July BAM, Perthshire here we come!

The hills of Perthshire span a large area ranging from the Ochills in the South, my local playground, all the way into the Southern Cairngorms. However the 'classic' Perthshire hills are the ranges north of Crieff and south of the 'gorms. These comprise varying sizes of rocky hill which are much greener than than the higher hills to the north but subtly different from the Western Highlands. Mountainbike wise a glance at the map will reveal.... not a lot. There are trails, but not much in the way of single track / stalkers paths and big areas with apparently nothing in the way of paths. In reality there is, but you have to go looking for them.

This went through my mind as I contemplated my July BAM. Recently, I'd been made aware of two Perthshire routes - Perthshiregrit (https://www.plotaroute.com/route/1125079?units=km), and Perthshiregravel.com. This was timely as they both picked up a few trails I'd been eyeing up for a while. I'd actually meant to do something like this way back in March but the lockdown scuppered this thoroughly. So this weekend I figured I'd head up there and see what was what. I had a few options in mind, as usual, and even bunged a route on the GPS, in a fit of organisation.

I loaded for a nominal three days which left the bike weighing a ton but meant I'd avoid crowded pubs, cafes and shops.

I went off route almost immediately as I wasn't in any rush and wanted to minimise road miles given that my route would involve a fair few. So instead of a rapid transit through to Auchterader I picked up a few Ochills trails including the ace Drove Road which goes down the west side of Glen Eagles. Thanks to the recent run of good weather, everything was back to being (nearly) dry.

North of Auchterarder there is a large network of great wee roads with varying levels of bugger all traffic. I cruised through these in hot sunshine. That said, there was a fair bit of cloud around, and contrary (yet again) to the forecast the wind was in the northwest and about twice the strength the beeb had suggested. My route took me over a ridge of hills north of the A85. About halfway up the climb was new trail number one. A good doubletrack over to the A822. This was easy going and gave fantastic views over the wide vale bordered by the Ochills and the main Perthshire massif.

Looking back to my beloved Ochills and the large area of flat land I'd crossed on various back roads.

View West to Ben Ledi in the Trossachs

It popped out by a golf course (in full flow once again, I ducked) and nearly opposite was the start of new trail number two - a shortish section of Wades Road to the Sma Glen. It was great - a lovely grassy double track that hadn't been churned up by farm vehicles. Wee tracks like this are becoming increasingly rare as most seem to have been upgraded to motorway standard for wind farms, power lines or stalking access. I sat in the sun eating a late lunch checking out the views:

East to the hills above Dundee

Looking into the Sma Glen

This trails pops out on the A822 which I followed for a couple of miles to the bridge over the river Almond. There were a fair few folk camped at the road side and down by the river with the usual fires and mess. So I burned past and turned off the road just over the bridge. This is a great route through a 15 mile long strath. It climbs steadily for about 10 miles, mostly on a smooth track with only the last couple of miles a bit rough; descending to Loch Tay on another good track. That was the good news. The bad news was the stiff north westerly wind being nicely funneled through the glen. Fortunately it was all within the range of my (one) gear so I was able to make good progress without killing myself. I was still pretty bushed by the time I got to the estate bothy at the top.

View back down. The bothy is unfortunately locked as the estate use it for shooting parties. It was open when I passed by a few years ago and very posh - sofas, beds and gas cooking (plus a lot of empty whisky bottles!)

A few large clouds had passed close by depositing a few sprinkles. Finally descending down to loch Tay it came on to rain in earnest. I kept on as it looked like it was short lived so I was rather damp when I hit the road for some blessedly easy tailwind pedaling to Kenmore, sunny once more.

Again I blazed straight through as there were lots of people around all enjoying the newly opened pubs. More new ground was the woods of Drummond Hill. I'd traced a route through the southern slopes to drop out on the Fortingall road. Despite having this in the GPS I still made two nav errors thanks to following my nose rather than the machine, the second leading to a wasted climb and descent (and back again). I actually think I'm better off without a plotted route for these rides as then I'll check the screen at every turn...

I hit the road eventually and it was decision time. I'd had a notion to keep heading north and west up Glen Lyon, over to Loch Rannoch and then onwards and upwards to Ben Alder. But the cloud to the north west look pretty black and I really didn't fancy another 10 mile grind into the wind. East looked much brighter so off I went on another wee road to Coshieville. Hmm now what. I was now off my route (hurrah!) and back to my more favoured method of bike riding which is to go where the mood takes me. I could continue east and head into the woods above Dull (a real place) or further east again to the woods above Pitlochry, scene of my face plant / skull smash crash in 1994. Or, climb up the road over to Rannoch but turn off on another track I'd eyed up pre ride. 

Off I went, more stand up pedaling, my legs starting to feel it. It was now 6.45 so I was up for a stop at any likely looking spot. There were more road side campers where the track started. I sniggered to myself - their spot would be death by midges (and mozzies as it turned out). For me was another substantial climb up which I walked. Then off this wide track onto a vague, rough double track with little sign of use. Just what you need at the end of a long day and not only that I had the added bonus of gathering clouds behind me to add to the drama. Hmm, single speed limitations - it was hard work pedaling and I was off regularly where the track jumped up a steeper slope. On a geared bike I'd have been able to twiddle along in my granny gear with minimal effort. Hey ho. 

I was looking for a turn off but in keeping with my ride so far rode past it focusing on the trail ahead. To be fair I'd read it was very vague but it would lead to an old shooting hut, now surrounded by woodland, that I had thought would make a nice cheeky bivvy spot. A quick check of the map indicated I could keep going (rather than back track for a mile) and join the same track where it emerged from the woods. So onwards, upwards and finally downwards I went, all on this great track. A few sprinkles of rain came through but it was clear that the big hills behind were holding the worst, justifying my reduced route. A bit more head scratching saw me pick up the track back into the woods but on crossing the gate, I looked about me and thought "this is a good bivvy spot" and stopped. It was near ideal, breezy enough to keep the midges at bay but sheltered from the worst of the wind. I actually pitched right on the track, such as it was, but I figured no-one would be passing as it was now 8.30. In fact it didn't look like anyone had been past for some time.

Isolation pitch. 

I was knackered and very hungry having been riding for eight and a half hours and only eaten a cheese roll, crisps and a double biscuit. Annoyingly the wind was dropping so the midges came out. I'd actually forgotten my smidge but I was saved by my nano mesh mozzie tent which I'd chucked in at the last minute. It only weighs 60g's but it will cover a bivvy. I draped it over my head, tucked it under the bag and was able to cook and eat tea, read and drink whisky in relative comfort. But the mozzies got me again. As per the June BAM I wasn't aware of them until the next day when all these bumps appeared on my head.... At 10.30 I crashed out and fell asleep instantly.

Morning World

I woke to clear blue skies with the sun just under the horizon. Thereafter sleep came and went but not my usual solid eight hours despite the rigours of the previous day. Rain also came and went but when I eventually got going at 6.45 it was dry again. I had a leisurely breakfast and considered my options. I'd vaguely thought of doing another day and a night out but the weather looked less than inspiring. Plus I'd have to buy more food but lacked the mandatory face mask... South looked brighter so I figured out a run back home via more (hopefully) great trails.

First I tried to continue on the track to check out the shooting hut. But several increasingly boggy areas gave pause until one particularly bad one defeated me. I'd only got half a mile so gave up and back tracked to my route of the night before. There seemed to be tracks everywhere not marked on the map and a big track appeared heading back into Dull Wood and down the hill. I followed this to a junction and a sign announcing 'Path to Weem 3 miles'. As this is where I was heading why not - except there was nothing on the map.... It was fine and well way marked until I emerged on a large forest track above Weem with no indication of the direction. This track was also not on the map so I was now into the land of guess work. There then followed around 45 minutes of riding down bits of dead end bike trail still under construction, quad tracks (more dead ends) and forest tracks that lead to.... a dead end! Much climbing / re-climbing, huffing, puffing and swearing eventually got me back to where I started. I then went up the track but it turned back into the forest and away from Weem. One last chance on another bike trail lead me into a maze of trails, all a like. I've been here before (figuratively not literally) so it was with a sense of inevitability that I chose a trail at random knowing that it would be the steepest one of the lot. 10 minutes of arse over seat descending got me onto another bigger path and finally out onto the road. Muttering curses about signposting, Forestry Commisson and bike trail builders who build trails everywhere instead of a few clearly defined ones that are easy to follow, I pedaled quickly through Aberfeldy.

At least I knew where I was going now. A bit of riverside trail avoided the main road and then it was the long, long climb into Griffin Forest, heading over towards Dunkeld (15 miles, all off road). This is all easy going but a nice traverse across a large moor, forest and Windfarm with good views all around.

Looking west up the Tay valley, Schiehallion the pointy peak right of centre

At Rumbling bridge I crossed the main road and started another long climb up a trail I'd done in around 2004. I had no memory of it other than it had been very wet, being January. After the usual big farm track start it pealed off onto a fine grassy trail climbing easily up into a narrow defile. No leg buster, the gradient stayed steady to the summit, only a few small wet bits interrupting the flow.

The fab descent - this should be etched in my memory but I couldn't recall this bit at all from sixteen years ago! It popped out into a couple of fields (with cows but they were over the other side this morning) and then the road again down to Bankfoot.

More wee roads followed and a feeling of extreme hunger. I'd already had a second breakfast and a cup of sweet coffee in Griffin Forest so this wasn't usual. I'd been feeling pretty wabbit since Bankfoot so stopped in the edge of some woods and ate most of the rest of my stash whilst checking out the hills I'd been riding through, laid out before me. Must be all that singlespeeding! At a cross roads above the A9 was a 'Road ahead closed' sign. These seem to be plaguing my rides this year and after the navigational faffing so far, entirely typical. The alternatives were to cut west to my outward route or cut east but end up on the A9 itself (dual carriageway, no thanks). Of course I rode through the closure thinking I'd get through one way or another. As I approached the junction I noted lots of paving plant, lorries, rollers and the traffic in a contraflow. Bugger; I couldn't sneak through that lot as per my ride of the previous weekend. Salvation came in the form of another path sign pointing to Aberuthven where I knew I could pick up another back road to Dunning. First the old A9 (9m wide tarmac with large piles of manure stored on it) then a good gravel track, and then the crux.....

It was with a further sense of inevitability that I ploughed into the 'path' actually a 3m strip of dense vegetation with the vaguest of trampled line through it. Only 20 minutes but at one point I was actually brought to a halt by the tangle of plant life wrapped round legs and pedals. Further map appraisal suggested I could have avoided this with a loop of more farm track. Oh well, back on track again to Aberuthven, across the A9 and up to the Dunning Road. This lead to the last new trail of the route and (mostly) a good one. A few weeks previous I'd passed here on the road bike and noted a sign 'Path to Dunning Glen road via the Cat Road'. Intriguing and got to be worth a look.

Another fine piece of track. The route turned off this after a bit (well waymarked!) but it seemed to continue to more woods and possibly a way up onto the moor above me. Something to check out on another day. The only iffy bit was two barbed wire fences with stiles, not gates, unlike the rest of it. As I approached the Dunning road two roadies went past. Being on a single speed Jones plus with bags on, and being pretty wrecked I paid them no heed but after settling into to my pace on the climb I started slowly reeling them in. I nearly caught the guy at the back (they both had Dunfermline Cycling Club kit on so should be pretty handy) so maybe I'm fitter than I think. They did see me when taking their summit photos (!) but sped away on the descent where I was happy to freewheel. I had a few more trail options here but in the event stuck to the tarmac most of the way home joining my outward route at Crook of Devon. 

70 miles today making 150 over two days, not bad going all in all. I'd bagged some great trails, nav errors notwithstanding, and spied a few more for future trips. The singlespeed had revealed a few limitations for the first time. Specifically at the end of a long day when you are faced with a climb requiring either max effort pedaling or a walk. Also a couple of trails that would have made for a nice easy granny gear twiddle were hard work on my one gear (32/21 so not tall). That said I started with around 3kg of food (and drink!) so with a more normal load out I'd probably be fine...

Biking round the Trossachs

The Trossachs is an area of the Southern Highlands that are quite hard to define. They roughly cover an area east of Ben Lomond (but the most southerly munro isn't counted as being in the Trossachs), north and west of the A81 and A84 and South of Loch Voil. Its fairly mountainous with numerous rocky corberts but no Munros, lots of greenery, lots of bogs and a fair few evergreens in the large expanse of forestry. It falls within the boundary of the the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park but this covers a much larger area extending west into Argyll and North and East to Tyndrum and Crianlarich. Its tourism central and has the full tartan / scotty dog / haggis / twee stuff as well as a few more restrained attractions such as various lochs and visitor centres. 

My first visit to the area was in 1989 on about the third run with the Heriot Watt Uni cycling club (Aka the Watt Wheelers!) The Trossachs was one of their regular destinations. We'd get the train from Embra to Dunblane and then do one of various circuits around the area, generally always including a lap of Loch Katrine on its quiet private road. This reservoir was famously extended and connected to Glasgow by an aqueduct as a way of bringing fresh water into this hideously polluted city that had previously used the Clyde for both its toilet and water supply with Cholera rife as a result. Watt Wheeler runs were a far cry from what was the norm for cycling clubs in those days. Generally clubs were either full on roadie clubs (long before this pastime was anything like as mainstream as today) or CTC District Associations. The former involved much speed, pain and suffering, the latter much low speed and cafes. The CTC Hard Riders and RSF were the exceptions but these branches were largely unknown outside of their own worlds. We invented our own form of cycling - long rides, mainly on road but at a moderate (aka lazy) pace making use of the better tracks where possible, in all weathers and at all times of year. Many was the time it ended up dark (with minimal lights), far from home, in foul weather with poor gear. Cafes were frequented but so were pubs as long as they welcomed a bunch of scruffy students looking for maximum food (and a few pints) for minimum dosh. The bikes were an absolute mish mash of anything and everything available to us impoverished students so every ride was punctuated by at lease one mechanical breakdown. Mine was relatively flash being a fancy custom framed mountainbike; a mate had a Saracen Tuftrax, another a fine Mercian. The rest were a mix of touring machines of various vintages, old style 'racers' with better gear ranges and wider tyres and a few other mountainbikes. Bike runs were often supplemented by train journeys with a constant battle with train guards to avoid bike number restrictions and charges. 

Post Uni, I stopped going for many years until 2014. I was training for that years Highland Trail and looking to do an easy century with some off road thrown in as a season opener. A bit of map appraisal suggested that I could reach Loch Katrine from the house and the sections of gravel trail and road would make the Fargo an ideal machine to do it on. So that was the first time I did my now ubiquitous Trossachs bash. I did it the other day and its a great circuit, albeit with a few bits of back tracking. Distance ranges from 115 to 120 miles depending on what bits of Queen Elizabeth forest you do. I'll not say much about my outward route (as per my March and June 2018 BAMS!) but its a nice mix of back roads and cycleways with only one bit of busy road for a few miles before Bridge of Alan. Just after Bridge of Allan you turn off the A9 onto a great wee road which sees pretty much zero traffic. You can track this to just outside Doune then you link through to the B8032. This is also quiet as most traffic uses the parallel A84. A few miles of steady climbing takes you to just south of Callander and a short section of the A81. There was a fair bit of traffic on it as this is the main route from Glasgow to Callander and points north. You turn off before the town centre on a back road which takes you along the south shore of Loch Venechar. Numerous people were parked up along here setting up camp, lighting fires and already starting on the days drinking. Music blared from cheap speakers at one group's camp so I made swift progress away. This is part of the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park managed camping zone and you need a permit to camp here subject to all sorts of rules and regulations (which under the current restrictions your supposedly not allowed to do at all....). Clearly this, as predicted when it was introduced, is having little impact on peoples behaviour and is just an embuggerance if you want to bivvy within the zone. My advice? Find a quiet spot, bivvy without bothering to get a permit, leave no trace. Just like normal then.

Sneaky bivvy in the LLTNP managed camping zone. Don't tell anybody.... The public road ends at a car park but the tarmac continues along the loch shore for another couple of miles. On the north side of the loch there is another trail - 'The Great Trossachs Trail' which is a good gravel path that climbs high above the loch level and pops out at Brig O'Turk (good cafe and excellent pub). I did this on the straggler last year on a visit to my parents holiday cottage and its a good one. Being on single speed and out for a long day, today I decided to give it a miss.

On the Great Trossachs Trail in 2019. The woods of Invertrossachs in the distance.

The south shore path (i.e. NCN 7) is a cracker. I first rode this in 1989 on the first of those Watt Wheeler trips, shortly after it was built. Lots of twists and turns and ups and downs - a great laugh on any bike with 40mm or wider tyres. It was one of the early Sustrans volunteer projects and has stood the test of time, albeit with a few improvements over the years. My involvement came in about 1997 when the two rock causeways were starting to collapse, the remote location leading to the usual challenges of getting plant and materials in. Its part of a short walking loop and there were actually quite a few peds on it today. Usually I start this ride early morning and its quiet. My late start today meant I hit rush hour..... 

Pedalling along the forest road beyond the end of the path indicated that the forest drive was shut. This loops out from the Dukes Pass road and normally its a nuisance. Despite being fairly smooth people tend to drive along it at a terminally slow pace. As is typical with a lot of car drivers they are oblivious to all around them so overtakes have to be planned carefully. Worse, you are allowed to camp at various points along it for a fee so many good bivvy spots are spoiled as most 'campers' will have music, generators and fires to help them survive their night in the wilds. I don't get why Forestry Commission still persist with this in this day and age. It appears it will be shut for all of this year so maybe this will persuade them to close it to vehicles for good.

Hey ho, for now it was quiet. I passed the scene of my self destructing back tyre back in May without incident then linked across to the bottom of the Dukes Pass road via a short gravel path. This road was also shut due to roadworks but cars were abandoned everywhere by the Ben Venue car park, something of a common theme of late as hoards of people escape the confines of their houses now that you can do it officially. The Loch Katrine car park was open but fairly quiet. Beyond here the road is private, only used by a handful of properties and Scottish Water vehicles. Various signs give dire warnings telling cyclists to be aware of traffic but in reality its just a very quiet back road along which you can pedal with little concern for vehicle traffic. As it happened I met a car and a tractor along here - my only vehicle encounters in around a dozen trips.

Of greater concern were a couple of notices a few miles in indicating a road closure due to landslips. A cyclist heading the other way also shouted that the road was closed. These signs had been up last August on my lap of this road due to a major flooding incident a couple of days previous. In the event I got through albeit with a few challenges crossing some big washed out sections. The last was the worst - around 100m of road was covered to about head height in boulders washed down the hillside. There were a couple of holiday properties and a big farm house adjacent. One of the properties was half buried and two cars had also fallen victim to the flood. It's a not uncommon weather phenomena when you get summer storms - a monster cloud staggers over a range of hills then empties itself on what is over the other side. In this case a few square miles of ground that was iron hard after a long dry spell. So the deluge ran straight into the many burns destroying all in its path. It seemed odd that this hadn't been sorted sooner but I figured that having got through a couple of days after it happened last year, I'd be fine today.

Flood damage on my ride of 2019, just after the event. Fortunately only property was damaged not people

At one point you can leave the road onto a short section of fast gravel path which misses a bit of climbing. I always stop for food here as the views are fab:-

Ben Lomond and Ben A'Choin from my lunch spot (taken in the Spring of 2018, I was camera free today)

And looking back down to my lunch spot from the summit of Ben A'Choin on a blazing day last September. Note multiple scoured out burn lines.

I passed a few more cyclists but none gave any indication of what was ahead. So I got a bit of a shock to suddenly come across a substantial barrier across the road and lots of 'Construction Site Keep Out' signs. There was even a matrix sign blazing a message to say that the route was closed to all users, as if the barrier wasn't enough. I felt justified in grumbling at this. There had not been even a hint of this closure back at the start of the route and the signs previously suggested that the road was closed due to land slips, not due to it being a construction site. Its typical of such locations where a contractor used to working in urban environments try to use the same approach to site security in the countryside. Of course there was nothing to stop you walking round them other than a bit of dense vegetation and a deer fence (no obstacle to a seasoned mountainbiker) plus you could easily walk into the 'site' off the surrounding hills. I hummed and hawed for a bit. Back tracking would pretty much scupper the ride (again!) and I was seriously miffed that they had gone to such lengths to close the road without any pre-warning where it would have made sense. Imagine driving down the M74 only to come up with a road closure with no warning, and no diversion!

You know whats coming so I did what apparently, given the trampled grass, numerous other people had done and climbed over the adjacent deer fence and went on my way. I pedaled along cautiously as I wasn't going to ride through a construction site where they were actually working. I passed a couple of the damaged sections. All the works looked to be complete apart from the final surface on the road. Further along a few machines were parked up but no-one was present. The two really bad sections had also been largely finished, again only lacking the final road surface. So all that trouble with barriers when it was clear that the site wasn't operating on a weekend, there was no issue passing through and so they could have quite easily opened it outside working hours. 

This kind of thing annoys me. Over the years I've managed numerous construction sites in similar locations where we knew that excluding people would be impossible or just plain not right. So we just worked around it on the basis that during working hours, passers by would be minimal. Measures to ensure that no-one gets squashed by a machine are easy and allowing routes to be used outside of working hours minimised the chances of people trying to break through barriers as well as keeping them on-side. The big farm house seemed empty which made me wonder where the residents were. This gave me hope that there wouldn't be a similar barrier further along so that the owners could get through but no, a couple of miles after another deserted site compound was a similar fortress. This required crossing the same deer fence twice but again, I wasn't the first.

I felt the need to write a snotty letter to someone about this but I can't be bothered really. The daft thing is; had I managed to get squashed by a machine I've no doubt that the HSE wouldn't have been impressed by the lack of thought over the closure and how practical it is to close off several square miles of hillside instead of putting in a few measures to manage people safely through the site. Likewise there were no signs at Stronachlachur indicating the closure ahead and there was no one around so I carried on my way. 

The munros above Loch Lomond (Ben Vane, Ime and Narnain)

A couple of miles down the Aberfoyle road you turn off into the forest. Loch Ard forest is a big one and has a network of tracks through it. Oddly no singletrack that I've found possibly as its a bit remote from populations so of little interest to the usual trail building types. The Forestry Commission did consider a trail centre here but it didn't get anywhere before they stopped building them. It roughly follows the Duchray water but extends over several corries on the lower slopes of a ridge of hills ending in Ben Lomond. Of interest are the two aqueducts which lead from Loch Katrine, eventually to Glasgow. A mix of steel box aqueducts and tunnels; it was quite an undertaking, particularly as its all gravity fed - in otherwords it follows a steady downhill gradient all the way to the treatment works at Mugdock Country Park. So there are a few ways through the woods to Aberfoyle, depending on how much climbing you fancy. Today I chose a middling route which would avoid the car parks in the forest and the attendant crowds of people. 

Ben Lomond from Loch Ard Forest (also taken in Spring 2018)

Aberfoyle was mobbed so I burned straight up the hill and back into the forest once more. The first section of the NCN after the road was more of my handiwork, partially with a group of volunteers and partially using our own specialist team. There were a fair few folk looking at the water-fall but the 'Go-Ape' oversized assault course was shut so the climb away from the visitor centre was quiet. And steep. I'd had this pegged as one to walk on my 36/18 gear, but in the event I got up it with only a modicum of straining. Over the top is a great descent and the shut forest drive made it even better without any vehicles. Oddly I passed a few groups of people, one lot with an inflated dingy in tow, who must have walked into the picnic areas by Loch Drunkie. So there you go - if people have to walk to get to a known picnic spot, they will. Ergo no need for vehicles to be able to get in here. There were a lot of bikes to, mainly people also having been for a picnic but a few other gravel bashers making use of the vast network of trails. In fact this is probably the biggest area of forest this side of Kielder so an obvious draw for this burgeoning biking trend.

On the descent I left all behind and had the Venechar cycleway to myself. Then it was out onto the road and back the way I came as far as Doune. I noticed a young lad in a LLTNP truck patrolling along the road eyeing up all the camps. This pretty much highlighted the problem as how this guy was going to drive off the large number of numpties was anyone's guess. I would very much doubt if the Police would want to get involved so what do you do. The answer is education but no-one seems willing to tackle such a monster of a task. Instead all we are seeing is an increasing number of no-camping byelaws across Scotland which have little effect on people who have no respect for the law or else will just drive them elsewhere. Anyway enough of the soapboxing, on with the ride.

Beyond Doune I picked up NCN765 along a bit of disused railway line, some old estate roads and then the usual convoluted route the NCN tends to follow through a sizeable community, Dunblane in this case. The route then continues above Bridge of Allan on an old road closed due to repeated landslips into the gorge of Kippenrait Glen below. The first time I did this ride, a recent deluge / flood / landslip had left two large bites out of the public road just past the closed section. As I approached several engineers and residents were peering into the resulting abyss wondering how to sort it. Fortunately I was able to bypass this. Today I followed various streets with many monster houses. Not sure where the money for these comes from but there are a hundred or so in this corner of Bridge of Allan suggesting an unknown but well paying industry. On a whim I used a section path behind Stirling Uni which is a swamp in normal weather but dry today. This misses out the A91 I'd hoofed along that morning and lead me into another signed path to Blair Logie. As per usual at the end of a long day, after a promising start it degenerated to a narrow, overgrown, rough and ready path but thanks to the dry spring was fine on my narrow tyres. Another (better) path connect to one of Clacks Councils excellent cycle routes to just above Tillycoutry. Finally a few more climbs got me back to the house just before 8, some eight and three quarters of an hour after I started, 118 miles done. Not bad on the single speed especially as my earlier plans to pace it nice and easy went straight out the window as I bombed through traffic, round people and along twisty trails.