• This topic has 10 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 7 years ago by kcal.
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  • Ballachulish Horseshoe – Doable?
  • scandal42
    Free Member

    Staying near here next week and it looks like there is a continuous path all the way along. If the forecast is good, would this route actually be doable on a bike?

    Looks like it’s some seriously quick height gain but how doable are the over and down sections?

    https://ridewithgps.com/routes/14169660

    whitestone
    Free Member

    No idea about the rest of the route but getting from 2 to 3 via your indicated line might be <cough>interesting</cough>. This is what the OS show for that area: http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=203577&Y=756560&A=Y&Z=120

    I’ve done the two Munros as a walk going up from the col between them going out and back for each, the ridge up Sgorr Dhonuil is hands on in places.

    Cue someone saying they’ve ridden your loop both ways with one hand behind their back and one pedal held on by a bit of wire 🙄

    13thfloormonk
    Full Member

    Hmm, the route you’ve shown takes an easy grade 1 scramble to begin with, great for hiking but probably a massive pain in the arse verging on possibly dangerous with a bike (there’s a couple of sections where using your hands is required if not recommended!).

    The path over the tops is probably rideable in places, I think there’s a lot of rocky stuff and steep in places, probably a lot of thrutchy brakey stuff.

    The second summit verges on scrambly again, and most of the descent off the ridge is either marshy steep hillside or steep track through the forest which looked like it could be fun if someone took a hatchet to a lot of the low hanging branches.

    Leave the bike at home, it’s a great hike otherwise 8)

    tomd
    Free Member

    The track down the glen into Ballachullish is good fun on a bike, some nice flowy and technical sections. You can do it as an out and back or ride the cyclepath round. There’s a nice bothy along the way if that’s your thing. There’s some singletrack in the woods near the bothy also.

    whitestone
    Free Member

    Here’s a shot or two from Geograph.org

    Your approach – http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1629410

    The approach to Sgorr Dhearg

    jate
    Free Member

    What 13thfloormonk says. I did that horseshoe many years ago (in the Winter) and there is indeed a sort scramble before the first peak that you really wouldn’t much enjoy whilst carrying a bike. And the descent wasn’t all that much fun even without a bike. There’s plenty of good stuff not far from there (e.g. from Kinlochleven).

    scandal42
    Free Member

    Read and understood 🙂

    Will pursue other routes with less chance of death

    scandal42
    Free Member

    On that note,

    Any smaller bumps in the local vicinity that are achievable?

    Would be nice to bag one decent munro on the bike if the weather is good

    whitestone
    Free Member

    Binnein Mor in the Mamores gets a few mentions. Not done it on a bike but have run along the ridge and it’s a lot more amenable up high than the Ballachulish hills. Might be a bit of effort to get up mind.

    thegreatape
    Free Member

    Lovely walk. Crap bike ride.

    kcal
    Full Member

    I’ve walked / scrambled it (many years ago, with a huge hangover). I don’t recall wishing I had a bike with me!!

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