Every October the Clachaig inn, Glencoe holds its annual beer and music festival, the 'Octoberfest'. Me and various friends have been going to this pub off and on for many years; usually on motorbikes, either on the way elsewhere up north or just to sample the many ales it has on offer. In fact its the place where I first got drunk at the tender age of 16. We've been to Octoberfest a few times, generally staying in the bunkhouse just down from the pub. For various reasons we'd missed a couple of years and I'd not actually been to the Clachaig at all since 2012. So this year me and four friends decided to re-start our tradition of attendance, this time staying in a luxury caravan at the bunkhouse.
I'd included some kind of cycling in the proceedings in previous years in order to get an appetite for the many ales we always manage to drink. This year I had a notion to drive part way up and ride the rest of the way by some suitable route. I figured starting at Lagan just west of the A9 would allow me to do a large-ish route over the Corrieairyack, down the Great Glen Way, then the West Highland Way. I've done a lot of bike riding this year and this seemed a good way to round off the year before the winter kicked in and I'd be limited to day rides.
A further justification for this route was to check out the newly opened Great Glen Cycleway between Fort Augustus and Fort William. During this years Highland Trail campaign I'd noted signs of the old railway line being worked on and research afterward indicated that there was a project underway to create a cycleway the whole way from Inverness to Fort Bill; due for completion that summer. Part of this would be on the same line as the Great Glen Way and some of it would be new. I'd mentioned this to Alan Goldsmith in an email exchange over the day one route and he'd asked if I could recce it and get a gpx that he could include in the HT route.
So I booked the Friday off work on the strength of a good weather forecast and left the house early doors to get an easy run up the A9 to Dalwhinnie and thence Lagan. The weather was cool and cloudy but with hints of the nice day to come. Better yet was a stiff North-Easterly breeze which would provide a tailwind for the whole route. After Lagan village the tarmac runs out at Melgarve Bothy which I had a brief nosy at before hitting the dirt.
On the first part of the climb I eyed up a large machine busy restoring the access track used to install the Beauly-Denny power line further up the hill. When this track was being put in they used Wades road as the initial access for plant and as a result did the whole route up to a good standard which finally seems to be standing the test of time. Previous excursions over the Corrieairyack had been a struggle due to the large boulder field and huge washouts masquerading as the track surface. Now its pretty smooth with only some monster water-bars interrupting the flow.
Hmm, the last time I was on this was during the Highland Trail. I seemed to be repeating lots of the route on my various bike trips this year. Not intentionally as such, I guess its just a function of it covering so much ground across Scotland. Any reasonable length of route in the Highlands is therefore bound to meet it. In fact the last time I was up here on the Krampus was on my ill-fated Highland Trail attempt in 2014. That day, despite my legs being totally wrecked, I'd got up the whole climb thanks mainly due to a 20/34 granny gear. Today I was on my 1x10 which was only a 30/42 granny but in the event I still got up - all thanks to my excellent form and fresh legs.
The top, still a bit grey but breaks in the cloud all around.
Looking west towards Strath Cannich, Kintail and Torridon
Being a Friday in October I had the place to myself. I hammered the descent and made sure I rode the bottom of the hydro scheme track instead of the 'official' wades road. The local landowner seems to get very annoyed at people doing this which is why I do it. Access rights of course as well as the fact that I buy my electricity from Scottish Hydro and they put the track in so in fact I'm riding on my track! The sun finally appeared right on cue as I rolled into Fort Augustus so I grabbed lots of pies and cakes from the shop and sat in the sun having a leisurely brunch. A passing tourist expressed gasps of amazement at the Kramps 3" wide tyres. Funny really these seem narrow to me nowadays....
So with a nice following breeze (for a very nice change along here), off I went down the Great Glen Cycleway. This actually has quite a checkered history. A previous incarnation pre-dates the Great Glen Way (which is touted primarily as a walking route although you can bike it) and followed some pretty steep trails thrown at the ground with little thought for durability or rideability. It also finished at Drumnadrochit and thereafter you either had to turn back or continue on the not too pleasant A82. After a few years it was showing signs of serious neglect, got little use and was therefore abandoned.... Some years later much funding was gained through Scottish Natural Heritage, Forestry Commission Scotland and Highland Council to develop the Great Glen Way as an easy long distance walking route. This used most of what had been the old cycling route - the Caledonian Canal tow path , various forest tracks and sections of either the old General Wade Road or disused railway line which goes through here but also built several new sections, in particular along the length of Loch Ness above the A82. Then this year the Council started to re-develop the cycle route. This uses the quiet roads on the south side of Loch Ness, the easier bits of the Great Glen Way and a long length of disused railway alongside loch Oich. Confused?
Whatever it was an easy pedal in warm sunshine with great views down the glen. Right enough the section alongside Loch Oich was all on the old railway line. This has been closed since the 50's and mostly impassable. I'd ridden along here in 2014 as part of a tour and one section was a mass of tree routes which made for incredibly hard going. Wades road and the HT route parallels the railway line for much of this so on my 2015 ride we'd been duty bound to follow the proper route along wades road which, as per the rest of the HT route was very wet. Then the cycleway was incomplete but the roots were no more! Now its a great route with a smooth dust surface. You pass through a couple of rock cuttings and a tunnel and its pan flat the whole way. I guess the only problem is that Wades road will likely not get used any more and therefore become totally overgrown. After Loch Oich your on a nice single track section which had only been re-surfaced, not widened. Then it was up into the forestry beside Loch Lochy, views of Annoch Mor and Ben Nevis building to the south.
The last time I'd been on the final section of towpath (now also re-surfaced and billiard table smooth) it had been 9.30pm, I'd been going for 16 hours and it was pishing down. Today it was warm, sunny and I was cruising effortlessly. At Fort William I sat in the afternoon sun eating more pie and cake contemplating my onward route. The easy way would be to just horse it down the A82 to Corran and thence the cycleway to Glencoe village. The A82 is not particularly nice on this section so definitely worth a miss. That left the West Highland Way, last done in more torrential rain and an ungodly 6 am on my last day of the HT. Today it was warm, dry and I was feeling super strong so left without a thought. I couldn't be bothered with the WHW out of Glen Nevis however so short-cutted up Wades road (tarmac) before picking the WHW and HT route near the road end.
The climb up the Lairig Mor seemed to take no time and soon enough I was clattering down the rough descent into Kinlochleven as dusk fell. Then it was case of following the bumpy twisty B863 out to Glencoe village and up to the caravan, some 80 miles and eight and a half hours after leaving the car. My pals were already ensconced and champing at the bit to go to the pub!
This we did and had a fine night drinking many ales and eating food whilst listening to the usual folk band. Walking back from the pub it was raining. This was forecast for most of the night but was due to be off by the next morning.
We woke to a steady drizzle, somewhat late thanks to the previous nights festivities. After a leisurely breakfast we all headed out. They (Dawn, Ron, Jim and Kim) were out to bag some waterfalls above Kinlochleven. I was also heading there but I had bigger fish to fry - the Chiarain Path. As I passed through the woods above Glencoe village the sky brightened and the sun came out on the road to KLL. Thence it was 'that' climb up past the water pipes (again!) but at the penstock, instead of turning off up the WHW, I kept on a ways before dropping onto the lid of the aqueduct. This is a 3m square concrete box through which water flows from the Blackwater reservoir to feed the power station at Kinlochleven, formerly the Aluminium smelter. Its nigh on level (well it climbs at about 1:100) and fast. The only dodgy bits are where it crosses gorges on viaducts of various lengths. There are no handrails of course so these can be a little unnerving if you don't have a head for heights.
Finally reaching the dam I picked my way across the vast area of rock that used to be a raging river before it was dammed. Now its barely a trickle and with a bit of nose following its easy to pick a route across. In fact this area gets used for the Scottish Six Days Trial for a number of sections so there are wee trails everywhere. At the far side of the dam you follow another pipeline (a round one this time) which links the Blackwater Res to Loch an Eilde Mor. All part of the same hydro scheme. After only a couple of hundred meters you turn away from this and start one of the UK's gnarliest descents - the Chiarain Path.
Its typical of the breed and quite eroded due to being used by the SSDT so rough as in places with some steep sections and plenty of drops. I'd last rode this on my Orange 5 in 2011, also on an October Fest weekend. I'd blasted down it in about 30 minutes and was left feeling somewhat underwhelmed by the experience. This marked the end of my full suspension biking career in the event. So here I was on a rigid steel bike eagerly anticipating the battering I was about to receive. Now as it happens I had an action cam (a Garmin virb) attached to my bars and I hoped to get some good footage of the descent. Off I went clattering across everything in my path. I rode pretty much all that I remembered having ridden previously excepting one particularly precipitous drop. I felt I was making good progress and the 29+ was going through everything. The clock told a different story as it took nearly twice as long.
That said this included a rather epic burn crossing. As I'd ridden along the aqueduct, I'd noted a few of the side burns on the opposite side of the glen looking somewhat tumultuous due to the previous nights rain. One in particular looked to be a raging torrent. Sure enough when I arrived it was fierce. My riding this year has been characterised by several epic river crossings, mainly on the Highland Trail but with a few others also adding to the drama. This one looked like it could be the worst of the lot. I'd been following fresh tyre tracks however so someone else must have got across and I figured it would go. First attempt nearly had me over as I sank up to my thigh into a strong current which also caught the bike wheel. Oops best try elsewhere....
A bit further downstream the flow widened somewhat and so was much shallower. I stepped carefully across feeling my footing with a deal of care as there was a waterfall right behind me.... Phew made it. I stopped to drain my boots and then carried on knowing another river was coming. I passed an elderly couple soon after who advised it was fine. I told them not to attempt the crossing I'd just done!
Sure enough the next river, despite being in a huge gorge containing a wreck of a bridge, was barely a trickle. Odd. The remainder of the route passed without incident and I rolled back to Glencoe along the road with a big grin on my face. Afterward I reviewed the camera footage and it was truly painful. What had seemed to me to be a progressive descent down the trail was revealed as continual series of fits and starts that made for turgid viewing. Worse, as the camera was bolted to the bike it was bouncing and shaking all over the place and actually made me feel physically sick watching it. I'll not be doing that again.....
That night involved more beer, food, beer, folk music and beer. The pub was rammed so we'd ended up in the back bar. This did make for easy conversation and you could still hear the music. Thankfully the clocks would be changing that night so we'd get an extra hour in bed.
Sunday dawned sunny but we had to be up and out of the van by 10. We had a large breakfast in the Glencoe cafe and then once again I was cycling along in pleasant sunshine with a tailwind thanks to the wind shifting back to the south west. My route back would involve picking up some forestry trails from Onich in the hope that I would miss out a large chunk of the A82. From Glencoe to Onich is now off road as they have widened the footway into a cycleway of sorts.
The track out of Onich was good and the bridge over the Abhainn Righ was in fact there! I then picked my way above Inshree following a mix of fire roads and walking trails. Hmm. the forest road shown on the map seemed to have disappeared under a load of clear fell. I had that familiar sinking feeling and back tracked to try another track lower down. What was on the ground didn't seem to bear much resemblance to what was on the map but after a bit of nose following, one struggle down a track covered in brash and a careful crossing of a river over which there wasn't a bridge that was marked on the map, I joined the A82 for the final few miles into Fort Bill.
I rode straight through and sought out the cycleway which goes from the edge of the town to the ski centre. This is a roadside path for a while but you turn off at Torlundy past the North Face (of Ben Nevis) car park and head into the woods, part of the waymarked trails in Leanachan forest. Sections were taped off and showed evidence of much use. Arriving at the ski centre it was crowded with very muddy (and wasted looking) people attaching very muddy bikes to cars. Turns out it was the 'Sleepless in the Saddle' 24 hour race which had finished at 10 am that morning. I parked up outside the cafe and queued for a while to grab a large lunch which I ate sat out in the sun, contemplating my onward route.
The plan was to ride through the forest towards Spean Bridge, then pick up the East Highland Way which I'd ridden with my pal Iona a couple of years previously and on which I'd broken my collar bone. By this time the weather was glorious so I pedaled steadily through the woods taking in the views all around. From Killieconate you join the EHW on a back road at the end of which a group of squadies were congregated around a truck immovably stuck in the roadside ditch. You often see the Army around here, the vast area of mountains to the east an obvious draw for training purposes. I gave them a cheery wave and carried on to Insh farm. After this it gets progressively rougher to Monessie farm - a strange place in that it has no good track access and a large river between it and the main road. There is a ford across this but impassable when the river is in spate. The EHW follows a vaguer line (well marked) through fields by the river, down a bank and across a side burn into felled woodland.
Its a good route and was created by a guy off his own back as a way to link the West Highland Way to the Speyside Way. As I headed through the forest to Fersit and beyond I contemplated the land to my right. This is one of the biggest wilderness areas in the country (in fact the whole of Europe) only beaten by the Caringorms as this area has a few isolated lodges and the West Highland Railway line passing through it. Various routes through it can be followed by bike although its quite an undertaking. The Highland Trail route came through here but its first day route is changing and will head through further to the east. This is a bit of a shame as the old route has a section of nigh on 50 miles between public roads. There are a couple of rubbish bits however and the new route uses much nicer trails....
Dusk was now falling as I progressed north east. I took collarbone corner at a suitably low speed and then climbed up to Loch an Earba rather than the easier route along loch Lagan, keen to re-visit as much of the HT route as possible.
Darkness eventually fell as I passed Ardvericke, thanks to the clocks going back, but soon enough I was back at Lagan, some 67 miles and six and a half hours since starting. That's it for trips for me this year. I'll do plenty of day rides of course and look forward to (hopefully) another snowy winter!
