Hi all looking for good gravel rides or basic singletrack near Glasgow for cx bike. My absolute favourite is forest type green,blue singletrack. I already know of places like Whitlee windfarm, Clyde muirshield and mugdock parks. Any Ideas?

Park the car at Strathclyde Park Watersports Centre , take the Clyde Walkway to Chatelherault.

How far are you prepared to pedal? Would have thought the first miles of the West Highland Way, would eventually lead to Aberfoyle area which seems to be prime gravel terrain.

Arrochar holds much potential, easily accessible by train.

Clyde Muirshiel park / Loch Thom area above Greenock has miles of track which I’ve always thought would be perfect for a CX / gravel bikes.

Aye Greenock cut and the Kelly cut up by Loch Thom, Isle of Arran has a huge amount of fireroads, ditto Loch Doon area. Not quite Glasgow, but reasonable distance for a day trip.

Greenock cut is a good call. Kelly cut can get very boggy in places. You can also get up some of the hills around loch thom, just look for the tracks

13thfloormonk is right about Aberfoyle. Worth a drive up – gravel for miles and miles

Does this work?

https://www.strava.com/routes/22976356

https://www.strava.com/routes/22661870

Would be great to be able to share Strava routes…

Dumgoyne loop from Mugdock is good. Up the West Highland Way, out to the Distillery, take the forest road up behind the distillery, traverse along the foot of the campsies then drop into Strathblane then back into Mugdock

Starter for Ten.

Clyde Walkway all the way down to New Lanark. Rode this again on Sunday taking in Tinto Hill at the end. Urban tarmac soon becomes well defined footpath and tracks.

Chatelherault Country Park.

The John Muir Way – all the way from Helensburgh to Dunbar. Pretty much perfect on a cross bike with some nice off road sections.

The West Highland Way to Inversnaid then back via Katrine.

Aberfoyle – a veritable cornucopia of gravel tracks both north and south of the village.

The Seven Lochs Wetland Park – this is a bit of a hidden gem. It goes from Hogganfield Loch right through to Coatbridge. Don’t be put off by it going through what are perceived as rough areas. The trails are excellent with short connector sections, mostly through housing developments.

The National Cycle Route through Pollock Park heading west into Renfrewshire is good. Mostly off road on tarmac paths but takes you to some cool places.

The Forth and Clyde Canal – not gravel but a fantastic means of avoiding traffic. Nice singletrack on the south side between Lambhill and Coatbridge. The cafe at Lambhill Stables is really good too. Just take a lock for your bike though.

Dumgoyne Loop is a very good call by Bob.

I’ve ridden all of these trails on a cross bike or gravel bike over the years. All worth trying.

Hope this is of use?

Cheers

Sanny

Ardgarten peninsula loop , the fire roads have been improved for the logging and are pretty solid now . I assume you’d be ok on the dukes pass descent, I do it on a hardtail and it’s pretty straight forward but I’m not sure what is doable on a gravel bike .

https://strava.app.link/Tulwf6bIs3

also possibly head out of glasgow towards bridge of weir then head over towards lochwinnoch, lots of quiet Single lane roads which are whilst tarmac I would say they are pretty gravely and pot holed up so it feels like you’re off road , nice cafe in lochwinnoch on the high street then cyclepath back to Glasgow.

Ardgarten peninsula loop , the fire roads have been improved for the logging and are pretty solid now . I assume you’d be ok on the dukes pass descent, I do it on a hardtail and it’s pretty straight forward but I’m not sure what is doable on a gravel bike .

Out to the peninsula at ardgarten is fine. When you turn and heard towards lochgilphead it was a bit sketchy on a few short sections for me on a 650b gravel bike with slick tyres. Few sections I had to walk but it was very slick. All good apart from that and a really nice ride

I’ve ridden the Ardgarten peninsula on a hardtail accompanied by two riders on gravel bikes. They were considerably faster on the tarmac at the start and the better surfaced forest road climbs. The softer climbs were a draw as they sank a bit more into the gloop. The two steep climbs after the lochan were a walk for them and every descent, particularly the singletrack to Lochgoilhead, was way easier and more fun on the hardtail. Quite funny watching them getting rattled to bits but they enjoyed the challenge.

So yes, Ardgarten is do-able on a gravel bike but deffo a different kind of fun.

^^^^ I think we had more fun than you…. 😀

Ha ha Sanny, as soon as I saw this thread I thought of you and some of our CX adventures of the dim and distant past!

Yes indeed my friend! Tell me, do you still have the old cannondale Caad 3 frame in your garage?

I recall some great adventures – the Southern Upland Way section that was, errrr, interesting, Windy Hill, Chatelherault, the Clyde Walkway. Heck, we were riding gravel before it became a thing!

Up for some new adventures up your way in the Spring if you fancy?

Can anyone point me to strava routes for this dumgoyne loop please?

Yes indeed my friend! Tell me, do you still have the old cannondale Caad 3 frame in your garage?

Aye, it’s still there! Give me a shout if you’re heading up this way.

I remember the pair of us coming off Lowther with the brakes locked still doing about 20mph!

Kelly Cut does get pretty boggy in places, last time I was up there it was May and there were a few quagmires. Best sitting down with an OS map but TBH Muirshiel is pretty dire for hill access. Apparantly the old road to Kilmacolm along the Griff reservoir has been resurfaced which is a shame as it had a lot of character.

There is a gravel track over the hill from Largs that links to the wind farm behind Kelburn. There’s a short road crossing between the two access roads. Once you get on top of the hill you can transition to the Dalry windfarm (again, boggy) and then head down either into Dalry or back to Hunterston via the Fairlie moor road. I have an OSMaps trace for a circuit round this, you can actually come back to Largs past the Biglees reservoir (tanks) then along the top of Fairlie Glen and Kelburn avoiding the A78, again it’s boggy in places but not too bad in the other direction, YMMV.

For further afield I’ve scoped out a longer forest route (on the map) from Claonaig to Tarbert that could be fitted into a Five Ferries run.

Can anyone point me to strava routes for this dumgoyne loop please?

https://ridewithgps.com/trips/414927

If you mix in road then you should look at the tiny singletrack road at Ballochleam in the hills above Kippen. There are some good access tracks there now since the windfarm was installed as well as some lovely backroad action to be had over by North Third and off road around the Carron Valley.

https://ridewithgps.com/trips/414927

Thanks! Lived in Glasgow my whole life but never explored anything close to home. Moved to lenzie recently so quite local to the campsies and want to get out see what off road loops I can do without traveling too far.

Glasgow is a great city for escaping off road I think, but north of the river is by far the better side.

A classic for me is from the city centre, out to Balloch on the cycle path, climb over towards Croftamie but catch the John Muir Way to Carbeth then West Highland way, Milngavie, back to city via Kelvin Walkway.

A classic for me is from the city centre, out to Balloch on the cycle path, climb over towards Croftamie but catch the John Muir Way to Carbeth then West Highland way, Milngavie, back to city via Kelvin Walkway.

My favourite too. 65 miles. Almost all off road. Brilliant route

Have a look for Kelvin Valley Cyclocross on Facebook. That’s a local group that heads out a couple of times a week from Lenzie

A classic for me is from the city centre, out to Balloch on the cycle path, climb over towards Croftamie but catch the John Muir Way to Carbeth then West Highland way, Milngavie, back to city via Kelvin Walkway.

My favourite too. 65 miles. Almost all off road. Brilliant route

https://www.strava.com/activities/2318238792

Thanks! Lived in Glasgow my whole life but never explored anything close to home. Moved to lenzie recently so quite local to the campsies and want to get out see what off road loops I can do without traveling too far.

Hey neighbour – have you explored up Lennox forest yet? There’s a bunch of gravel tracks up there that you can put together a useful ride from the door from. Infuriatingly though there’s no path (that I’m aware of) that connects the western edge through to Loch Ardinning. Would be ace if there was. I quite often head up Lennox forest for a thrash on the CX bike if I’ve a spare hour or so, it’s nice and hilly.

Lots of other good suggestions on this thread.