Wild about argyll

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Mike
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Joined: Thu Jun 21, 2012 9:36 am

Wild about argyll

Post by Mike »

Mark Evans and myself set off from Sheffield on Saturday morning and headed upto helensburgh to start our Wild about argyll ride. We planned to do it over 3 full days and 2 half days either side. Thinking this would be more than enough if we rode 100miles a day!

What could be easier, its all fire roads and tarmac. Some of it i had already ridden on over trips so thought it would be a doddle. I hadnt looked into the climbing on this route prior and then found out it was around 10000m plus. Blimey, it will be ok.

Day 1 we started from helensburgh fire station at around 4pm and going was good, it was sunny but slightly chilly. We climbed up and over the first hill and dropped into arrochar where we stopped for some dinner in a great pub on the loch. The sun was setting around 830 and the temperature dropped. We set off from the pub with the lights on and headed back along the other side of the loch up into the forest on good fire roads. We were on 40mm nanos and this turns out to be the wrong size tires ( if i did it again id be on 29 2.4 fast tires...but i wont be ). We got to the fire road where you can drop down to mark bothy and decided to carry on as it was only 1130. We bumped into 2 lads on mtbs heading for the bothy and had a quick chat.
The wind was now going well and temp was lets say cold! 2am we got to camp spot high out on a hill in the wind but we were both tired so we got 5 hrs kip in. 48 miles and around 5000ft

Day 2 we woke up to cold sunshine at 630 and got on the way. Finding breaky we headed for the ferry at portverdie, we needed to get the last ferry across otherwise it would of lost us so much time. We actually made the 545 ferry in the end. The day was hard going so much climbing on fire roads that seemed to go on and on. There are some really great sections of single track on this section and i really enjoyed them but the climbing took president. We decided that we would have to cut out the loop from kames as we wouldnt get the ferry and id already done that road before. We found plenty of stops for food on route and made full use of them. Getting to the ferry was good otherwise we would of been stuck there till 945 the following morning. We got more food in tarbet at a great cafe before deciding to sack off the route and just do bits of it. We cut off the lower loop from tarbet as it was very cold and we were knackered so we choose to head on the coast road using the sustrans route where we found a camp spot in some trees out of the cold wind that we'd had all day. 76miles with 6000ft.

Day 3 was very enjoyable, as we followed the coast upto crinan canal and onto killmartin for dinner. We were going to go upto oban and then cut across to return on the route but time was running away from us fast so at his point we rode joined the route at ford instead saving us miles of head wind and struggle to oban. This was a great call and we wnjoyed the day. The climbing had eased for abit so we thought untill we got to the eredine forest. Its was dark and late and the climb just went on and on and on! We had found carron bothy on the map jyst off route so that was that, we were staying there this evening. Jeez that bothy is a mission to get to in the dark but well worth it. What a lovely little place. We stopped at 1130 and got the kettle on and were in bed by 1230. The wind through the night was crazy, we were so glad we made the detour down. 74 miles 4800ft

Day 4 the bothy to arrochar campsite. Today was a fairly short day and easier going with longer cafe stops. The whole trip we were consuming food like it was going out of fashion due to the temperature. We made some off route choices and the descent down an old military road into ardgarten was really nice, the day was wet all day so the fire roads would of been filthy so we decided to cut most out. We made camp on the site which is fab for a fiver by 6pm and went to the pub for some well earned beers n food. A great noghts sleep after a shower and we jyst had 2 hrs back to the car in morning. 46 miles 3000ft

The last day ( 2 hrs ) 20 miles of coast road via the perch cafe ( has to be visited ) in garelochhead then back into helensburgh. Ready for the 7 hrs back home.

We both had some really good times and some low times due to the weather, temp and climbing. The route in its entirety id say is hard going and would take around 5 or maybe 6 days of long riding. We put in some long days and were nowhere near on schedule over 4 days. Go ride it, its stunning scenery but i much more enjoyed the capital trail as a ride!!
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whitestone
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Re: Wild about argyll

Post by whitestone »

Cath and I did a 3 day trip based on the middle part last easter (which was beginning of April), only had 3 days as work asked me to do the Friday :sad: We started/finished in Arrochar so missed the bits to and from Helensburgh. Did you do Puck's Glen? About 50% rideable for us mortals :wink:

I know it's promoted as a gravel route but it's pretty rough in places and there are some climbs that just seem to go on and on and on.
Better weight than wisdom, a traveller cannot carry
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Mike
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Joined: Thu Jun 21, 2012 9:36 am

Re: Wild about argyll

Post by Mike »

No bob, we cut it out as we were conscious of timing for ferries and hux told us it was just a hiker bike down!
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Shewie
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Re: Wild about argyll

Post by Shewie »

I’m thinking about having a bash at this route over autumn , I used to spend a lot of time canoeing the sea lochs in Argyll so I think I’ll quite enjoy it.

I need to research the ferry situation at the moment, but apart from that I can allow an easy 8 or 9 days in the saddle and a days travel either end.
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