So… Has anyone tried this? I was just mentally putting together an interesting route for the CX/Touring bikes, and for about 7 or 8km there doesn’t appear to be any sort of track until you reach the ruin south of Loch Ossian.

I assume its probably illegal, but I also assume you’d hear the trains coming before they saw you, but is it even possible to ride between the tracks? Gravel between sleepers I guess.

Anyway, just a though, back to reality! 8)

I’ve walked part of it – the last bit into Rannoch Station going south. The scariest part was getting to the bridge over the river and realising there was nowhere to go if a train actually came along 🙂

It’s a proper wood/gravel trackbed. I reckon it would be pretty much purgatory on a bike.

What’s wrong with the track slightly further west (past the old lodge/sanitorium) – the old “Route to the Isles”?

When would this be happening anyway? Holidays or a permanent move back?

I once walked the last km or two to Tulloch station from the south, having checked the timetable to be safe. Halfway across a viaduct, I heard a freight train coming. Cue sprint in winter mountain boots followed by vault over fence!

As it is illegal and pretty dumb I wouldn’t know but it is a trail of epic grimness. large sections have little to no stones between sleepers making for bumpy going and other sections are wooden sleepers covered in eons worth of diesel and grease that where just silly after a light drizzle.
Don’t kid yourself you will hear a train 2 guys got wiped out last summer walking along it, I guess if you had to try it though it’s worth checking rail timetables etc and making sure you off the track when trains expected through.

Yep ilegal to trespass on railway lines.

Obvious safety issue’s and possible delay to trains if drivers get warned people are on the track pushing bikes.

You thinking of from Rannoch station up to Corrour station ?
Corrour to Tulloch appears to be no direct path and rough moorland.
Corrour to Kinlochleven is mostly track, with a section of no track rough moorland.

Hopefully be there at the weekend for a stroll about Ossian. Research into that area has highlighted that some walkers “might” take “cheeky” shortcuts, the rail bridge at Fersit is one.

If in trouble, and needing to cover ground quickly to get off the moor i would use the track.
Not to many trains, sunday seems a quiet day, armed with a timetable it would be fairly easy to time it safely, but still be ilegal.

Going for a look see, getting off at Corrour, sticking to Ossian now as Culra Bothy is closed and Ossian has some shelter from bad weather. Rannoch station up to Corrour looked a bit hard work, got caught out last year walking round from Tarbet jetty/swordlands to Sourlies bothy and to Inverie, so little recce mission first this time out 🙂

double posted 🙂

Hmm. Someone was suggesting there was a suitable route for cycling round there. Can’t see it myself!

Yeah, I’ve ridden the Road to the Isles, largely a boggy unrideable mess from what I remember but I was quite heavily laden at the time, in fact I may even have had the trailer. At least with CX bikes the carrying wouldn’t be too much of a mission, and it would invite a continuation on to the remainder of the Road to the Isles…

Didn’t know people had died on the same line, it didn’t *seem* like a dumb idea but I’m now reconsidering, especially if it would be a terrible ride, I had envisioned a quick blast along 8km of slightly bumpy track, not a nervous toothjarring struggle.

Overall route to that point starts in Comrie, up past Loch Lednock, down other side to Killin, over to Loch Lyon, around Loch Lyon, onto WHW between Tyndrum and Bridge of Orchy, on to Gorton Bothy, join onto forest roads in Rannoch Forest to Bridge of Gaur, then connect to Corrour somehow (Road to the Isles by the look of it…) then onwards. Already requires two short sections of hiking to link tracks.

Not yet left the realms of the daydream, I’m sitting in an office in Vancouver! 8)

Scotroutes.

I was a bit causal about Tarbet jetty to sourlies to Inverie. Nice little adventure, get boat over to Inverie and jump off at Tarbet jetty on it’s way back to Mallaig.

Post adventure research turned up 2 counts of others doing the walk.
1 caught the tide right, managed to beach walk and shimmy along some cliff ledges, did it in one long hard day.

2 blokes tried what i did, got bogged down, eaten alive by midges, stranded for about a day, caught the attention of the estate fish farmers by waving a 6 foot orange survival bag about…… they crossed the loch in their launch and ferried them back to Inverie.

The locals at Tarbet suggested going around the coast as far as possible, then straight up, straight across the top and drop down to Sourlies.
Really steep getting up, no paths, rough moorland which was really hard going being so wet. Hard going walking, would not have wanted a bike to drag along as not much was rideable.
Being super fit, with a very light fat bike and kit and it’s doable but be hard work.
Had food for 4 days, reckoned it was a casual 2 day walk. 3 day hard slog, with getting caught in a blizzard.

Not all things on the OS map are visable and extra lakes up top caused some confusion. There is a ruined building about halfway up the loch, if you can get there, the climb up is more gentle and more direct.
Sourlies to Inverie is easy to follow footpath, bit of a slog getting out of the valley, zig zagging up over the pass, but on a bike the descent to Inverie would be loverly and several miles 🙂

Ian – you might find this useful

http://www.heritagepaths.co.uk/pathdetails.php?path=108

Slightly confused…. do i know you Scotroutes ? or is 13thfloormonk called Ian as well ?

Iain acehtn 🙂

Had noted the drovers path as a possible walk for May, be a couple of days.

Going to have a look for the secret shed of Ossian, not the YHA, there is a forestry workers hut hidden about Ossian, found a ref to it and a photo of inside, but no clues…..and nothing to do with Alan Breck 🙂

acehtn – 13fm is, indeed, Ian (one i) 🙂

I rode this in 1992 i think on a Honda XR 600r Enduro bike at 3am on a Sunday morning mid summer!. I have the pics somewhere to prove it but never scanned them to put online for fear of imprisonment 😀

We realised that being no highland trains running at these hours meant open access for motorised 2 wheels 😀

On another weekend up north we did a lot of the Mallaig line too,
Harry Potter we beat you to it 😉

Iain and Ian then 🙂

Coast Kid you awesome naughty boy 🙂

At about £50 each the Harry Potter train got stuffed off, took the bus instead only £11 for 2 of us from Mallaig back to the Fort 🙂

What is the track like EW across Rannoch moor – Rannoch station to Kinghouse hotel? It’s in Henniker’s book IIRC, always fancied giving it a go but never got round to planning it into a workable route.

Mike, that track is forest road for a few km then quickly turns into semi-rideable tussocky boggy singletrack, before eventually turning back into quad track then a final estate track swoop down to the Kingshouse.

I guess in the dry, unladen, and/or with a fatbike, it would be a worthwhile ride. I ended up walking a lot of it but still enjoyed it, sun setting over the Buachailles was spectacular and I watched some Marsh or maybe Hen harriers hunting across the moor.

Went back once more on foot, and will probably return again, so you should definitely try it one way or another!

😀

On a slightly off topic i met last week a woman farmer near Appin called Libby when my girlfriend did some equine dentistry on her horses. Anyways this lady happens to have ridden on horses with saddle bags dam near every drove road and historic highland crossing during the 70s and 80s!,
A wealth of imformation on routes we drunk coffee in a room of wall to wall maps and wall pictures of old routes she wih friends rode across.
Libby does not have a computer and as you can imagine i said to her that her journeys have to be documented online for future referance.

The afternoon after the other half had done here Dentistry work we cycled a Coffin road Libby showed me on her map that passed through her land down to Loch Etive not showen on the modern map i had with me, that was an ace ride-if a bit soggy in the down pour!
People like this when you meet them you are often in awe at their knowlage and should ask more about old routes,

Anyways if any of you guys want to chat with Libby about old Highland routes i could get a contact number 🙂

Overall route to that point starts in Comrie, up past Loch Lednock, down other side to Killin

Yup, done that. My gran lives in Comrie so I’m up there quite regularly. That ride is a big push to the watershed from the reservoir, but then it gets more fun playing follow the sheep track over the other side. It’s very vague in places.

Going back to the railway, I’ve walked it in the past from Tulloch to Fersit. This was after getting off the train so I could be sure we wouldn’t have another train in close procession. It would be horrible to ride though as the sleepers were greasy with not much gravel underneath.

I cycled the Road to the isles from Loch Ossian Hostel to the Rannoch Road a mile or two from the station 3 or 4 years ago. Pretty rideable on a hardtail with minimal overnight kit strapped in one pannier. It was the sort of soft surface that would vary depending how much rain there had been though.

on to Gorton Bothy, join onto forest roads in Rannoch Forest to Bridge of Gaur, then connect to Corrour somehow (Road to the Isles by the look of it…)

I also did the Rannoch Forest to Gorton the same day. There is a boggy push/carry for about 2 miles. Thereafter faint boggy path until just before Gorton.

When doing it a second time I did resort to the railway line for a mile or so. Pushing rather than riding as from experience those trains approach very quietly and you need to be checking over your shoulder constantly so you can get off the line well before they are near you.

For comparison riding across the moor from Kingshouse to Rannoch Station is a drier push for the hour or so walk between the tracks at either end. Out the two I’d do the Kingshouse – Rannoch station crossing. Not much longer either as the Rannoch Forest track wanders well off the direct route.

Going Bridge of Orchy -WHW – Kingshouse – Rannoch Station 22 miles. Or to Road to the Isles start 24 miles.

Going B of Orchy – Gorton – Rannoch Forest – Road to Isles start -22 miles.

FWIW, I reckon packrafting across Rannoch Moor is the way to do it 🙂

13thfloormonk – Member

Mike, that track is forest road for a few km then quickly turns into semi-rideable tussocky boggy singletrack, before eventually turning back into quad track then a final estate track swoop down to the Kingshouse.

I guess in the dry, unladen, and/or with a fatbike, it would be a worthwhile ride. I ended up walking a lot of it but still enjoyed it, sun setting over the Buachailles was spectacular and I watched some Marsh or maybe Hen harriers hunting across the moor.

Went back once more on foot, and will probably return again, so you should definitely try it one way or another! Cheers Ian. Daydreams for me also, though – in Manchester now so do next to no Scottish riding these days. Hope to move back up there in my dotage and ride every blade of grass.

I have skied the last couple of km southbound into Rannoch Station. I would not want to ride it on a bike. Snow was piled high on the sleepers, with deep gaps in between.

The timetable only covers passenger trains, so freight could still be on the line. Careful does it…

Since we are talking about it… the best route from Tarbet jetty to Inverie is to get the train up to Morar, crash out in Tom McClean’s garden, wake up to the most glorious hot day with cloudless sky, get breakfast and a shower from Tom, then cycle along Loch Morar to Tarbet. Inflate packraft and enjoy a long and reasonably leisurely float up Loch Nevis. Arrive in Inverie, put up tent, rinse off head under a cold tap, don flip flops and beach shorts, and bimble along to pub for heaps of food and a few beers.

That was day 1 of a 9 day trip I did a couple of years ago, Morar to Cape Wrath by bike and packraft. It was a once in a lifetime trip. I’ll have to do a write up sometime.

I was a bit causal about Tarbet jetty to sourlies to Inverie. Nice little adventure, get boat over to Inverie and jump off at Tarbet jetty on it’s way back to Mallaig.

Post adventure research turned up 2 counts of others doing the walk.

I walked Tarbet to Sourlies around 1981. The estate boat was full but we got a lift with Tom McLean to Tarbet. Even got a shot of steering his boat. This was after driving from Glasgow to Mallaig so I guess it was well into the afternoon before we left Tarbert. A nice path over the first headland followed by the worst few miles of walking I’ve ever done. There was some short unavoidable cliff traverses. We never made Sourlies that night. Dossed beside the wall of a ruin with no bivvy bags and got wet.

On the return walk to Tarbert to get the Mail boat out we went about 200 feet up the hill and found the traverse there tough but much better than trying to follow the shore. I’ve never been tempted to do it again.

Yeah I’ve done it.

Not clever though. And forget the timetable, these wee maintenance trains and sundry other non scheduled trains are like bullets – you never know which one’s got your name on it.

Back from Corrour 🙂

Can’t directly post piccys on here so nothing to see.

Things to watch out for on the track, as per Theblackmount, a rail going landrover did zip across from Rannoch and onto Tulloch maybe more.

The loch ossian circular track is well maintained. There is the start of tracks to Kinlochleven/Tulloch/Roy Bridge/Fort William, they are excellent to start with, broken with singletrack boggy flooded sections, i assume the further you get the wilder the path gets. Did appear to have been lots of footpath work around the Corrour station.

Was tempted to walk out to the old corrour lodge and check the track, but driving rain and cloud cover so we stayed in the shelter of Ossian.

Had no desire to stray from any paths as going would be hard at the moment, very very wet and soft ground.
Although doable from Rannoch straight up to Corrour alongside the rail track, it will be very hard going. Have the OS map now and a longer footpath from Rannoch via the old corrour lodge, down to Loch Ossian is clearly marked. I bet it’s rough but easier. I would go with fatter CX tyres, or small 29″ tyres and go that way.

Irc 🙂 nice to hear your take on Tarbet Jetty to Sourlies. Took us over a day to cover it, i think we did all right.

Wildlife spotting.
1x Heron
1x Seagull
2x Ducks
lots of small sparrow sized birds
3x dead frogs (food for bear grylls types)
10x teenage girl guides on D Of E
3x worn out ladies looking after the guides
2x other Hikers, we guess came down from Ben Alder.

Didn’t spot any.
Midges
Red deer/Stags
Red Squirrels
Pine Martins
Wildcats

Surprisingly warm despite snow capped peaks around us when we could see them.
The small hut on Corrour station platform was fab for cooking dinner in as residents across the track in the station lodge kept twitching the curtains looking at us…… 🙂
Then the Guides turned up to catch the same train back and all had a singsong while moaning about frizzy hair, it’s good to get out to wild places init 🙂

Must be packed in the summer.