Singletrack

What goes up…
In proper ’90s style, we dined on the classic gastronomic
delight that would have Heston hurling in his grave (except,
of course, he isn’t dead!) – TUC cheese crackers. Nothing says
student living more than slightly stale crackers and a synthetic
cheese filling that has never been near anything cheese-like.
Retiring to our bothy shelter beside the summit trig point, a
fine drizzle breaking through the grey, we awaited the arrival
of scorching sunshine and dusty trails. They never came. My
email request had clearly gone astray. Oh well, it would have
to be a dessert of Nutella and peanut butter wraps. Oh the
luxury!
With the briefest of breaks in the clouds, we caught a
glimpse of what we could have won, Jim Bowen Bullseye style.
Far below us lay the calm waters of Loch Achray and Loch
Katrine, the latter a marvel of Victorian engineering. As the
primary source of water for the city of Glasgow, the Victorians
developed an ingenious gravity fed system that drops less than
30 feet over some 25 miles before coming out at Craigmaddie
Reservoir on the very outskirts of the city. Impressive is an
understatement. To the west, the sharp peaks of the Southern
Highlands crowd the skyline, all competing for attention
with their sharp arêtes and bulky mass – these are the big
guns – the Munros – all peaks above 3,000 feet in height with
many worthy of exploration by bike. To the south, the sorely
underrated Campsie Fells and in the distance, the Mos Eisleyesque
vista of Glasgow. Not bad a view for not a lot of effort.
Of course, what goes up must come down and we were
keen to see how our ascent path would play in reverse. If you
like tech, this could well be the trail for you. There are a few
sections of steep rockiness that lie on the rideable/unrideable
border. Fortunately for mere mortals like ourselves, these
bits are short and can easily be walked down. Riding back to
the bealach, flow was not in abundance. This was slow speed
tech riding. I suspect if Dave had ridden it on his old Pine
Mountain, this might have made for another loss of memory/
hospital bed/lost bike story. Easy it wasn’t and for a first-time
mountain, I wouldn’t recommend it.
However, from the bealach it is an altogether different
story. The for the most part eminently rideable ascent would
prove to be a terrific descent.
Protection from midges, the rain, or Sanny?
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