Suppose I start at Inversnaid (having ridden there from Glasgow and stayed at the hostel).

What is the most fun 1 day route to Glencoe youth hostel for a reasonable fit/technical rider (hopefully with minimal carrying)?

From Glencoe to Corrour?

Thanks, any suggestions (or tips about West Highland Way link) appreciated.

Glencoe to Corrour should be straightforward enough if you go through Kinlochleven and up past Loch Eilde Mor to the Abhainn Rath. There will be intermittent pushing until you reach Loch Treig but it’s then all easy estate road.

For Inversnaid to Glencoe you really have little choice but to use the WHW. That means a fair bit of a carry up the side of Loch Lomond until Doune but you’ll be fine after that. Once you get to the Kings House, either head down the road to Glencoe (there are parallel tracks in places) or carry on up the WHW, over the Devils Staircase and along the road to Glencoe.

Thanks.

I’m tempted by the A82 road section to Glencoe from Kings House. It looks about 5 miles gentle downhill. How much of that is possible off road?

You can take the WHW to Altnafeadh then there are sections of track starting on the north side of the A82 to The Study and then on the south side to Achtriochtan. The OS map shows them. IIRC there is some more track on the north side of the road again but you’re pretty soon at the turn-off for the Clachaig/YH anyway.

Like scotroutes says, from the Kingshouse to the Clachaig road end can be done virtually all off road with the WHW to Altnafeadh then the old road which follows the A82. You might have to go on the main road for about 100 yards at Savile’s cottage but that’s about it I think. If you’ve got Google Earth you can see it on there.

Thanks scotroutes and thegreatape. Yes I can see the tracks on Google, but wasn’t sure if they were open to the public.

Glencoe->Loch Eilde Mor->Loch Treig->Loch Ossian seems quite a short day. Are there any little detours worth adding?

The Devils Staircase. Go back up the A82/parallel tracks to Alltnafeadh and ride/push up the WHW. Then enjoy the descent! You can either go all the way down to KLL or cut off right/east along to the dam on the covered waterway. Cross the dam (lift bike over gate) or negotiate the river then head east/north east to Loch Treig. This latter part might be a bit damp. Alternatively, after the dam, contour round to pick up the Loch Eilde Mor track. You WILL get wet feet crossing the Abhainn Rath btw.

Thanks. Last question- how interesting is the WHW from Drymen from Inversnaid? (I’m wondering about cruising on Sustrans/NCN 7 round to Aberfoyle and then take the road past Loch Ard and Chon, to avoid any hike-a-bike before Inversnaid)

I’d go WHW, it’s pretty good from Dryden to inversnaid.

OK cool. And is it better riding to start from Balloch or Milngavie?(taking train from Glasgow)

If your up for getting the train, I’d probably avoid the whole LL section to be honest. Train to tarbet and a Wee road spin to the drovers, or train to crianlarich. Would allow you to spend more time in the bigger hills, and avoid that section.

Given the choice I’d just do the WHW from Milngavie. There are some really nice wee spots en route and wayfinding is easy, leaving you more time to enjoy the ride.

If you do opt for the Aberfoyle / Loch Chon route then look out for a (relatively new) path that starts at the west exit from Loch Chon, runs on the north side of the road towards Stronachlachar and then to Inversnaid.

Savilles cottage…
I hope that name doesn’t stick for that place as a land mark…

through Kinlochleven and up past Loch Eilde Mor to the Abhainn Rath.

Would be tempted to suggest hopping over a glen to Loch Chiarain, there’s a fantastic stalker’s path that will lead you from the outflow of Loch Eilde Mor to within a kilometer of lovely singletrack of the Loch Chiarain bothy, then there’s a good descent all the way down to Loch Treig. Only downside is the descent has been well used by the motorbike enduros so in places there are ruts which are more than bottom bracket depth but less than pedal width! 🙁

Much as I love the Abhainn Rath as a hiking through route I wouldn’t really want to humph a bike along it (again). Lovely route otherwise.

I thought fewer people would know what I meant if I said Hamish’s house, even fewer if the current owner’s house 🙂

But I agree, hopefully it won’t last.

13thfloormonk – have you got a .gpx file by any chance? Bonus points if it crosses Abhainn Rath on a bridge rather than wading (ashamedly I have become a namby pamby southern softie in recent years).

Thanks for all the tips!

Sorry no, although they’re all marked on the OS maps and you can create your own GPX on the Walkhighlands GPS planner. I would plot it but am on my phone.

No crossing of the Abhainn Rath required! 😉

Ah yes no crossing required. So, something like http://www.strava.com/activities/55541335 ?

Almost, everything NE of Loch Chiarain is right, however before you get to Loch Chiarain there is a trail coming over the hills from the west that starts at the western end of Loch Eilde Mor.

That Strava route is good but there’s at least a kilometre of pushing along the shore of the Blackwater

Right, yes, I see it.

@NoBeer – yes I considered train to Crianlarich but already booked hostel at Inversnaid before realising there was so much hike-a-bike. But I’m coming up from London and think I’ll just want to start riding asap and anyway I’m not totally inexperienced at bike hiking 🙂

Like I said…. 😉

Hi Scotroutes- now I see that’s what you were suggesting.

Hmm weather forecast = rain :/

Have a good long weekend. I’ll let you know how I got on 🙂

D’oh, sorry Scotroutes, reading fail, did wonder why you hadn’t suggested it! 😳

Short version- take the train to Crianlarich if pressed for time.

Saturday: rain, all the time. The trail was fine to Inversnaid, where I stayed in the hostel (which had good food).

Sunday: more carrying than I’d expected from Inversnaid to the bothy by Doune. (When people say “it’s not rideable”, I still usually assume that I can ride it haha). As I was running behind schedule I took the A82 for the gradual climb from Inverarnan to Crianlarich (silly mistake!). It started hailing around Bridge of Orchy :/

Mon: some folks persuaded me it would be more fun to finish the WHW and play in the trails around Glen Nevis. The weather was great. I took the train round to Corrour.

Hope I can come back in the summer!

This is what I like about this site – I had a question about the Abhainn Rath path – You guys have answered it before I even got to ask – Nice one

Having just done it…..

That Abhainn Rath path is more or less hike a bike all the way down to Loch Trieg from the Loch Eilde Beag/More track. And if there was heavy rain, I reckon that any attempted crossing of the river itself would be dangerous. We found a shingle bank with lower water about 1 km down from the buildings. It seemed about the best option.