October BAM

10 out of 12 with doublers from April, through to September.


This one nearly didn't happen. Plan A was to grab a bivvy as part of my trip to Glencoe the previous weekend but the foul weather put me off. I'd booked a long weekend off work for this weekend as I was off to Lochgoilhead with Fife Conservation Volunteers for a bit of cutting and burning (of Sitka spruce trees...). The plan was to bike there and back so I now needed to throw in a bivvy. Monday was booked as well so I could crash somewhere on Sunday eve. Then I fell off my motorbike. It was the lamest crash ever - I dropped it whilst travelling at about 5mph - but I managed to wrench back my thumb in the journey from vertical to horizontal. An x ray showed it wasn't broken so it was a case of put up and shut up, but a shorter route seemed a better bet. Plus the Jones, being more upright than the Straggler, would be a comfier option. 


So plan B was to drive to Aberfoyle and ride to Lochgoilhead via NCN 7, various other cycleways, back roads and trails. I left the car at 11 and pedalled south west through Queen Elizabeth Forest. The sun was shining but the forecast was for some low temps. As usual I'd debated with myself which kit set up to take and in the end gone with my winter bag, tarp and a groundsheet as I knew this would be plenty warm and probably a bit lighter than my 3 season bag, bivvy bag and spare kit to wear in it....


Out of the forest you pick up NCN 7 on a wee road over a reasonable climb. Thereafter the going is easy following various back roads and one bit of cycleway

This is part of a section of disused railway which includes this natty pipe bridge over what used to be a viaduct. I had some involvement with this scheme back in the '90's in my Sustrans Days. In the end Stirling Council built it but I recall meeting one of the Engineers to discuss the details. Her name was (I kid you not) Fay Fife, a joke lost on those who aren't fae Fife, or Rezillos fans. More pleasant and empty back roads took me to Balloch Country park and the big retail outlet place at Lomond Shores. Amazingly in the middle of all the boutiques is a normal corner shop type place which sold cheap tea and plenty of snacks for the coming miles.


From Balloch I headed north on the Loch Lomond Cycleway then west up Glen Fruim towards the grim abomination that is Faslane. My goal was a section of the 3 lochs Way to Arrochar. This follows a track of varying standards just below the boundary fence of Britain's very own world domination centre (big underground cavern, lots of railways, lots of people in matching uniforms and enough nukes to turn the whole of the UK into a radioactive puddle). Its quite a tough route in places with a fair bit of climbing, however the views are fab (apart from the detritus associated with the naval base that is).

Start of the 3 lochs way section, the Arrochar Alps in the background and Faslane just out of shot to the left. To the right are lots of warning signs advising you not to touch anything...

Arrochar and Loch Long

Chips in Arrochar preceded a steady pedal round the peninsular between Loch Long and Loch Goil. I'd been thinking of checking out Mark Bothy but its a few k off route and the sun was rapidly disappearing behind the hills so I pushed on. This route ends in a fine made path (with more climbing, lots of climbing) and a plunge down to Lochgoilhead itself, 7 hours after I started.
 
Thereafter it was beers, chopping down and burning sitka spruce, more beer, more chopping and burning...

A proper fire. Over the last 20 years we've converted a section of rather stale mixed woodland (lots of Sitka when we started) into something more like what it should be - Atlantic oak woodland with hazel, birch, beach and oak. We've had these monster brash fires in various places around the site. It takes around 2-3 years for the ashes to grow back over, which is worth bearing in mind if you are planning on having a fire somewhere....

So finally it was time for the BAM bit! There are actually two bothies near Lochgoilhead but both are close by and I fancied a decent bike ride. So I pedalled into the fading light over the rest and be thankful (on a great track which has a large quarry in the middle of it = much scrambling and swearing to negotiate), did some footway bashing to miss out the A83 then picked up the Loch Lomond cycleway back down to Balloch. This is pretty good following long sections of the old road (much of which is either closed to all traffic or is just used to access a few houses) linked with bits of fairly remote cycleway. It was of course now fully dark being the start of British Winter time. I'd plenty of light power but it felt like the middle of the night rather than just after 6.

Chips in Balloch fuelled me back along my outward route into an increasingly cold evening. In the end I made it back into QE Forest, only a few miles from the car, before I found a space between the trees to bivvy. It crossed my mind to bottle out for a night in my own bed but that would have been the end of my BAM campaign.... As it was I stuck with it and actually had a warm and pleasant night, moon and stars shining down through the trees into my abode. I reckon it hit about -3 or so as it was properly frosty and frozen in the morning so I was glad that I'd packed my winter bag. This meant I was able to lie with the tarp un-zipped, looking at the stars and moon, only my nose feeling the cold. I got back to the car in no time and headed home for a large breakfast.

Another blurred bivvy shot, think I need a new camera....

Hopefully November will be another double and December will be the Scottish Bear Bones winter event and BAM 18 will be done.... I suspect my luck with the weather can't last however!

An Autumn Century

Every October the Clachaig Inn in Glencoe holds a beer / music festival and for the last few years myself and friends have gone up for a weekend. I've always tried to throw some biking in with the proceedings to get an appetite for the many fine ales on offer. Typically this involves driving somewhere then biking the rest of the way by a suitably scenic route.

This year I'd come up with various options but on the Friday morning an early rise suddenly saw me leaving the car in the driveway and setting off into a cool dawn heading west.

I followed my usual back road route to Callander, had a second breakfast, then headed north via NCN 7, a fine drizzle blowing in from the south west. As reported previously its a great route north from the central belt and fun on a gravel bike.

On the Glen Ogle Viaduct

At Killin I departed NCN 7 and headed west up Glen Dochart. I should have headed up Glen Lochay and then over into Glen Lyon to join the West Highland Way north of Tyndrum but I was concerned that the rivers would be high and the weather looked less than inspiring...

You can avoid a chunk of the A82 by following a wee road on the north side of Glen Dochart, followed by a couple of k of farm track to emerge a few miles east of Crianlarich. From here to Tyndrum its about 11 miles. As trunk roads go, the A82 isn't the busiest, especially on a Friday late morning so I endured the sporadic platoons of traffic and pedalled hard into the stiffening breeze. The WHW after Crianlarich is definitely worth a miss as it involves 3 steep climb / descents for no gain by way of views. The section just before Tyndrum seems to have been newly surfaced so next time I'll use this....

The weather had had a couple of goes at clearing but leaving Tyndrum after a snack at the Café it clagged in once more. I was done with the A82 so stuck with the WHW. Its a bit rough on 40mm tyres but a far more pleasant prospect than the main road. Just north of Tyndrum there is a section of rough single track which can be avoided by a short hop on the road, thereafter its a good double track to Bridge of Orchy.

As I pedalled round the road to the back of Loch Tulla, the sky showed signs of the forecasted sunny afternoon and on the start of the long climb out of Forest Lodge the sun finally made an appearance.

On the military road climb. The surface is almost cobbled - 2-3" stones all packed together. This is about as rough as I'd want to do on a gravel bike but it coped pretty well all in all and I'd recommend this route to anyone making there way north and west.

At the summit looking east towards Loch Rannoch. Somewhere over there is my June BAM site!


The descent is pretty rough so I took it nice and steady, however there are signs of track improvements being done - part of a programme of works to sort the WHW which are long overdue. The Kingshouse Hotel also seems to be getting a tart up, in fact its being pretty much rebuilt into a vast edifice of a new hotel. I hope they can find plenty of people to stay there! Thereafter I re-joined the A82 over into Glencoe right down to the back road to the Clachaig and our weekend accommodation in a caravan at the Glencoe Bunkhouse. If your on a mountainbike you can avoid most of the A82 on this section by following a bit more WHW, a short section of the old Wades road above the river Coe falls and then a longish section of old military road and a roadside path right to the turn off to the pub.

Total distance was just over the 100 mile mark which gave me a fine appetite for good food and beer that night.

Saturday involved five hours of walking in the rain followed by more food and beer as well as a particularly good RnR band.

At the Blackwater Res Dam - this is the inlet to a 5k long aqueduct which feeds the 6 huge pipes that run from the top of the doubletrack climb to the KLL power station. If you go up here be sure to ride (or walk) on the aqueduct!

Sunday meant a long ride home but I didn't fancy the A82 again so blagged a lift with my pals to just near Killin and then rode the nice bit of my outward route with a stiff tailwind and some warm sunshine!