- 1 day 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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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.
05:10Oh, not that much!
05:11Not pro enough!
05:12Rupert had a comedy crash.
05:14You know when you make crashes and for a split second you really want to laugh but
05:17You 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
05:44so funny we're just like a real slow-mo tumble very embarrassing it's just funny when somebody crashes
06:0215 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 Venneker we reach Acre farm the perfect
06:14place for an ice cream break
06:23I was glad to reach Acre farm because Kerry told us a lot about the delicious ice cream
06:27which I can confirm was really delicious I think the elderflower one I had had been foraged from the
06:33village like two days ago which is super cool and there's loads of animals here which I'm really
06:38excited about but back to the route yeah fab so far
06:43If I said gravel foil what does that mean to you?
06:47Gravel foil is Aberfoyle it's the mecca for gravel in the UK at the moment I think
06:55Have you seen an increase in cyclists?
06:56Yeah very much so I mean lockdown was amazing here the number of people who came out of their homes and could
07:05enjoy the roads and the tracks for for maybe the first time in a long time and the number of casual
07:12recreational and kind of semi-pro racers kind of whizzing around the woods here is is phenomenal these
07:17days when we came to the farm we knew there was the great trussox path running through it and the
07:22three lochs voice drive adjacent so setting up a business that would cater to sustainable travel
07:28people out recreational cycling and walking was was key to our business and people do people stop
07:33people in cars don't stop everyone on a bike or walking around the loch sees the benefits sees the
07:42slower pace and can stop and enjoy it that's what we're here for to give them that experience
08:12so
08:42Kerry McPhee, you've done a lot of plotting on Komoot, haven't you?
08:52Yeah, I love using Komoot for my plots.
08:55How many kilometres of trails do you think you've worked out on Komoot?
09:01Oh, hunners, that's a good Scottish word.
09:03Hunners, hunners, hundreds of trails on Komoot.
09:08Hundreds of trails.
09:08I have got a Komoot collection of my gravel foil routes and it goes as far as lots of parts of the West Highland Way and then there's South Gravel Foil, North Gravel Foil.
09:17It's massive and there's stuff that I haven't done yet.
09:19Definitely goes without saying that you should check out Kerry's Komoot collections and all the things we'll post on the Cycling Weekly Komoot profile if you want to dig out some great routes because Kerry, you know them all.
09:31Yeah, I was greedy when I was trying to plot something out for you guys.
09:35We're going in on epic today because I just want you to see it all and feel it all.
09:39Yeah.
09:39Awesome.
09:40Well, let's crack on because we have a long way to go.
09:42This is a classic gravel foil section of trail.
10:02We've just done the switchbacks up to the aqueduct.
10:04So where does this aqueduct go?
10:06So I think this aqueduct comes from Glen Fingless 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 and they needed some fresh water pumped into the city.
10:22And they came to Amberfall because it's so lovely.
10:24Of course.
10:25So we've just gone beneath the aqueduct, which whenever you reference gravel foil, you always see a picture of that.
10:32You can keep chasing at arise.
10:35And see if you're going to see anything at all, that once we see anything, there's a storage.
10:37And this would be a problem here to try and turn the launch.
10:39And this is like a big thing just like the boat and then it doesn'tliga steps instead, but it's everywhere.
10:41So again, you're getting three ducks or anything like that, and that's exactly where we've spent these days with these wasteñ.
10:42I'm obligated to gather milk oilも negative Whisperes with light in motion with hot air on fire, but this part of the light is to be much free you reared into more water right now.
10:46differentiation of course we've done the paint that has zero resistance.
10:46So I think we're doing something amazing just like that.
10:48I think that's not a Здесь you have a forever- чтобы bit.
10:50It's just a protesta space in.
10:51Let's just take aian.
10:51So Koma was incredible. You come round to the top of this amazing balcony gravel road
11:12round the corner and it just opens up to these spectacular views of Loch Lomond and all the
11:17pleasure boats going up and down and it was pretty steep as well.
11:39Following 15 kilometres of climbing out of Aberfoyle was close to 300 metres of elevation
11:44we reached the summit of the Koma climb which is followed by a formidable descent down to the
11:49shores of Loch Lomond. It's wicked isn't it? What a day we've got. It's alright. You see it all the time.
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.
12:10Well we're going down to water level aren't we basically? Yeah we are. We're dropping quite a lot actually.
12:14So it's a big descent. Yeah like a thousand feet or something. Yeah. A thousand feet boiling day.
12:20And there's Loch Lomond and you're like trying to take in the view but you can't because you've got to
12:24hold on to your brakes. Absolutely amazing.
12:43I 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
12:55do the next section and stop and rest. I wouldn't recommend it in reverse though because it is a
13:00stinker of a climb the other way. And if you stop and rest it means you get to also appreciate the views
13:05of Loch Lomond as you descend. So yeah I'd say it's probably an epic sort of loop but it has a bit of
13:11everything.
13:24tell me about that descent Katherine that was tricky I had to walk a couple of meters there
13:49so steep wasn't it like if you don't pick your line you're just in so much trouble
14:01and then Kerry went yeah it's uh it's pretty gnarly with just one break
14:07Kerry's from break doesn't work although just three kilometers in lengths the stretch along
14:13the banks of Bonnie Loch Lomond features some of the most unforgiving terrain we've encountered
14:18with 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
14:43and we look round and Rupert had had quite an accident so we're just currently trying to
14:50work out what we're going to do next because Rupert does no longer have a rear mech
14:55oh that's not ideal so it's not the hanger that snaps um it is the uh the hanger is yeah the
15:01hanger is blown wow you're lucky we're on the hike a bike yeah we're walking anyway
15:21the worst highway is quite hike a bike anyway but he literally had to hike the bike the whole way along
15:27um so yeah for a rebert it was funny but now that i realize we're kind of quite far away from
15:36amber foil i'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
16:03and i think that solution is going to be stealing uh drone pilot ruben's bike
16:09um so sorry reuben but i'm commandeering your mountain bike
16:23after a steep 10 percent climb out of inversnade we wound our way along the gorgeous shores of
16:28loch arklot and then down to lock on before a welcome gradual descent into aberfoyle
16:34the gravel roads here are what dreams are made of wide open and super fast
16:38we couldn't stop grinning the whole way home
17:01so i'm on reuben's mountain bike and uh it's great so comfortable compared
17:07to the gravel bike but it's a little bit slow and i have now been dropped by katherine and kerry
17:16that puff of dust going up over the crest of the hill is katherine and kerry so it's a tough ride
17:36it'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 by the
18:00riding on offer and the community that it fostered
18:07that was a big day it's definitely a whole day route that isn't it um so worth it i did worry that was a bit goody g with wanting to show you everything but i think it was worth it
18:20we asked you for the most epic ride you could put together in aberfoyle and you did it
18:39i think it's safe to say yeah we were one bike down but thanks to drone pilot reuben's generosity
18:52he walked home well three of us have made it back yeah goes without saying if you want to see
18:57the route that we've ridden today it will be in the description of the video below and for everything
19:01else aberfoyle gravel riding check out kerry's collections because she's done so much work
19:07putting it all together putting aberfoyle on the map yeah the true queen of aberfoyle always happy to
19:13share my knowledge there's so much good stuff on there definitely to earth taking the time before
19:17you come up to have a look and find some absolute belters of rides and trails if you have enjoyed this
19:23video then please do give us a thumbs up and subscribe to cycling weekly youtube channel and leave us a
19:28comment in the comment section below telling us what you loved and whether you'd come and ride in
19:33the amazing place that is amberfoyle now we'll be back soon with some more great adventure content and
19:38we'll see you then
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