- 1 year 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.
05:10Whoa!
05:11No that way!
05:12Not pro enough.
05:13I thought we had a comedy crash!
05:35You know when your mate crashes, and for a split second, you really want to laugh but
05:40you shouldn't laugh because you need to make sure that they're okay first.
05:43Once that was all clear, it was just so funny.
05:45It was just like a real slow-mo tumble.
05:48Very embarrassing.
05:50It's just funny when somebody crashes.
05:5215 km 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,
06:13the perfect place for an ice cream break.
06:22I was glad to reach Acre Farm because Kerry had told us a lot about the delicious ice cream,
06:27which I can confirm was really delicious.
06:29I think the elderflower one that I had, had been foraged from the village like two days ago,
06:34which is super cool.
06:35And there's loads of animals here, which I'm really excited about.
06:39But back to the root, yeah fab so far.
06:42If I said gravel foil, what does that mean to you?
06:46Gravel foil is Aberfoyle.
06:49It's the mecca for gravel in the UK at the moment, I think.
06:54Have you seen an increase in cyclists?
06:57Yeah, very much so.
06:59I mean, lockdown was amazing here.
07:01The number of people who came out of their homes and could enjoy the roads and the tracks
07:07for maybe the first time in a long time.
07:10And the number of casual recreational and kind of semi-pro racers
07:14kind of whizzing around the woods here is phenomenal these days.
07:18When we came to the farm, we knew there was the Great Trussox Path running through it
07:21and the Felix Krois Drive adjacent.
07:23So setting up a business that would cater to sustainable travel, people out,
07:28recreational cycling and walking was key to our business.
07:32And people do, people stop.
07:33People in cars don't stop.
07:35Everyone on a bike or walking around the loch sees the benefits,
07:40sees the slower pace and can stop and enjoy it.
07:44That's what we're here for, to give them that experience.
07:47That's what we're here for.
07:48There are all the way.
07:49There are all the ways.
07:50That's what we're here.
07:51There are all the ways.
07:53That's great.
08:55How many kilometres of trails do you think you've worked out on Khmut?
09:01Oh, hunners. That's a good Scottish word.
09:03Hunners! Hunners!
09:06Hundreds of trails on Khmut.
09:08Hundreds of trails.
09:09I have got a Khmut collection of my gravel foil routes,
09:11and it goes as far as lots of parts of the West Highland Way,
09:15and then there's South Gravel Foil, North Gravel Foil.
09:17It's massive.
09:18And there's stuff that I haven't done yet.
09:19It definitely goes without saying that you should check out Khmut collections,
09:24and all the things we'll post on the Cycling Weekly Khmut profile
09:27if you want to dig out some great routes,
09:29because, Khmut, 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,
09:36because 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.
09:58This 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,
10:11which used to be a little settlement,
10:13and they flooded it so that they could provide water to Glasgow during,
10:17I think there was a cholera outbreak or something,
10:19and they needed some fresh water pumped into the city,
10:23and they came to Abraffal because it's so lovely.
10:25Of course.
10:26So we've just gone beneath the aqueduct,
10:29which whenever you reference gravel foil,
10:31you always see a picture of that.
10:36So we've just gone beneath the aqueduct.
10:46So 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.
11:21Following 15 kilometers of climbing out of Aberfoyle was close to 300 meters 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.
11:53It's wicked isn't it? What a day we've got!
11:54It's all right.
11:57You see it all the time.
11:58Hey lad!
11:59So what's up next Kerry? We've got some descent, the Khmut 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.
12:13Yeah we are, we're dropping quite a lot actually.
12:14So it's a big descent.
12:15Yeah, it's like a thousand feet or something.
12:17Yeah.
12:18A 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
12:24got to hold on to your brakes.
12:25Absolutely amazing.
12:31I think anyone could do the Koma route definitely and the Koma descent although it's gnarly it does have
12:51switchbacks so you can do one little section and then stop and rest and then do the next section
12:56and stop and rest. I wouldn't recommend it in reverse though because it is a stinker of a climb
13:01the other way and if you stop and rest it means you get to also appreciate the views of Loch Lomond
13:05as you descend. So yeah I'd say it's probably an epic sort of loop but it has a bit of everything.
13:20Oh Leli tell me about that descent Katherine that was tricky I had to walk a couple of meters there.
13:37It was so steep wasn't it? It was like rocky, bouldery, sort of washed out fat ground.
13:55Like if you don't pick your line you're just in so much trouble and then Kerry went yeah it's uh
14:03it's pretty gnarly with just one break. Kerry's front brake doesn't work.
14:10Although just three kilometres in lengths the stretch along the banks of Bonnie Loch Lomond features
14:15some of the most unforgiving terrain we've encountered. With stream crossings and rocky
14:20scrambles 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 round 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.
14:55Oh that's not ideal. So it's not the hangar that snaps?
14:58Um it is the uh the hangar is yeah the hangar is blown well. You're lucky we're on the hiker bike.
15:05Yeah totally. Walking anyway.
15:21The worst handling way is quite hiker bike anyway but he literally had to hike the bike the whole way
15:27along um so yeah for Rupert. It was funny but now that I realise we're kind of quite far away from
15:36Amber Foyle 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 our drone pilot Ruben's bike.
16:11So sorry Ruben but I'm commandeering your mountain bike.
16:18I think that's it.
16:23After a steep 10% climb out of Inversnaid we wound our way along the gorgeous shores of
16:28Loch Arklot and 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 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.
17:35With 85km 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,
17:59we'd been blown away by the riding on offer and the community that it had fostered.
18:13It'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 goody gee 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.
18:52He 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.
19:08Putting Aberfoyle on the map.
19:10Yeah the true queen of Aberfoyle.
19:12I'm 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
19:18to have a look and find some absolute belters of rides and trails.
19:22If you have enjoyed this video then please do give us a thumbs up and subscribe to Cycling Weekly
19:26YouTube channel and leave us a comment in the comment section below telling us what you loved
19:31and whether you'd come and ride in the amazing place that is Aberfoyle.
19:35Now we'll be back soon with some more great adventure content and we'll see you then.