the winter storms. The fun starts when they are away from the nest, as there have been visits from a number of prospective squatters. So far there have been a pair of jackdaws (Corvus monedula) who turned up the other day, had a look around then went away again. They came back for another look today and were a wee bit surprised to find a woodpigeon (Columba palumbus) trying the nest out for size. The jackdaws weren’t sure what to do and circled around for a bit, hopping closer branch by branch. At first the woody ignored them, but as they got closer it puffed out its feathers and tried to be scary. At this point the jackdaws decided to make strategic retreat. This left the woody sitting looking a bit smug at having stared down the jackdaws, when it suddenly realised why the jackdaws had made such a hasty retreat. One of the crows had just returned and was not best pleased to find an interloper in the nest. The woody dived out of the nest, closely followed by the crow which took a few feathers off the woody’s neck as a reminder not to come back.

Later, while the crows were away again, a grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) turned up to scope out the nest as a potential drey. At least that is why I think it was taking an interest, as it is a wee bit early in the year for nest robbing. Last year a grey squirrel did attempt to rob the crows’ eggs, but was seen off in no uncertain terms. One of the crows chased the squirrel out of the tree and over a wall. The squirrel then climbed another tree, circling round the trunk trying to hide, but the crow was wise to that move and continued the attack, forcing the squirrel out of the tree and back onto open ground. It then pursued it over another wall out on to a busy road, finally leaving the squirrel to play with the traffic. At this point, the crow ceased the attack and returned to the nest.

The reason I like having the crows nesting nearby is not just that they know how to keep the thieving squirrels in order. It is because they are very good at keeping other unwanted visitors away as well, namely gulls. In recent years there has been an increase in the number of gulls breading in the city, mainly Herring (Larus argentatus) and Lesser Black-backed (L. fuscus) gulls, neither of these species make good neighbours. Fortunately, the crows won’t tolerate these scavenging pests in their territory, so we are able to sleep soundly at night, free of the raucous cry of the gulls. There are gulls thinking of nesting somewhere nearby (but not as I say on mine or the neighbouring tenement), as I saw as couple trying to mob a buzzard (Buteo buteo) the other day. The buzzard did its best to ignore them and continued climbing on a thermal until it could head off over Holyrood Park in search of prey.