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| Gravelfoyle Aqueduct Trail |
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| Loch Ard Rob Roy loop |
I was in the Ribble Bike Store in Clitheroe last October, eager to purchase a Gravel Bike after being urged to do so by a friend during rides up gravel trails to some of the remotest Munros. She had one of these lean machines that was only half the weight of my 20-year-old Mountain Bike. The carbon fibre bikes were the lightest and looked the best, but they were not set up for panniers, and I had a notion to cycle the Western Isles as a reprise of a trip I did almost fifty years ago. I couldn't decide between steel and titanium and the delivery time for a Ribble bike would be 3 months and there was a £300 charge for choosing a colour.
A fellow customer from Derbyshire was encouraging me to get the carbon fibre frame which had the best colour range. He told me that he visited Gravelfoyle in Scotland every year to enjoy the amazing bike trails there. "Where's that," I asked thinking it was a name for somewhere in Dumfries and Galloway. "It's in Aberfoyle, near Stirling, that's where I go for my cycling holidays on my Gravel bike, it has miles of trails". I had lived in Aberfoyle for thirty years and usually would run on the 200 miles of "Gravelfoyle" trails in the Queen Elizabeth Forest Park at least four times a week. There were few other runners and when our children were young the only cyclists were local families out for rides on bikes that were meant for surfing the asphalt.
I bought a Saracen Mountain Bike in 1990, mainly to access distant hills when climbing the Munros but I used it on thelocal trails on days that I did not have the inclination to run. When the back stays broke I bought a heavier Trek Mountain Bike with front suspension and it is still serving me well, although it has worn out lots of tyres and was a real heave to get on the roof of the car. I was keen to purchase but time passed and I gave up on buying a bike in March after a viral illness that left me listless and legless. I have even stopped my morning run/walk up the local hills and the six weeks of sun blessed spring weather, perfect for hillwalking, were spent in the garden repairing patios, chopping trees and planting hedges.
My daughter and family came up for half term and on the only decent day, we decided to visit Aberfoyle and hire some bikes for a ride on the trails where I had run over 20,000 miles on the forestry trails that were now referred to as Gravelfoyle. The Queen Elizabeth Forest Park had been my playground, gymnasium and escape from the daily grind of work. I knew all the routes but they now have names and are visited by legions of trail bikers. My daughter and grandson had to hire bikes and I decided to hire a Gravel Bike rather than take my faithful but heavy Mountain bike. The son of Cindy, a friendly and excellent physiotherapist and potter was working in
Aberfoyle Bike Hire shop and he kitted us out, providing me with a featherweight GT Gravel Bike.
We had three hours and I decided that we should use the route I used to run when preparing for marathons or mountain marathons. An easy cycle through the village and Manse Road and on to Lochan Spling and Duchray Castle. It was hilly at first and then segued into a series of gently undulating sections towards the aqueducts over the Duchy Water that carried the water supply from Loch Katrine to Glasgow. The cycling was perfect as I shuffled through the gears and enjoyed watching the others as they revelled cycling somewhere totally different than their normal rides on the London bike lanes. We stopped for a snack by Duchray cottage and another cyclist zoomed past on his descent to the aqueduct. The only other cyclist we saw all day. There was a route sign for the Aqueduct trail, the very same route I had used when training for the Snowdonia Marathon in 1988.
We began the return journey by dropping down to a bridge at Blairvaich over the Duchray Water where locals bathed in the Black Linn waterfalls on summer days. The sun had emerged as we headed back on the Statute Labour Road Road towards Loch Ghleannain. Kit had got his second wind fuelled by an apple and some water and was charging up the inclines. We took a turn down to Loch Ard before returning on the trail alongside the shore. There is a spectacular loop down to Rob Roy's Cave which was the highlight of my regular 8-mile run for many years. Arriving at Milton, it is a a mile back to Aberfoyle on a path initially and then along the road. I used to take the children running on this route when they were at primary school, Gregor ran the mile in 7 minutes 40 seconds as a 7-year-old, I wish I could still do that. We passed our old house and arrived back at the Bike Shop with half an hour to spare. Perhaps I should have a rethink about buying a Gravel Bike.
It was the end of half term for the family and with some sadness I dropped the family at the station early on a wet and windy Sunday morning for their return to London.
