This page is the Nerve Centre for cyclists who are based at the Bush Estate near Penicuik, Midlothian (six or so miles south of Edinburgh city centre). Companies and institutes based there include the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH), the Scottish Agricultural College (SAC), the Forestry Commission, the Royal (Dick) School of Vetinary Studies and the many businesses that are situated at the Edinburgh Technopole and the Midlothian Innovation Centre. Edinburgh University estimates that there will be approximately 4000 staff and students in total accessing the site daily by 2011.

Anyone who is a member of the group can edit it to add further content, such as links about cycle routes or information about the facilities at your organisation.

To join the group, please e-mail: bikebush (at) googlemail.com. It's very easy to log on and make changes to this page on-line - just like using a word processor.

Please click here to take the 2009 Bush Estate Transport survey!

On-site cycle facilities

Local cycle maps

If you've been looking for a practical map of cycle routes around the Edinburgh region then the printed Spokes maps (also available from bookshops in town) are hard to beat, and easily the best resource for shoving in your backpack or hanging on the wall to plan new bike routes around Edinburgh, Glasgow and the Lothians.

The OpenCycleMap project aims to produce copyright-free maps on-line, put together by people riding about with their GPSs (so part of Penicuik is still missing... but the Bush Estate is there!) Open source data from NASA is used to provide the elevation info. Best of all is the branch of the project that has added national and local bike trails, together with handy info such as the location of bike shops and WCs - something that is missing from OS maps.

An exciting branch of the OpenCycleMap is the new Edinburgh Cyclestreets service. The first on-line 'route planning' engine specifically for cycle users, you can choose between the fastest, shortest or (for some interesting options) quietest routes. Though note that as it uses an open source map, and the national postcode system belongs to Royal Mail, you generally need to click on the map to indicate your start and end points, rather then key in the postcode.

Click here to see a list of bike routes to Easter Bush added by local cyclists.

Campaign for improved bike routes

Last year (2008) CEH cyclists conducted a survey across all of the organisations based at the Bush Estate, with roughly 180 responses. Amongst other findings, we found that many more people would be interested in biking to work if action was taken to improve the quality and safety of the available cycle routes (there are loads of pleasant, tree-lined, traffic-free cycle routes in and around Edinburgh, but they all deftly give the Bush Estate a wide berth). To see a summary of the findings from that survey, click here.

If you starting from Edinburgh, there are marked on-road cycle lanes for much of the routes out, together with advanced stop boxes at most traffic lights (though many motorists ignore these specially marked zones and stop there anyway). Watch out for larger vehicles - it is best to give HGVs plenty of distance, for instance (in fact this excellent factsheet has good advice for dealing with HGVs) . However, Lothian Buses give their drivers special bike awareness training and they are indeed generally good at giving cyclists room. Another issue is crossing the Edinburgh City Bypass - either at Straiton or Lothianburn. This sequence of roundabouts is quite intimidating to begin with, but, once you get the hang of it, the one at Lothianburn at least isn't too bad.

The country roads that surrond the Bush Estate (the A701, the A702 and, er, the A703) have fast moving traffic, occasional tight corners and awkward junctions (especially the 3-way at Hillend). The routes are also popular with HGVs. Unfortunately, it's hard to avoid at least one of these roads when cycling to Easter Bush, no matter which direction you're coming from.

Lately Edinburgh University have been building a brand new 'cycle boulevard' and pedestrian path that runs for about a mile down the length of the Easter Bush Road... though not much further than that. This route plan was an entry to a competition run by Spokes in 2009 to design a new facility for Scottish cycling - it's an idea for a traffic free route from the Bush Estate all the way to the City Bypass. Until the glorious day when the route is built, there are some measures that the Council could consider that would improve the route for cyclists, such as more 'go slow' signs for HGV drivers to see, and tidying up the area round the Hillend junction. Another idea would be to reclassify the underused pavements as a cycle path. 

If you would like lobby to improve your route to work, one effective way to do this is to write to the cycling officers at Midlothian (responsible for everying south of the City Bypass) and Edinburgh Councils.  They've heard from us before, but further contact from individual cyclists will help to make a difference. You can also contact your local elected representatives. And join Spokes.

Useful bike services and resources

• CyclingEdinburgh.info is regularly updated with interesting bike-related news and events from Edinburgh and the Lothians.
• CityCyclingEdinburgh forum has a lively discussion of local trends and facilities.
  
• The Edinburgh Bicycle Co-op in Bruntsfield has a very comprehensive range of bikes and accessories (including a range of reliable own-brand products at very reasonable prices). Though its a popular place and gets very busy at weekends.
  
• The Bike Station on Causwayside is a fantastic community organistation that refurbishes old bikes and sells them on in weekly sales every Saturday.
• Most cycle shops in town also do bike repairs and servicing, though specialist cycle repair shops such as The Bicycle Works and The Bicycle Repair Man will probably see to your bike more quickly and have a greater range of spare parts to hand.
• Spokes are a well-known Edinburgh-based campaigning organisation that co-ordinate lobbying of the both the local councils and the Scottish Parliament.
  
• The Bike Show is a recommended podcast which explores the evolving 'bike culture' movement, as well as more bureaucratic initiatives to promote safer cycling. It is based on London, though the episode where they pay a visit to Edinburgh is certainly worth a listen. 
• The Copenhagenize bike culture blog is a like a preview of the lifestyle that we can look forward to when our demands are met
  
• Finally, Sheldon Brown's bicycle website is a comprehensive technical resource for just about any aspect.