Cycling Weekly set out on the hunt for the best gravel riding we could find and found ourselves in Aberfoyle, just north of Glasgow and we weren't disappointed. With lochs, mountain views and mile after mile of traffic free gravel roads, they thought they found heaven!
In association with Komoot.
In association with Komoot.
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00:00It's safe to say that the last year and a half has been, well, empty of
00:29much in the way of exploration.
00:32Riding has been local, and if you're like me, mostly the same roads and trails over and
00:37over and over and over and over again.
00:39So when Camus asked myself and Catherine Moore if we'd like to ride one of the UK's ultimate
00:43gravel riding destinations, naturally we leapt at the chance.
00:48Bags and bikes packed, we headed a long way north to Aberfoyle, otherwise known as Gravel
00:54Foil.
00:55Now all we needed was a guide, so we met it was Kerry McPhee, a local shredder was an
00:59encyclopedic knowledge of the gravel roads and the trails on offer.
01:04So Gravel Foil has 200km of gravel trails and Aberfoyle is right in the centre of it, so
01:11you can loop the north side and you can loop the south side, you can bale halfway, you can
01:16eat your lunch and go down the south side and there's loads of different types of gravel
01:22as well.
01:23You've got fast gravel, you've got single track, you've got tech, so this is an ideal
01:28place for anyone to come and try and you can do a massive loop like we're going to do or
01:32you can do a tiny little one.
01:33So you're spoilt for options and spoilt for terrain.
01:36Feeling a little apprehensive to be honest, like I'm really excited about this route,
01:41it looks absolutely incredible what you've put together for us, but it is going to be
01:45a big day and a ride of two halves by the looks of it.
01:48Like the Three Locks Drive and that area that I think we're going to do first looks stunning,
01:53we've seen a little bit about what's in store there, but very accessible from Aberfoyle,
01:57whereas the second half looks properly wild and a bit of the West Highland Way, like really
02:03a bit more remote, so I think that will be really stunning.
02:06It's pretty tough, but it's a good loop.
02:08Pretty tough for you or pretty tough for them?
02:11Pretty tough for them, because they don't know what's coming.
02:16Our route has something of a rude awakening, climbing for the first 5km out of Aberfoyle
02:22before winding through the beautiful Trossachs Forest Roads up to Loch Vinnaker.
02:27We'll ride the southern shore before striking across to Loch Acre, before heading south and
02:31back towards Aberfoyle, but not before taking in the sights of Loch Drunkey.
02:35But our ride doesn't end there, instead we head out the other side of Aberfoyle and into
02:41the true wilderness of the Trossachs, winding a path between Ben Lomond and Bendu, it's
02:46here where our ride is at its most isolated.
02:49A steep hairpin descent takes us down to the iconic West Highland Way on the shores of
02:54Loch Lomond and a chance for a break at the Inversnade Hotel.
02:58A short steep climb takes us up to Loch Arklut, before a long ride in a much needed gradual
03:03descent along the banks of Loch On back to Aberfoyle.
03:07You can of course find all the route details on Cycling Weekly's Komoot account and at the
03:11link in the description.
03:12We're off!
03:13We're off!
03:14Where are we Kerry?
03:15We have just hit the Jigs Pass, so if you were doing the Jigs weekend and event this would
03:19be the start line of the hill climb.
03:21It is a hill!
03:22We've started on a hill!
03:23So it won't be long before we pick a ride onto the gravel.
03:29So this looks like this is kind of some of the only tarmac, I don't touch much tarmac on
03:36this ride.
03:37Not much!
03:38I think this is maybe 300-400 metres to tarmac and then let's go gravel after that.
03:42Music to my ears!
03:44Music to my ears!
04:09Look at this!
04:30Very cloudy, very atmospheric, although I think it's going to burn off, I think we might
04:35get better weather this afternoon. Which is nice, but these gravel roads are so cool.
04:40I just don't have anything like this where I ride at home. None of these like wide open
04:48rides that are just no traffic. You can ride like three abreast, so Carrie, myself and Catherine,
04:56able just to ride along and chat. It's such a refreshing way to ride.
05:05Rupert had a comedy crash.
05:33You know when you make crashes and for a split second you really want to laugh but you shouldn't
05:40laugh because you need to make sure that they're okay first. Once that was all clear it was just
05:44so funny. It was just like a real slow-mo tumble.
05:48Very embarrassing.
05:49It's just funny when somebody crashes.
06:0015km into our ride, after climbing out of Aberfoyle and stretching out along rocky tracks and winding
06:09our way along the southern shores of Loch Venica we reach Acre Farm, the perfect place for an ice cream break.
06:15I was glad to reach Acre Farm because Carrie had told us a lot about the delicious ice cream
06:27which I can confirm was really delicious. I think the elderflower one I had had been foraged from the
06:33village like two days ago which is super cool and there's loads of animals here which I'm really excited
06:38about. But back to the route, yeah fab so far.
06:43If I said gravel foil what does that mean to you?
06:47Gravel foil is Aberfoyle. It's the mecca for gravel in the UK at the moment I think.
06:54Have you seen an increase in cyclists?
06:58Yeah very much so. I mean lockdown was amazing here. The number of people who came out of their
07:04homes and could enjoy the roads and the tracks for maybe the first time in a long time and the number
07:10of casual recreational and kind of semi-pro racers kind of whizzing around the woods here is phenomenal
07:17these days. When we came to the farm we knew there was the Great Trussox Path running through it and the
07:22three locks twice drive adjacent so setting up a business that would cater to sustainable travel
07:28people out recreational cycling and walking was was key to our business and people do people stop
07:33people in cars don't stop everyone on a bike or walking around the lot sees the benefits sees the
07:42slower pace and can stop and enjoy it that's what we're here for to give them that experience.
07:52so
07:58so
08:02so
08:34Kerry McPhee, you've done a lot of plotting on Khmut, haven't you?
08:52Yeah, I love using Khmut for my plots, so...
08:55How many kilometres of trails do you think you've worked out on Khmut?
09:01Oh, Hunners, that's a good Scottish word. Hunners! Hunners! Hunners! Hundreds of trails on Khmut.
09:08Hundreds of trails. I have got a Khmut collection of my gravel foil routes, and it goes as far as lots of parts of the West Highland Way,
09:15and then there's South Gravel Foil, North Gravel Foil, it's massive! And there's stuff that I haven't done yet.
09:20It certainly goes without saying that you should check out Kerry's Khmut collections,
09:24and all the things we'll post on the Cycling Weekly Khmut profile if you want to dig out some great routes,
09:29because Kerry, you know them all.
09:31Yeah, I was greedy when I was trying to plot something out for you guys.
09:35We're going in on epic today, because I just want you to see it all and feel it all.
09:39Yeah. Awesome. Well, let's crack on, because we have a long way to go.
09:43Music
09:59This is a classic gravel foil section of trail. We've just done the switchbacks up to the aqueduct.
10:04So where does this aqueduct go?
10:07So I think this aqueduct comes from Glen Fingless Reservoir, which used to be a little settlement,
10:13and they flooded it so that they could provide water to Glasgow during,
10:17I think there was a cholera outbreak or something, and they needed some fresh water pumped into this city,
10:23and they came to Abraffal because it's so lovely.
10:25Of course.
10:26So we've just gone beneath the aqueduct, which whenever you reference gravel foil you always see a picture of that.
10:37To be continued...
11:06So Koma was incredible you come round to the top of this amazing balcony gravel
11:12road around the corner and it just opens up to these spectacular views of Lough
11:16Lomond and all the pleasure boats going up and down and it was pretty steep as
11:21well
11:36Following 15 kilometers of climbing out of Aberfoyle was close to 300 meters of
11:43elevation we reached the summit of the Koma climb which is followed by a
11:48formidable descent down to the shores of Lough Lomond
11:52it's wicked isn't it what a day we've got you see it all the time so what's up
12:00next Kerry you've got some descent the commute profile is showing a pretty
12:05steep downhill yeah so we've kind of climbed like that and now we're going
12:09to go like that well we're going down to water level aren't we basically so it's
12:15a big descent yeah like a thousand feet or something yeah thousand feet boiling day
12:20and there's Lough Lomond and you're like trying to take in the view but you can't
12:23because you've got to hold on to your brakes absolutely amazing
12:35I think anyone could do the the Koma route definitely and the Koma descent
12:49although it's gnarly it does have switchbacks so you can do one little
12:54section and then stop and rest and then do the next section and stop and rest I
12:57wouldn't recommend it in reverse though because it is a stinker of a climb the
13:01other way and if you stop and rest it means you get to also appreciate the
13:05views of Lough Lomond as you descend so yeah I'd say it's probably an epic sort of
13:09loop but it has a bit of everything
13:31tell me about that descent Catherine that was tricky I had to walk a couple of meters there
13:49so steep wasn't it it was like rocky bouldery sort of washed out fat ground
13:55like if you don't pick your line you're just in so much trouble yeah and then
14:01Kerry went yeah it's uh it's pretty gnarly with just one break
14:07Kerry's front brake doesn't work
14:10although just three kilometres in lengths the stretch along the banks of Bonnie
14:14Loch Lomond features some of the most unforgiving terrain we've encountered
14:18with stream crossings and rocky scrambles this was true hike-a-bike territory
14:23we were just walking along and from behind us both we just heard this massive crunch and we
14:45looked round and Rupert had had quite an accident so we're just currently trying to work out what
14:51we're going to do next because Rupert does no longer have a rear mech
14:54oh that's not ideal so it's not the hanger that snaps
14:58um it is the uh the hanger is yeah the hanger is blown
15:02well you're lucky we're on the hike-a-bike
15:05yeah totally
15:06yeah we're walking anyway
15:06the worst handling way is quite hike-a-bike anyway but he literally had to hike the bike
15:26the whole way along um so yeah for Rupert
15:30it was funny but now that I realise we're kind of quite far away from Amber Foyle
15:37I'm a little bit filled with a bit more pity for him
15:41it's only been about half an hour we've been waiting
15:48so I bent my rear mech in the crash and then I snapped it off on the West Highland Way
15:58and now I need to find a solution so I can do the rest of the ride
16:02and I think that solution is going to be stealing uh drone pilot Ruben's bike
16:09um so sorry Ruben but I'm commandeering your mountain bike
16:14after a steep 10% climb out of Inversnaid we wound our way along the gorgeous shores of
16:28Loch Arklot and then down to Loch Arn before a welcome gradual descent into Amber Foyle
16:33the gravel roads here are what dreams are made of
16:36wide open and super fast we couldn't stop grinning the whole way home
16:41so I'm on Ruben's mountain bike and uh it's great
17:05so comfortable compared to the gravel bike but it's a little bit slow
17:10and I have now been dropped by Catherine and Kerry
17:15that puff of dust going up over the crest of the hill
17:20is Catherine and Kerry
17:21so it's a tough ride
17:24with 85 kilometers ticked off we rolled into Amber Foyle caked in dust and baked by the sun
17:49as promised the ride had really featured a little bit of everything
17:53from wide open remote mountain vistas epic hiker biking and fast gravel roads we'd been blown away
18:00by the riding on offer and the community that it fostered
18:05so it's definitely a whole day route that isn't it um full on but so worth it I did worry that was a bit goody gee with wanting to show you everything but I think it was worth it
18:11we asked you for the most epic ride you could put together in Aberfoyle and you did it
18:17I think it's safe to say
18:41honestly I completed the brief and we made it back even if we're one bike down yeah we're one bike
18:46down but thanks to drone pilot Ruben's generosity he walked home well three of us have made it back
18:55yeah goes without saying if you want to see the route that we've ridden today it will be in the
18:59description of the video below and for everything else Aberfoyle gravel riding check out Kerry's
19:05collections because she's done so much work putting it all together putting Aberfoyle on
19:09the map yeah the true queen of Aberfoyle always happy to share my knowledge there's so much good
19:15stuff on there definitely to earth taking the time before you come up to have a look and find some
19:19absolute belters of rides and trails if you have enjoyed this video then please do give us a
19:24thumbs up and subscribe to cycling weekly youtube channel and leave us a comment in the comment
19:29section below telling us what you loved and whether you'd come and ride in the amazing place that is
19:34now we'll be back soon with some more great adventure content and we'll see you then
19:39we'll see you then