There are two routes out of Limekilns but both of them are problematic for cyclists and pedestrians. For pedestrians there is no footpath beyond about 100 yards on either side of the junction. Google Streetview gives a good view of the junction. Indeed, to the west, the footpath only starts at the junction. Pedestrians need to cross the road to get anywhere.
Cyclists could ride on the A985 (and many do) but it is a busy trunk road and at peak times when, for instance, a child might be travelling to or from school, the road is busy in both directions.
The alternative is along the footpath on the foreshore referred to in many of the emails between me and the Council and accepted by the Council as being in a poor state of repair. That path brings the pedestrian or cyclist to A985 junction at Pattiesmuir. From here there is a continuous footpath to Rosyth, although not for cyclists. Cyclists are supposed to head further away from Dunfermline towards the Rosyth dockyard and come back up, adding an extra mile to the journey. Continuing along the footpath to Rosyth would be illegal. We'll come back to that in a future post.
The shortest route is to cross the road here and go through Pattiesmuir and along a signposted cycle track to Rosyth. That path is in extremely poor repair and we'll have a look at that in a future post. This is what it is like crossing the A985 at about 2.30pm on a Friday afternoon (22 June 2012). I approach it in this video from Rosyth rather than the path from Limekilns. It only takes 90 seconds for me to cross the road but notice that I start crossing before the last blue car heading east has cleared the junction I'm aiming for. Otherwise, the car behind the last westbound Ford Fiesta would have been too close. Not really a novice move.
This is the road kids from the village would need to cross to get to their high school.
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