MTB routes around Killin, Stirling area

Hi,

I will be spending a week in April around Killin, Stirling and am looking for hints and tips as to the best local riding. I have been up that way before but never with my bike.

Ideally looking for local riding, but would travel(1 hour max) if required.

Come on, impress me with your routes!!

Dumyat is a decent rough natural climb / descent but gets busy at weekends. Ben cleugh perhaps as well.

The sustrans route along glen ogle ( lochearnhead / balquidder station – Killin) is very nice in an undemanding way and there is a possible return along the remains of the military road which is a bit broken up and faint now.

Glen Ample ( do south to north) is a nice run as well – return via the road or a possible but hard work return via the next pass east

Don't know the area desperately well but have planned a couple of routes for later in the year.

A very local circuit would be up Glen Dubh and back down Glen Kendrum. It looks to be all old landrover track but gains some interesting height before descending to Lochearnhead. You could then retrace your steps or return via the Sustrans path through Glen Ogle.

Slightly further afield is the remains of the Strathyre DH track. This was an epic track when I raced it years ago, endless steep, rooty muddy corners. I don't know what sort of state its in now but the bottom of it was located at the end of the little road which goes past the Kingshouse Hotel.

tha wants t'speak wi' matt who lives there (mattupnorth or mattoutandabout, can't remember which)

trossachs are just down the road and good for a spin.
the glen finglas loop is good for a laugh, an arduous climb but stupidly fast downhill section. alternatively you could combine it with glen ample.
photies, map, directions etc helpfully here
http://www.stirlingbikeclub.org.uk/ride/mtb/glen_finglas_240803.shtml

or take a road bike and cycle from your door up and around glen lyon. either come back over ben lawers or keep on going thru bridge of balgie around the disused road and back into the village. i think that's probably one of my favourite road cycles

Interesting question….

Years ago I wrote about the various options for cycling from Stirling to Killin.
http://www.crispinbennett.freedomnames.co.uk/Killin.htm

You can also get more of an idea of some road routes from here:
World Tour of Scotland – photos and routes
(a week-long cycle tour that took in much of the local area)

From Killin itself there's Gleann Dubh to Glen Kendrum with a return via Balquhidder (and the Old Library Tea Room) and Kirkton Glen.
There are also hill-tracks from Ardvorlich linking into the hills around Glen Turrett and Glen Almond. You can also link Glen Lyon to Loch Rannoch via some lovely singletrack and there are plenty of options around Glen Quaich. As above, Glen Ample/Finglas makes an excellent day out, and from Callander the Menteith Hill track is an absolute blast.

crispin, please expand on the glen lyon to loch rannoch connections. i've not done that yet. i have done some of the other routes on that link, as a result of that link. thanks for that!

and just checked out the second link. glen quaich. happy days! lol

swiss01 – there's a route from the memorial at Innerwick (just past Bridge of Balgie) which goes through Lairig Ghallabaich to Carie on Loch Rannoch.

It's used by an off-road charity ride – "the profit hunter?" which features this as the off-road bit on its gold route.

It's mattoutandabout that lives in Killin. I'm just down the other end of the loch near Kenmore so could give you some stuff, depending on what you want to do. Lots of non obvious stuff around me.

A few options around Ben Lawyers area. Going to try the Invervar horseshoe this summer – only done it on foot so far.

Also, less than an hour in the car would get you to Glen Coe

If you don't mind hike a bike, a circuit involving Carn Gorm is really nice starting at the Glen Lyon side. Once you are high, follow the horseshoe round. Did it as a winter walk in 2008. Stunning views. My mate Ross who was with me went up the following Saturday and rode it (see pics above)

Second Glen Lyon as a road ride.

I've contemplated the Ben Lawyers massif and plan to try it as a ride in the Spring when the snow and ice clear.

Glen Ample – I've heard a rumour that much of the singletrack has been obliterated. Real shame if it has.

Cheers

Sanny

Excellent thread guys, thanks!

I've been planning a wee East-West camping trip in march/april sticking largely to landrover tracks in anticipation of the weather at that time of year.

I'll be investigating the links above with great enthusiasm!

Sorry to do a slight highjack here. Sanny, which way round did your mate do the horseshoe? I reckon slightly better anti-clockwise?

There are a couple of routes on Ben Lawyers I want to try that may or may not work. If you're heading up this way give me a shout as I'm just up the road from there.

email in profile

Ben Lawers? SSRI?

I merely ask the question only having walked on the mountain in snow so I don't know what the ground conditions are like but is that "reasonable Access" – I merely ask.

Tandem, I'd been avoiding it on the same grounds, however is the path not seriously engineered, and is it not a bit of a honeypot for walkers anyway?

As such you'd think that some bikers sticking to the path would be no more 'unreasonable' than other users, assuming they avoided busy times, a la Ben Lomond.

13th – I have only been on the mountain in snow so I don't know what the path is like.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys, it all looks good, now I just need to fit in as much as possible.

Was also going to bring the road bike, so I will make sure I do Glen Lyon too.

TJ and 13FM, the main paths are very heavily walked, so sticking to them would not IMO represent a problem.

However I think I am right in saying that the SSSI area is restricted to the couple of km2 just around the visitor centre, inside the fence before you get out onto the open hill, so should be OK anywhere.

I've always thought that the SE ridge just looks too good to miss, but have only walked it in the dark. Can then pick up the path from the dam down the Lawyers burn which is part of one of my regular runs

Hello Captain Mainwaring

I walked it clockwise and my mates rode it the same way. I reckon anti clockwise may be the preferred option as it looks like there would be more rideable trail on the way up. Either way, prepare for hikey bikey.

When we are doing it, I will give you a shout to see if you fancy joining us.

I’ve got several high mountain routes planned for the Spring – Braeriach from Carn Ban Mor has been on the cards for a while. 4 munros on one ride would be pretty satisfying and I have it on good authority that the descent off Braeriach I have planned is a peach. No doubt plenty of hikey bikey but that’s not necessarily a bad thing if it means you are in the mountains. Also want to explore Bynack More area. Never ridden there but there seems to be some really promising options. Also have a big loop planned taking in Jocks Road, Loch Muick and Lochnagar as a day ride. I’m sure Stuartie_c will be interested as will Shearer aka italspark.

As for Ben Lawyers, I know it’s been done on a bike. Given the trail that has been created by walkers, I’m very much of the camp that would argue bike access is no less responsible / reasonable than walker access. It’s never going to appeal to the masses but makes for a real challenge for those like me who like that sort of thing. Going up into the mountains with the bike definitely opens up a whole world of possibilities.

Cheers

Sanny

PS Feel free to e mail me off forum at Sannyatsingletrackworld.com to discuss hill routes.

PPS I’ve walked Ben More and Stob Binaean in the recent past and reckon you could have some sport on the bike up there too. A lot of carrying at the start but there is some magic singletrack on the lower summit to the east.

PPPS I just discovered walkhighlands.com and it is a great website for planning hill routes on the bike.

Captain Mainwaring /Sanny – fair enough.

Sanny YGM

An Stuc with a bike?

Glen Ample – I've heard a rumour that much of the singletrack has been obliterated. Real shame if it has.

It has indeed. The only time I have ridden Glen Ample, which was last summer, and the majority of what I was expecting to be singletrack is now 'bulldozed' access track. Not an enjoyable ride.

Glen Finglas is, in my opinion, shit. Tedious and relentless, and with no real views to make up for it.

The link from Glen Finglas to Balquiddhar (sp?) I also found to be horrendous as its mostly a hike-a-bike, but then a) I was on my own b) I bring a bike to ride, not push c) I had started at Aberfoyle on a circular loop and was getting tired. Still wouldn't recommend any of that riding though, sorry.

Am a wee bit alarmed that folk should think that Braeriach is a suitable mountainbiking venue. The upper slopes of the mountain have no turf or heather that can re-gro; this is sub-artic tundra (non existent in Europe outside of Scandanavia) with lots of unique flora clinging on for life to a surface of gravel and small stones. Walking on it does cut it up a little, witness the main Cairngorm Plateau just across the 'Ghru, but Braeriach gets a fraction of the foot traffic so is still pretty much undamaged. Bike tyres are going to tear this sort of terrain to pieces and the tyre marks will still be there in 100 years time.
Not responsible access in my book!

i think your key phrase there on that post was the last one chicken.

as far as i was aware there is research into the damage on the braerich plateau which may or may not have been part sponsored by the mcs. as you rightly point out it is a very fragile environment and large scale and irreversible (within our life time) damage is certainly extant.

i certainly don't like the notion of bikes on the mountaintops. walkers have done quite enough damage as is without us joining in. it'll be interesting to see how access measures up to damage in the years to come.

Guys, fair point about Braeriach, but IIRC from walking it a couple of years ago asn't there a very marked worn path across the plateau now that we could stick to? If not I will avoid it as we all have a responsibility to the environment

HOW did i miss this thread? And how did OP get on?