With the summer we’ve been having so far it was a bit of wishful thinking that this ride would go ahead and that feeling continued as Robin and I drove up Loch Lomondside through a driech, miserable morning to meet up with Chris, Tom and Alison. It had the potential to be a really amazing day out in the hills or a total washout.
Glen Etive Panorama
We met up at Victoria Bridge about 10:15 am and were greeted by clouds…. of midges! On the upside it had stopped raining and the stoney, gravelly estate road led us up into Glen Kinglass through a couple of river crossings which ensured wet feet from the start. The trail up Glen Kinglass could be described as fireroad but it’s pretty lumpy in places and frequent ruts and puddles kept you on your toes. About halfway along the glen we reached the highest point and began our descent down the chewed up and rutted fireroad. It wasn’t long before we had fallers – Robin lost it on a rocky corner (just needed to get his head into descending mode) and Tom tumbled after losing his back wheel in a rut.
Descending Glen Kinglass
Part way down the glen we came across sections of bedrock poking out through the vegetation and paving the fireroad in smooth granite. The views of the hills were pretty clear and the fast rolling trail had us all smiling and glad we’d stuck with the plan despite the earlier rain. The fast blast down the valley continued and very soon we were rounding the corner into Glen Etive.
I’ve never ridden out here before and the scenery has the “wow!” factor. The U shaped glen heading up the loch towards Glen Coe and the wide open loch were a great sight. What wasn’t so great was the darkening skies – just at the point when we were mulling over the lochside singletrack. Route guides had said that it was do-able but boggy and rocky in places and it would be a slog for about 9km. So it wasn’t ideal to be starting this part of the ride in the rain but as a group we decided to give it a go after our lunch stop. En route to lunch on a beach Tom decided to plant his front wheel into a deep rut and throw himself face first into the ground and whack his knee off the stem bolts for good measure. Crash #2 for Tom and his new Trek full suss properly christened!
Glen Etive Looms, as do the rain clouds
The next 3 or 4 hours were spent slogging up the side of the loch. The trail is overgrown in places, faint in places, deep with bog and mud in places, strewn with boulders in places and unrideable in places. The trail needed constant focus as you tried to pick your line through rocks and bracken, you were constantly shifting weight to maintain your balance and prevent punctures, frequently off the bike to push or carry over bogs, stream crossings and boulder fields. The constant need for focus was draining, mentally and physically, making it feel like a very long 9km.
Singletrack Ahoy!
Sounds miserable? Not at all! The few moments when the trail opened up and flowed were joyous and the constant stunning background made all the effort worthwhile. Checking the map we saw we were making progress and eventually the end of the loch came into view and thoughts started to turn to a welcome blast on tarmac up to Kingshouse. It’s a fairly long run up the road to Kingshouse, a it felt a lot longer than I’d expected it to feel – a sign that the previous 5 hours of riding had been tough.
Finally Kingshouse rolled into view and plans were made for stop to refuel tired bodies. As we parked up outside the pub sounded really busy with lots of shouting and noise. Piling into the bar we found that it was championship point at Wimbledon and as Andy Murray blubbed on the TV chips, coke, crisps and chocolate bars were demolished. The final leg of the ride was still ahead of us and despite the tired legs the thought of a short climb followed by a long, fast run down Rannoch Moor was enticing. The climb up past White Corries isn’t too steep and is rocky enough to keep you entertained.
Descending Rannoch Moor
As we started our run down Rannoch Moor we had the place to ourselves (well, it was gone 7:30pm by this point). There was hardly a breath of wind and the hard, dry surface meant a fast run back to the car park. It gave you a chance to mull over the great day out we’d had. I think it’s fair to say there were 5 tired but satisfied riders who’d had an epic day out in the hills. If you didn’t make it along for this one then you missed out – maybe next time then?
it’s a nice day out (normally during summer months!). last time we did it was in December, in pissing rain. the track next to the loch was in the loch for the whole 8 odd km. we ran out of food around half way around and got back to King’s house near 9pm to meet our friends tent rolling towards us ( with all the gear in there…). very windy, wet but fun :-).
nice one sir, looks like a nice day oot