Whoosh 2025, Day 2: Haddington to Kinross via Edinburgh and the Forth Road Bridge

61.2 miles, 2,930ft of climbing

After a day of riding, on Friday, that emphasised humans’ helplessness in the face of nature, a lot of the emphasis on Saturday was on how people have shaped aspects of the world, for good and ill.

We headed off just after 9am for a first stop in the town of Prestonpans. One Whoosher, Colin Crooks, there led us in a re-enactment of the short but brutal battle in 1745 in which rebellious Jacobites defeated the forces of the Hanoverian monarchy.

We then continued to Edinburgh, a city where the names of many streets – Hanover Street, George Street and so on – show that, while the Jacobites won at Prestonpans, they went on to lose the war.

The plan in Edinburgh had been to stage a tour of the city’s key sites. But, after that fell apart, I undertook a solo ride of the Queen’s Road up Arthur’s Seat, the hill that dominates central Edinburgh. The ride, round a hill formed by an extinct volcano in a landscape that feels like rural moor, is a powerful reminder of how the most primal processes shape the environment of even the most advanced of cities.

But the emphasis in other parts of Edinburgh was on human achievements. Meeting up with a couple of other Whooshers, I showed them the view from the esplanade of Edinburgh Castle. Then we swept down the famous Mound, across Princes Street and into the Georgian New Town. For those of us familiar with the city, the Old Town is full of reminders of the intellectual flourishing of the Scottish Enlightenment. The New Town remains a breathtaking masterpiece of urban planning.

We rode on to the old Forth Road Bridge and across into Fife, flanked by the magnificent Victorian rail bridge and the graceful Queensferry Crossing, opened in 2017.

As we crossed the Forth, however, we could see moored some decommissioned oil rigs, a reminder of the key role this part of Scotland has played in producing climate-warming hydrocarbons. Tree Aid, for which this year’s ride is raising funds, is seeking to combat that warming’s effects by helping communities in Africa’s drylands to plant trees.

The rigs were not the last reminder of human folly. Our route carried on through a series of modern estates in Fife towns that were the antithesis of the New Town’s elegance.

We were also reminded, however, of some people’s determination to undo recent years’ follies. Some Whooshers stopped to plant trees at a new wood being developed by woodlands.co.uk, a company whose general manager, Angus Hanton, is participating in this year’s ride. Parts of the hills we scaled were flanked by new saplings, part of Scottish government efforts to support reforestation.

Those efforts are part of a wider, international movement of which Tree Aid is part.

We continued towards Kinross across demanding hills, into the same strength-sapping wind that had resisted our pedalling on Friday.

But, finally, after we cleared a ridge, a view of Loch Leven lay before us, glinting in the spring sunshine. We sped, twisting and turning, through an exhilarating descent. There could scarcely have been more stirring reminders of the urgent need to support those like Tree Aid seeking to protect nature’s magnificence.

2025 Charity

This year we are supporting just one charity - Tree Aid, who are backed by our very own Eamonn and Adjoa and who work with people in Africa to plant trees which can provide food and incomes.

Tree Aid. Grow Trees; Grow Hope