Edinburgh by Bike: Stockbridge to Roseburn by the Water of Leith

Submitted by edg on Sat, 24 Jun '23 12.19am
Video clip

The path along the Water of Leith is a pleasant, semi-rural pedestrian-cycle route across Edinburgh. Here we follow a popular part of the route from Stockbridge to Dean Village and meandering further west to Haymarket and Roseburn.

It crosses over and passes under a number of bridges giving you a sense of Edinburgh's well-known, undulating topography.

The video starts at the bridge in the centre of Stockbridge and continues alongside the water to St Bernard's Bridge where it joins the wide path between the steep, wooded slopes of private gardens in Edinburgh's New Town

We pass the former spa of St Bernard's Well, pass under the colossal Dean Bridge, and climb along cobbles to arrive at the sleepy hamlet of Dean Village

After passing the waterfall at Dean Village, the section of the path to Belford is windy, wooded and narrow. The route is officially both a pedestrian walkway and a cycleway although you can see from the video that some sections of the path are quite narrow and only just allow enough passing room for a bike and a person.

Continuing onward after crossing a footbridge at Belford, we soon arrive at a meadow-like clearing, with low lying bushes, which is popular with dog-walkers and picnickers. The National Galleries of Scotland's Modern art gallery is nearby across a bridge and up a staircase. 

Standing in the water by the bridge at Modern is one of artist Antony Gormley's six cast iron figures (of his own body) from his series 6 Times. There's another statue in the Water of Leith, below the bridge at Stockbridge, where the video starts.

The route then narrows again as we continue on to Roseburn, passing under the large Coltbridge Viaduct, which is part of one of Edinburgh's former railway lines, now turned into a pedestrian-cycleway. You can climb up a staircase here, if you want to take the high road, but we pass by this.

The Water of Leith pathway in the next section from the viaduct has in recent years been upgraded from a rough track to a smooth, hard concrete path.

At Roseburn, we exit by the second staircase up to the residential neighbourhood at Roseburn Cliff. The staircase has a narrow ramp for wheeling bikes up and down it. 

You can connect at Roseburn, with the new, separated cycleway on the main road. It takes you to Haymarket and into the city centre.

00:04: The bridge at Stockbridge
00:36: Under St Bernard's bridge
01:07: St Bernard's Well
02:15: Under Dean Bridge
03:10: Dean Village (crossing bridge)
03:55: Dean Village (Water of Leith pathway)
08:04: Crossing footbridge at Belford.
08:48: Passing staircase to Haymarket.
10:06: Passing footbridge to Modern (National Galleries of Scotland)
11:20: Passing under Coltbridge viaduct & staircase to Roseburn ped-cycle path.
11:50: Staircase to Roseburn Cliff.