Doing some route planning and wondering about the road/track from Tibbie Shiels on St Mary's Loch to the top of Berrybush? Can see it clearly on @55.4658194,-3.1783172,13z">Google Maps, and marked as a double track on OS maps. Have been up Berrybush loads of time and the only track I've seen pop out there looks like proper gravel, but this thread from the archive seems to suggest it's doable on a sturdy road bike. Anyone done it more recently than 5 years ago???
For reference, I'll be on an alloy road bike with 32mm slick tyres.
That road is called the captains road. its pretty navigable its even got old road signs on it, its never been tarmacced.
looks like i commented on the last thread too. I haen't been up it since then but it is a legitimate former road you might have the odd non ridable bit but nothing a wee push will get you past.
That road is called the captains road. its pretty navigable its even got old road signs on it, its never been tarmacced.
Good to know. On my OS map I thought the Captains Road looked like a singletrack trail running all the way to Hopehouse. Will probably just give it a go. Seems like a nice shortcut rather than down to the Gordon Arms and up Berrybush, must save a few miles at the expense of some climbing and offroad.
at the very worst I guess you turn round and come back down to gordon arms
I'm pretty sure the captains road is the join between the public roads.either way the climb from tibbies should be fine and the firestry has been active up there in recent year (might wanna sound out if arwen has done anythig) so the track is likely in good repair
https://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php/132558-No-jobs-to-do-around-the-house-so
I'd say a bit rough for a road bike, but 100% fine for gravel. Plenty of small rocks in sections, also usually lots of slurry on a hairpin down towards the farm. The beginning bit (from Tibbie Shiels) is the Captain Road. At the top of the climb the CR splits off to the right. Take the left-fork forest road to get to Berrybush.
Cheers folks, much appreciated. No gravel tyres right now so I'll give it a miss, but pencilled in for future exploration!
IIRC there's an access issue on the Captain's Road. Local landowner is trying to close it off. If you ride it, please take some timestamped photos.
Weirdly, this came up 5 weeks ago on the BBC about this path:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-61672867
The Captains Road (Tibbie Shiels to Ettrick) is do-able but is sort-of diverted (it's not quite as described in the article above). Descend to the forest road after crossing the high point. In theory, the CR carries on straight over, but it's overgrown to the point of not really being there any more. However, turning left onto the forest road takes you all the way down to the Ettrick road pretty close to where the CR joins the road.