Bank holiday (gravel) ride: Ochils mystery history tour

After watching the forecast all week I confidently planned a good long gravel ride up and over the Ochils and along parts of the Devon Way between Dollar and Rumbling Bridge.

Kept plans loose as my companion was on a schedule although I wanted to test my endurance for longer days having had a pretty fitful summer of not much riding.

Was looking forward to exploring some old roads, the old Vicar’s road above Vicar’s Bridge, and a section of the old Butter Road leading from Carnbo into the plantations above the Path of Condie.

Also hoping to find some singletrack fun along the way but the torrential weather in the first half (riding along foot deep streams in Glen Quey) and the persistent summer over-growth sort of dampened our enthusiasm…

Glen Eagles drove road

Crossing the overflow from Glenquey reservoir. There’s actually some good singletrack running along the north side of the glen, but we had ridden it relatively recently and wanted to check out this side.

Glen Quey singletrack into Dollar. Brilliant wee section although very prone to flooding after rain, we were riding along streams at times. Should be saved for a spell of dry weather really.

The old Vicar’s road connecting two tarmac roads above Vicar’s Bridge. Mostly good singletrack although a wee mire in the middle where the track bed is now bog, easily bypassed. Interesting historical diversion!

Muckart Mill. Good fast gravel along here although didn’t expect such a stiff climb back out! Really impressive old mill workings that I couldn’t really do justice with a rain soaked smartphone snap!

Climbing out of Carnbo towards the old Butter Road and crossing of the Warroch burns

The old bridge. Completely abandoned route now although you could just about make out where people had walked it. Quite overgrown still but suspect more passable in Autumn. 1km between rideable gravel tracks.

Some final riverside trails back out of Crieff (having not stopped for any photos between Path of Condie and Crieff as we were pushing on!). Looking forward to revisiting on the CX bike in Autumn to link more riverside trails together, lots of spicey muddy singletrack!

So much to revisit though, for every new track ridden you spy two or three different tracks heading somewhere else!

Ooh, I’m off to peer at maps now..

matt_outandaboutFull Member
Ooh, I’m off to peer at maps now..

Yup, I’m having similar thoughts but I’m also lazy so…. don’t suppose there’s a GPX?

Who needs maps when you have Strava heatmap : )

https://strava.app.link/nGLcvar0oMb

Half joking, still love an OS map but they can never hope to stay as up-to-date as heatmap, although I think Strava have culled a lot of historical activities from the heatmap recently, for better or for worse

The link is enshittified, so I did not read the comments which may have contained warnings about a farm on the route near Carnbo. It is probably best to skirt around Golland unless mob handed.  It is home to notorious gomls.

I have had a couple of trips there without incident but always avoided the steadings.

Good shout Fasgadh! We didn’t cop any grief but I wasn’t sure if I heard shouting behind us or not… Looks like you could skirt the farmyard to the left (on satellite view anyway…)

In truth I would suggest not worth it, you can follow the ‘standard’ route up from Dalqueich then left past Warroch and if you really wanted to check out the bridge just detour off route by 500m

This looks amazeballz. The kind of adventure spin that is so good for the soul!

13thfloormonkFull Member
Who needs maps when you have Strava heatmap : )

https://strava.app.link/nGLcvar0oMb

Thanks, and now stolen. The main/Southern loops looks stop on for a ride with enough time to collect kids from school

Just beware the short 650m squashy section at the highest point between Stronachie (Path of Condie) and the Dunning Glen road.

A necessary evil to connect the two good gravel tracks. I had good legs and almost rode all of it but there’s a few hidden logs under wet grass which can halt progress rather abruptly!

Hidden logs are definitely the best type. Going to waiting until it’s drier before riding it. Riding with a deadline can be stressful enough without potential extra bogs. Also found the farm mentioned above. Heading a bit further east and up seems simple enough

Yep, and is all gravel as opposed to the 1km push over the old bridge. Just be sure to take the correct turn for Warroch farm, it’s easy to miss and end up on a dead end at the farm above.

https://www.strava.com/routes/3263825069667474032

Going to waiting until it’s drier before riding it.

You optimist!

I’ve set a time horizon of 10 years to fit the ride in. Figured there’d be one dry day in that time – maybe