- 10 hours ago
Cycling Weekly set out on the hunt for the best gravel riding we could find and found ourselves in Aberfoyle, just north of Glasgow and we weren't disappointed. With lochs, mountain views and mile after mile of traffic free gravel roads, they thought they found heaven!
In association with Komoot.
In association with Komoot.
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SportsTranscript
00:00It's safe to say that the last year and a half has been, well, empty of
00:29much in the way of exploration.
00:32Riding has been local, and if you're like me, mostly the same roads and trails over and
00:37over and over and over and over again.
00:39So when Camus asked myself and Catherine Moore if we'd like to ride one of the UK's ultimate
00:43gravel riding destinations, naturally we leapt at the chance.
00:48Bags and bikes packed, we headed a long way north to Aberfoyle, otherwise known as Gravel
00:54Foil.
00:55Now all we needed was a guide, so we met it was Kerry McPhee, a local shredder was an
00:59encyclopedic knowledge of the gravel roads and the trails on offer.
01:04So Gravel Foil has 200km of gravel trails and Aberfoyle is right in the centre of it, so
01:11you can loop the north side and you can loop the south side, you can bale halfway, you can
01:16eat your lunch and go down the south side and there's loads of different types of gravel
01:22as well.
01:23You've got fast gravel, you've got single track, you've got tech, so this is an ideal
01:28place for anyone to come and try.
01:30You can do a massive loop like we're going to do, or you can do a tiny little one, so
01:33you're spoilt for options and spoilt for terrain.
01:36Feeling a little apprehensive to be honest, like I'm really excited about this route,
01:41it looks absolutely incredible what you've put together for us.
01:44But it is going to be a big day and a ride of two halves by the looks of it, like the
01:49Three Locks Drive and that area that I think we're going to do first looks stunning.
01:53We've seen a little bit about what's in store there, but very accessible from Aberfoyle,
01:57whereas the second half looks properly wild and a bit of the West Highland Way, like really
02:03a bit more remote, so I think that will be really stunning.
02:06It's pretty tough, but it's a good loop.
02:08Pretty tough for you or pretty tough for them?
02:11Pretty tough for them, because they don't know what's coming.
02:14Our route has something of a rude awakening, climbing for the first five kilometres out of
02:21Aberfoyle before winding through the beautiful Trossachs Forest Roads up to Loch Finneker.
02:27We'll ride the southern shore before striking across to Loch Acre, before heading south and
02:31back towards Aberfoyle, but not before taking in the sights of Loch Drunkey.
02:35But our ride doesn't end there, instead we head out the other side of Aberfoyle and into
02:41the true wilderness of the Trossachs, winding a path between Ben Lomond and Ben Du, it's
02:46here where our ride is at its most isolated.
02:49A steep hairpin descent takes us down to the iconic West Highland Way on the shores
02:54of Loch Lomond and a chance for a break at the Inversnade Hotel.
02:58A short, steep climb takes us up to Loch Arklut, before a long ride in a much needed gradual
03:03descent along the banks of Loch On back to Aberfoyle.
03:07You can of course find all the route details on Cycling Weekly's Komoot account and at the
03:11link in the description.
03:13We're off!
03:15Where are we Kerry?
03:16We have just hit the Jigs Pass, so if you were doing the Jigs weekend and event this would
03:21be the start line of the hill climb.
03:23It is a hill!
03:25Yeah!
03:26We've started on a hill.
03:27So it won't be long before we pick a ride onto the gravel.
03:31So this looks like this is kind of some of the only tarmac.
03:34We don't twitch much tarmac on this ride.
03:36Very much!
03:37I think this is maybe like 300, 400 metres to tarmac and then let's go gravel after that.
03:41Music to my ears!
03:42Woohoo!
04:11Look at this!
04:29Very cloudy, very atmospheric, although I think it's going to burn off.
04:34I think we might get better weather this afternoon, which is nice, but these gravel roads are so
04:40cool.
04:41I just don't have anything like this where I ride at home.
04:45None of these like wide open rides that are just no traffic.
04:51You can ride like free abreast.
04:54So Kerry, myself and Catherine, able just to ride along and chat is such a refreshing way
05:00to ride.
05:10Pimperfront.
05:11Oh, okay.
05:12Thank you all.
05:13Aah!
05:14Check that out!
05:15Ah, well!
05:17Woo!
05:18Ah, not that flow, no no no promise!
05:21Lulu was is red when he all struggle to the trail, get past it!
05:22Wooo!
05:23Aw, not that flow!
05:24Not that fun!
05:25Not grow too.
05:26Aww, wow.
05:27Yeah!
05:28Rupert had a comedy crash!
05:31you know when you make crashes and for a split second you really want to laugh but you shouldn't
05:40laugh because you need to make sure that they're okay first once that was all clear it was just so
05:45funny we're just like a real slow-mo tumble very embarrassing it's just funny when somebody crashes
06:0115 kilometers into our ride after climbing out of Aberfoyle and stretching out along rocky tracks
06:08and winding our way along the southern shores of Loch Venica we reach Acre farm the perfect place
06:14for an ice cream break I was glad to reach Acre farm because Kerry told us a lot about the delicious ice
06:26cream which I can confirm was really delicious I think the elderflower one I had had been foraged
06:33from the village like two days ago which is super cool and there's loads of animals here which I'm
06:38really excited about but back to the root yeah fab so far if I said gravel foil what does that mean to
06:46you gravel foil is Aberfoyle it's the mecca for gravel in the UK at the moment I think have you
06:55seen an increase in cyclists yeah very much so I mean lockdown was amazing here the number of
07:02people who came out of their homes and could enjoy the roads and the tracks for for maybe the first
07:09time in a long time and the number of casual recreational and kind of semi-probe races kind
07:15of whizzing around the woods here is is phenomenal these days when we came to the farm we knew there was
07:20the great trussex path running through it and the three locks twice drive adjacent so setting up a
07:25business that would cater to sustainable travel people out recreational cycling and walking was
07:30was key to our business and people do people stop people in cars don't stop everyone on a bike or
07:37walking around the lot sees the benefits sees the the slower pace and can stop and enjoy it that's
07:45what we're here for to give them that experience
07:47so
07:48so
07:52so
07:54so
07:56so
07:58so
08:02so
08:04so
08:06so
08:08so
08:10so
08:12so
08:15so
08:37Kerri McPhee you've done a lot of plotting on commute haven't you yeah I love using
08:53commute for my plots so how many how many kilometers of trails do you think you you've worked out on commute
09:00oh
09:02hunters that's a good scottish word
09:03hunters
09:04hunters
09:05hunters
09:06hundreds of trails on commute
09:07hundreds of trails
09:08i have got a commute collection of my gravel foil routes and it goes as far as
09:12lots of parts of the west helenway and then there's south gravel foil north gravel foil it's massive
09:17and there's stuff that i haven't done yet
09:19definitely goes without saying that you should check out
09:22Kerri's commute collections and all the things we'll post on the cycling weekly commute profile
09:27if you want to dig out some great routes because
09:30Kerri you know them all
09:31yeah i was what i was greedy when i was trying to plot something out for you guys we're going on epic today
09:36because i just want you to see it all and feel it all
09:39awesome well let's crack on because we have a long way to go
09:42this is a classic gravel foil section of trail just on the switchbacks up to the aqueduct so where does this aqueduct go?
09:49so i think this aqueduct comes from glenfingles reservoir which used to be a little settlement and they flooded it so that they could provide water to Glasgow during i think there was a cholera outbreak or something
09:56and they needed some fresh water pumped into this city and they came to秋 into the city
10:04of course
10:09Glen Fingless Reservoir which used to be a little settlement and they flooded it
10:13so that they could provide water to Glasgow during I think there was a
10:17cholera outbreak or something and they needed some fresh water pumped into this
10:22city and they came to Abbeville because it's so lovely. Of course. So we've just gone beneath the aqueduct
10:29which whenever you reference gravel foil you always see a picture of that.
10:39So Koma was incredible you come round the top
11:09of this amazing balcony gravel road round the corner and it just opens up to
11:14these spectacular views of Loch Lomond and all the pleasure boats going up and down
11:18and it was pretty steep as well.
11:38Following 15 kilometers of climbing out of Abbeville was close to 300 meters of elevation we reached a
11:45summit of the Koma climb which is followed by a formidable descent down to the shores of Loch Lomond.
11:50It's wicked isn't it? What a day we've got!
11:55Incredible. It's alright.
11:56You see it all the time.
11:58Hey lad!
11:59So what's up next Kerry? We've got some descent. The Komoot profile is showing a pretty steep downhill.
12:06Yeah so we've kind of climbed like that and now we're going to go like that.
12:09Well we're going down to water level aren't we? Yeah we are. We're dropping quite a lot actually.
12:14So it's a big descent. Yeah. It's like a thousand feet or something.
12:17Yeah. A thousand feet boiling day. And there's Loch Lomond and you're like trying to
12:22take in the view but you can't because you've got to hold on to your brakes. Absolutely amazing.
12:27I think anyone could do the the Komoot route definitely and the Komoot descent although it's
12:50gnarly it does have switchbacks so you can do one little section and then stop and rest and then do
12:55the next section and stop and rest. I wouldn't recommend it in reversal because it is a stinker
13:00of a climb the other way and if you stop and rest it means you get to also appreciate the views of
13:05Loch Lomond as you descend. So yeah I'd say it's probably an epic sort of loop but it has a bit of everything.
13:25Tell me about that descent Katherine. That was tricky. I had to walk a couple of meters there. So steep wasn't it? It was like rocky, bouldery, sort of washed out, fat
13:55like if you don't pick your line you're just in so much trouble. Yeah and then Kerry went yeah it's uh it's
14:03pretty gnarly with just one break. Kerry's front brake doesn't work. Although just three kilometers in
14:12lengths the stretch along the banks of Bonny Loch Lomond features some of the most unforgiving terrain
14:17we've encountered. With stream crossings and rocky scrambles this was true hiker bike territory.
14:37We were just walking along and from behind us both we just heard this massive crunch
14:42and we looked around and Rupert had had quite an accident so we're just currently trying to work
14:50out what we're going to do next because Rupert does no longer have a rear mech. Oh that's not ideal.
14:56So it's not the hanger that snaps? Um it is the uh the hanger is yeah the hanger is blown. Well you're
15:03lucky we're on the hike a bike. Yeah totally. Yeah we're walking anyway.
15:21The West Island Way is quite hike a bike anyway but he literally had to hike the bike the whole way along
15:27um so yeah for Rupert. It was funny but now that I realize we're kind of quite far away from Amber Foyle
15:37I'm a little bit filled with a bit more pity for him.
15:46It's only been about half an hour we've been waiting.
15:48So I bent my rear mech in the crash and then I snapped it off on the West Highland Way
15:58and now I need to find a solution so I can do the rest of the ride. I think that solution is going to
16:05be stealing uh drone pilot Ruben's bike um so sorry Ruben but I'm commandeering your mountain bike.
16:18After a steep 10% climb out of Inversnaid we wound our way along the gorgeous shores of Loch Arklot
16:29and then down to Loch Arn before a welcome gradual descent into Aberfoyle.
16:34The gravel roads here are what dreams are made of.
16:36Wide open and super fast we couldn't stop grinning the whole way home.
16:48So I'm on Ruben's mountain bike and uh it's great so comfortable compared to the gravel bike but
17:08it's a little bit slow and I have now been dropped by Catherine and Kerry.
17:16That puff of dust going up over the crest of the hill is Catherine and Kerry.
17:21So it's a tough ride.
17:44With 85 kilometers ticked off we rolled into Aberfoyle caked in dust and baked by the sun.
17:50As promised the ride had really featured a little bit of everything.
17:54From wide open remote mountain vistas, epic hiker biking and fast gravel roads we'd been blown away
18:00by the riding on offer and the community that it had fostered.
18:14It's definitely a whole day route that isn't it?
18:27Full on but so worth it.
18:29I did worry that was a bit greedy with wanting to show you everything but I think it was worth it.
18:33We asked you for the most epic ride you could put together in Aberfoyle and you did it.
18:40I think it's safe to say.
18:41We had it all honestly.
18:42I completed the brief and we made it back even if we were one bike down.
18:46Yeah we were one bike down but thanks to drone pilot Ruben's generosity he walked home.
18:53Well three of us have made it back.
18:55Goes without saying that if you want to see the route that we've ridden today it will be in the
18:59description of the video below and for everything else Aberfoyle gravel riding check out Kerry's
19:05collections because she's done so much work putting it all together. Putting Aberfoyle on the map.
19:10The true queen of Aberfoyle. Always happy to share my knowledge.
19:14There's so much good stuff on there definitely to earth taking the time before you come up to have
19:18a look and find some absolute belters of rides and trails. If you have enjoyed this video then
19:23please do give us a thumbs up and subscribe to Cycling Weekly YouTube channel and leave us a comment
19:28in the comment section below telling us what you loved and whether you'd come and ride in the amazing
19:33place that is Aberfoyle. Now we'll be back soon with some more great adventure content and we'll see you then.
19:40We'll see you then.
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