Hey all,

Myself and my girlfriend are off to Fort William for the weekend. We are planning to get out on the bikes on Saturday for sure and maybe Sunday.

Just wanted to ask what people think of the Witches Trails-the options we are looking at are the Cour Loop, World Champs Route and 10 Under the Ben route.

Read about all these on the Scottish MTB Guide book but wondered if anyone had a real life opinion. Are the Red routes very technical? We have done Laggan red and Glentress Red so if anyone can offer a comparison that would be great! Laggan is about as technical as we can handle and for that reason I am ruling out the new Red downhill-would that be fair?

P.S. if anyone can recommend a good Kayak trip that would also be brilliant!

Cheers

Will

The DH tracks will be way more technical than those red routes. The GT red is pretty tame tech-wise compared to even most other XC reds.

I did the 10 under the Ben when I was up, It is a good course with a fair bit of climbing. It has some good off road bits but does have some fire road stretches and one difficult bit near the end. I haven't done any other trail centres so I can't compare it to anything else, sorry! I also did the new Red Run, there were a couple of bouncy bits in the middle but the majority was good fun. I ended up doing the Red Run more than the XC stuff in the end.

What bikes are you planning on taking?

If you can ride Laggan and Glentress, then the red XC routes at Fort William should be fine. The new red XC route that goes from the top of the gondola has sections more like a black if they were at a trail center such as Glentress or Laggan, but is generally not to challenging. The offbeat downhill is easier than it looks, but is still not for the faint hearted, so give it a miss.

Im heading there myself, for a week!! planning on doing the red downhill, having looked at the video only the wooden sections worry me a bit, but have brought some mtfu knee pads!!

Witches Trail is ok, last year bits were closed but its still good fun, even if a bit short!

10 under the ben is the easier red loop. the worlds course is very rocky. Most of the red dh would probably be fine but there are a few techy/sketchy looking bits.

Cheers for the replies,

XC_PK I will be on a 140mm Genesis Alpitude and my girlfriend on a 100mm RockLobster. Nothing hardcore!

Spesh99-I think by the sound of it the red gondola access trail sounds like its just a step above us at the minute, I might give it a go though….

LMT-are you planning on doing alot of riding in the week or just the red downhill?

Im staying in Spean Bridge so planning on doing the Corrour Route, Red DH, Witches Trail, loads of forest stuff at the back of where im staying, will defo do Laggan (will spend the day there!). If ive got enough Petrol tokens im planning on doing Golspie as well.

Im only riding a 100mm Full Bouncer and the Mrs has a 80mm HT, so no big hitters but should be fun, weather doesn't look too bad next week so should be good!

I won't get there till Sat afternoon, so might take a trail in on the way up from Brum

Cour loop is closed for the rest of the year but has been replaced with a new shorter blue called Broomstick trial, First part of 10 Under is quite boring and the rest uses part of the world cup course,it is best to mix and match the trails (lots of interesting old natural reds). Signposting is pathetic so if you bump into any locals they will tell you where the best trails are. There is nothing worse than Laggan red so all rideable, the red downhill has no suprises but watch the boardwalk sections if wet as the grippy paint has worn quite badly in places.

For kayaking, try starting at the Glen Shiel Lodge hotel at Glenfinnan and paddling down/up Loch Shiel. They'll let you launch from the end of the lawn and they do nice cream teas. Remember to go ask permission and to sign the wee book ( and check in when you get back).

Check the wind direction first, but it's normally a Southwesterly, which will scoot you back to the hotel in no time.