Am heading north for a few days at the end of this month and looking to get a day or two riding in.

Have done the WHW and the guy I will be riding with wasn’t so keen on hike a bike. Can travel an hour or two for something good. Was thinking Glentress but if anyone has any suggestions of lesser known places. Or natural routes we could get to from Bearsden and back in a day I’d appreciate it. Nothing too technical, more XC orientated please!

Join the Glasgow mountain bike meetup group and ask as someone will happily arrange an xc ride for when you’re around I’m sure. I’m just along the road in Torrance and if you’re keener on more of a pedal may be up for something local, happy to guide

Have a look on Glasgow Mountain Bike Club Site. We are a big and diverse group, sponsored by Dales with a huge variety of rides in the area.

No need to join if visiting, just come along 🙂

Cathkin Braes is worth a trip and there are plenty of trails in Mugdock literally right beside Bearsden.

With the recent weather, the weather that looks as if it’s on it’s way, I’d go for a trail centre tbh. Not Cathkin, as it’s too short, GT or Innerliethen. All the ‘natural’ stuff around is muddy as **** ATM, and lots of places are badly affected by fallen trees.

Thanks for the info and the kind invitation to join the GMBC. I looked at the site and we will be riding the weekend of the 25th which is when you lot are away. Think I will suggest Glentress (Is there enough riding there to make it worth staying the night and having 2 days) and maybe a spin round Cathkin Braes.

There’s masses of riding at Glentress! inners just along the road too.

Looked like it from the site but wanted to check before deciding on booking accomodation

It seems a shame to go to a trail centre when you have lots unique natural stuff within an hour. Kilpatrick hills, arrochar, glen finglas, .mugdock, aberfoyle, Ben lomond, stank glen, whw… you can get good rides around all these areas and that’s just a few.

Glasgowdan

If you have any suggestions for a nice 40/50 mile route (with a pub stop!) or even a GPS file I would be keen to do more natural riding. Just a bit concerned about how much of a state the trails would be in.

I am in the soft south and know how churned up everything is here.

I’d go for the whw milngavie to balmaha and back for that sort of thing. Pub stop at the beech tree near dumgoyne. Not a technical ride but nice. Generally those other areas are shorter but technical. Glen finglas in the morning, the pub in callander then a couple laps of carron valley pm would be nice as well.

Have ridden the WHW a couple of years ago and Glen finglass looks great.

Will see if we want to ride from my mates house or drive. Either one looks good and weather dependent would work. Thanks very much.

Could you point me in the direction of GPS files of some of these routes please?

Alan, whilst there is a club away trip those days there will still be a load of folks riding local. Worth keeping an eye on our calander as more local stuff will post up. We prefer to show people routes than post up GPS as we try to match rides to trail conditions in the interest of sustainability of some of the more erosion sensitive stuff.

Aberfoyle <> menteith hills <> calendar might be damp but good

Did a nice route up near Callander recently. 47km loop with options of pub stop in Strathyre halfway. Very scenic and remote in parts.

Starts on the bank of Loch Lubnaig and climbs through Glen Ample before descending to Loch Earn. This section is great technical singletrack. Then you head round to Balquhidder on route 7 before crossing the river and enjoying some great single track through the woods to Strathyre before descending to the banks of Loch Lubnaig again and following round the foot of the loch to the start point.

Hi castanena,

Do you happen to have a gpx file of route?

Do you happen to have a gpx file of route?

Nope, sorry. OS Landranger 51 and 57 are the maps that cover the route though. Start point is at Grid Ref 587118. Hope that helps

Do you happen to have a gpx file of route?

The Glen Ample route is pretty common in MTB circles and listed in a few books (eg. Kenny Wilson). If you head over to mtbtrails.info I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a gpx on there.

The trail at glen ample must have changed since I was last there 3 ish years ago. It was far from good ST. Good for a Jolly but wouldn’t go out of my way to ride that again. If you’re heading out and back in a day and not looking for a hike a bike but want something natural/ remote why not try heading over to Inveraray and doing the 30ish k loop that heads over to loch awe from the museum south of the town. Some lovely ST, especially on the way back to the museum. Haven’t got gpx files but can point you in the right direction if you need.

GPS files for Finglas and Ample are here
http://www.stirlingbikeclub.org.uk/ride/mtb/glen_finglas_240803.shtml

Email me if you get stuck and I’ll convert them for you.

Stank Glen is a broken at the moment – trees snapped in half etc. There’s been a lot of rain too!

I was under the impression glen ample had been resurfaced and wasn’t any good?

Oh well one mans meat etc.

I’d be interested in some pointers for that route south of Inveraray eat_more_cheese if you could please. I’m up and down that road a fair bit and have always meant to try it out

I reckon the route cheesy is talking about is the leacann muir, or aka auchindrain route?. If so, avoid until a dry spell, as it must be the wettest ride in Scotland!. Used to be a cracker, but I heard a lot of the good bits had been flattened.

this

There’s no such thing as a dry spell on the west coast of Scotland! Norbeer has it spot on with the route. Navigation isn’t easy-I struggled to find the left turn off the forest road on my first attempt, but not too difficult with a grid ref. that first ST off the forest road could well be a small river but it’s fast and lots of fun even hub deep in water!

Soooooo Balmaha along the west highland way to Inversnaid and back is really rather good. A good mix of singletrack and fire road. The route after Rowardennan is currently the higher route. Work is ongoing to improve the low path which will make a nice ride even better. Pub stop at Inversnaid or Rowardennan or both. Conic Hill is worth doing with the path up the back completely redone last year. Cracking views!

Old school xc is to follow the west highland way from milngavie to gartness then take the back road to Killearn where you can join the water board track all the way to Strathblane then in through Mugdock.

Mugdock is pretty good if you follow your nose and take a look at all the singletrack options. There is more than enough to keep you occupied. The trails aren’t that bad to be honest. I was out for several hours yesterday and I’ve seen them worse. Good cafe options at the visitor centre.

From left field, the Clyde walkway starts out as a ho hum paved ride along the Clyde but from Cambuslang, Things really look up with lots of really nice riverside trail all the way to Lanark where you can hop on a train back to Bearsden. A bit muddy the other day but still really rather good. Planning on doing it on the fat bike all the way to Tinto Hill this month. 😀

Another option is the west highland way out via Conic Hill, return in a loop by going via the track from just before Milton of Buchanan that heads south to Badshalloch. Short back road to Croftamie then take the national cycle route trail to Gartness and either return via the westie or take the Killearn option above. I rode it last Aptil from the west end of Glasgow in about five hours without going super fast.

Oh and the Hillfoot cafe rocks for a post ride ice cream.

Cheers

Sanny

Sanny, you may need the fat bike to make it to tinto, Clyde Walkway is muddy/swampy/bridges broken in places but when its been drier it should be ideal. If you make it there you may as well ride it . . .

Cferg

Where are the broken bridges?

I’ve got a set of Nates’ coming so mud isn’t going to be an issue. 😆 I rode the trail past Bothwell Castle last week and there was a fair bit of gloop but no real show stoppers.

Cheers

Sanny

Sanny, you may well need them haha! Its not actually too bad, it should be fine later in the month. One bridge down(only across a stream at Mauldslie but its hardly an obstacle)The main problem being the clyde bursting its banks spilling onto the walkway. Feel free to drop me a line (email in profile) nearer the time, theres a few diversions you can take.

Have a look at http://www.trailscotland.co.uk/forums and also check out http://www.gmbc.org.uk

Check out http://www.trailscotland.co.uk/bike-friendly-accommodation-map/ for places to stay

Mtbtrails.info has tons of gpx trail files. Good resource as well.

Thanks for the advice people. Ended up riding out the west highland way to connick and dropped down into balmaha. Was planning on doing the return but a spate of flats slowed us down. We ran out of tubes and patches so I ended up waiting in the pub and having a couple of pints with the glasgow mtb club while my mate got a taxi home to pick up the car. Can’t remember all the names but nice to have a chat and beer in a warm pub after riding in some horrendous weather.

Wish I had some of this kind of riding down south!

Good work, fella! Glad you had a good ride and punctured at the pub!

Hi Al – it was myself (Graham) and Tom from GMBC you were speaking to at the bar. Saturday was dry compared to Sunday! Torrential rain all night which continued into the morning. Oddly, it didn’t <pun> dampen our spirits </pun>. Glad you had a good time despite the punctures.

Hi Al – it was myself (Graham) and Tom from GMBC you were speaking to at the bar.

Same old suspects at the bar then….. 😀

well, they had ale, it would be rude not to…. 😀

Agreed!

Hic 🙂