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
00:36and over and over and over again.
00:39So when Kamut 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 Gravelfoyle.
00:55Now all we needed was a guide, so we met up with Kerry McPhee, a local shredder who was
00:59an encyclopaedic knowledge of the gravel roads and the trails on offer.
01:04So Gravelfoyle has 200km of gravel trails, and Aberfoyle is right in the centre of it,
01:11so you can loop the north side and you can loop the south side, you can bail half way,
01:16you can eat your lunch and go down the south side, and there's loads of different types
01:21of gravel as well.
01:22You've got fat gravel, you've got fast gravel, you've got single track, you've got tech,
01:27so this is an ideal place for anyone to come and try.
01:30You can do a massive loop like we're going to do, or you 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 Kerry's put together for us, but it is going to be
01:45a big day and I've ridden two halves by the looks of it, like the Three Locks Drive and
01:50that area that I think we're going to do first looks stunning, we've seen a little bit about
01:54what's in store there, but very accessible from Aberfoyle, whereas the second half looks
01:58properly wild and a bit of the West Highland Way, like really a bit more remote, so I think
02:04that 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 Venica.
02:26We'll ride the Southern Shore before striking across to Loch Acre, before heading south
02:31and back towards Aberfoyle, but not before taking in the sights of Loch Drunke.
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 Bendoo, it's
02:46here where our ride is at it's 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 Arklat, before a long ride and a much needed gradual
03:03descent along the banks of Loch Onn back to Aberfoyle.
03:07You can of course find all the route details on Cycling Weekly's Komoot account and at
03:11the link in the description.
03:14We're off!
03:15Where are we Kerry?
03:16We have just hit the Jig's Pass, so if you were doing the Jig's weekend at an event,
03:21this would be the start line of the hill climb.
03:23It is a hill!
03:26We've started on a hill.
03:27So it won't be long before we take a ride onto the gravel.
03:31So this looks like this is kind of some of the only tarmac.
03:34You don't touch much tarmac on this ride.
03:36Very much!
03:37I think this is maybe like 300-400 metres of tarmac and then it's just pure gravel after that.
03:41Music to my ears!
03:46Music to my ears!
04:16Music to my ears!
04:18Music to my ears!
04:20Music to my ears!
04:22Music to my ears!
04:24Music to my ears!
04:26Look at this!
04:28It's very cloudy.
04:30Very atmospheric.
04:32Although I think it's going to burn off.
04:34I think we might get better weather this afternoon.
04:36Which is nice.
04:38But these gravel roads are so cool.
04:40I just don't have anything like this where I ride at home.
04:44None of these wide open rides that are just no traffic.
04:50You can ride free abreast.
04:52So Carrie, myself and Catherine are able to ride along and chat.
04:56It's such a refreshing way to ride.
04:58It's such a refreshing way to ride.
05:00It's such a refreshing way to ride.
05:20Woo!
05:22Not that low!
05:24Not low enough!
05:26Rupert had a comedy crash!
05:30you know when your mate crashes and for a split second you really want to laugh
05:40but you shouldn't laugh because you need to make sure that they're okay first
05:42once that was all clear it was just so funny we're just like a real slow-mo
05:47tumble very embarrassing it's just funny when somebody crashes
06:0015 kilometers into our ride after climbing out of Aberfoyle and
06:06stretching out along rocky tracks and winding our way along the southern
06:10shores of Loch Venica we reach Ackray Farm the perfect place for an ice cream
06:15break
06:22I was glad to reach Ackray Farm because Kerry had told us a lot about the
06:26delicious ice cream which I can confirm was really delicious I think the
06:30elderflower one I had had been foraged from the village like two days ago which
06:35is super cool and there's loads of animals here which I'm really excited
06:39about but back to the route yeah fab so far if I said gravel foil what does that
06:45mean to you gravel foil is Aberfoyle it's the mecca for gravel in the UK at
06:53the moment I think have you seen an increase in cyclists yeah very much so I
06:59mean lockdown was amazing here the number of people who came out their
07:04homes and could enjoy the roads and the tracks but for maybe the first time in a
07:09long time and the number of casual recreational and kind of semi-pro racers
07:14kind of whizzing around the woods here is phenomenal these days when we came to
07:19the farm we knew there was the Great Trossachs path running through it and
07:22the Felox Drive adjacent so setting up a business that would cater to
07:27sustainable travel people out recreational cycling and walking was was
07:31key to our business and people do people stop people in cars don't stop everyone
07:36on a bike or walking around a lot sees the benefits sees that the slower pace
07:42and can stop and enjoy it that's what we're here for to give them that
07:47experience
08:27you
08:47Kerry McPhee you've done a lot of plotting on commute haven't you yeah how
08:56many how many kilometers of trails do you think you you've worked out on
09:00commute oh honours that's a good Scottish word hundreds of trails on
09:07commute hundreds of trails I have got a commute collection of my gravel foil
09:11routes and it goes as far as lots of parts of the West Highland Way and then
09:15there's South Gravel Foil, North Gravel Foil, it's massive and there's stuff that I
09:18haven't done yet definitely goes without saying that you should check out Kerry's
09:23commute collections and all the things we'll post on the cycling weekly commute
09:26profile if you want to dig out some great routes because Kerry you know them
09:31all yeah I was spot I was greedy when I was trying to plot something epic today
09:36I just want you to see it all and feel it all yeah awesome well let's crack on
09:41because we have a long way to go
09:53this is a classic gravel foil section of trails just on the switchbacks up to the
10:03aqueduct so where does this aqueduct go so I think this aqueduct comes from Glen
10:10Finglas reservoir which used to be a little settlement and they flooded it so
10:14that they could provide water to Glasgow during I think there was a cholera outbreak
10:18or something and they needed some fresh water pumped into this city and they came to
10:23Aberfoy because it's so lovely of course so we've just gone beneath the aqueduct which
10:29whenever you reference gravel foil you always see a picture of that
10:48so coma 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 Loch
11:16Lomond and all the pleasure boats going up and down and it was pretty steep as well
11:38following 15 kilometers of climbing out of Aberfoy was close to 300 meters of elevation
11:44we reached the summit of the coma climb which is followed by a formidable descent down to the
11:49shores of Loch Lomond it's wicked isn't it what a day we've got you see it all the time so what's
12:00up next Kerry we've got some descent the commute profile is showing a pretty steep downhill yeah
12:07so we've kind of climbed like that and now we're gonna go like that well we're going down to water
12:11level aren't we basically so it's a big descent yeah like a thousand feet or something yeah
12:18thousand feet boiling day and you're like trying to take in the view but you can't because you've
12:24got to hold on to your brakes absolutely amazing I think anyone could do the the coma route
12:46definitely and the coma descent although it's gnarly it does have switchbacks so you can do
12:53one little section 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 other way and if
13:02you stop and rest it means you get to also appreciate the views of Loch Lomond as you
13:06descend so yeah I'd say it's probably an epic sort of loop but it has a bit of everything
13:23oh tell me about that descent Catherine so steep wasn't it
13:50if you don't pick your line you're just in so much trouble yeah and then Kerry went yeah it's
14:03uh it's pretty gnarly with just one break Kerry's front brake doesn't work although just three
14:11kilometers in length the stretch along the banks of bonnie loch lomond features some of the most
14:16unforgiving terrain we've encountered with stream crossings and rocky scrambles this was true
14:21hiker bike territory we were just walking along and from behind us both we just heard this massive
14:42crunch and we look round and Rupert had had quite an accident so we're just currently trying to work
14:50out what we're going to do next because Rupert does no longer have a rear mech oh that's not
14:56ideal so it's not the hanger that snaps um it is that uh the hanger is yeah the hanger is blown
15:02well you're lucky we're on the hiker bike yeah totally we're walking anyway the West Island way
15:22is quite hiker bike anyway but he literally had to hike the bike the whole way along and so yeah
15:29for Rupert it was funny but now that I realize we're kind of quite far away from arbor foil
15:37I'm a little bit filled with a bit more pity for him so I bent my rear mech in the crash and then
15:56I snapped it off on the West Island way and now I need to find a solution so I can do the rest of
16:02the ride I think that solution is going to be stealing drone pilot Ruben's bike so sorry Ruben
16:12but I'm commandeering your mountain bike after a steep 10% climb out of Inversnade we wound our way
16:27along the gorgeous shores of Loch Arklat and then down to Loch Arn before a welcome gradual descent
16:32into Aberfoyle the gravel roads here are what dreams are made of wide open and super fast we
16:38couldn't stop grinning the whole way home
16:58so I'm on Ruben's mountain bike and it's great so comfortable compared to the gravel bike but
17:08it's a little bit slow and I have now been dropped by Catherine and Kerry that pop of
17:18dust going up over the crest of the hill is Catherine and Kerry so it's a tough ride
17:27with 85 kilometers ticked off we rolled into Aberfoyle caked in dust and baked by the Sun as
17:50promised the ride had really featured a little bit of everything from wide open remote mountain
17:56vistas epic hiker biking and fast gravel roads we've been blown away by the riding on offer and
18:01the community that it fostered
18:03it's definitely a whole day route that isn't it
18:27we asked you for the most epic ride you could put together in Aberfoyle and you did it
18:39yeah we were one bike down but thanks to drone pilot Ruben's generosity he walked home well
18:53three of us have made it back yeah goes without saying if you want to see the route that we've
18:58ridden today it will be in the description of the video below and for everything else
19:02Aberfoyle gravel riding check out Kerry's collections because she's done so much work
19:07putting it all together putting Aberfoyle on the map yeah the true queen of Aberfoyle
19:12always happy to share my knowledge there's so much good stuff on there definitely to
19:16earth taking the time before you come up to have a look and find some absolute belters
19:21of rides and trails if you have enjoyed this video then please do give us a thumbs up and
19:25subscribe to cycling weekly youtube channel and leave us a comment in the comment section
19:29below telling us what you loved and whether you'd come and ride in the amazing place that
19:34is Aberfoyle now we'll be back soon with some more great adventure content and we'll see you then