- Location
- Glasgow
This is a tale of conquered hills, of endurance, of overcome fears, of great comradeship.
We rode up and down the Scottish hills and glens, among beautiful scenes of forests and waterfalls; we suffered, we cried and we rejoiced to be safe together at the end of each day.
Day one: Glasgow to Callander, via the Queen's view, Drymen, Gartmore, Aberfoyle, Duke's pass.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/371641503
Pictures here - I can't get them in the right order, but the descriptions should be self explanatory.
The day did not start well for me: I was running late to the meeting point, the cat had been not well, my panniers needed a last minute adjustment on the road.
@flyingfifi had already set out to meet @mcshroom at Glasgow Central. I later heard the meeting went like this:
Hiya, you must be Fifi! I'm Mushroom
... well, not really, I'm Marcus 
Having adjusted my panniers I was hasting to the SECC, when a mini tornado almost blew me off the road: it was @Edwardoka running late too.
Ten past ten, we are comparing bikes and luggage: Catherine appears to have exceeded her 25kg allowance ... more about that later.
Already 20 minutes late on schedule, we ride to meet @Somebuddy half a mile up the road.
I see a cyclist waiting, tell Catherine, please, run along ask him if he's John Somebuddy from Cycle Chat. She comes back saying, no, he's Dave from Cycle Chat. That will do, tell him to come along
Right into Kelvingrove park, our leader for the day @Edwardoka is not taking the lead ... his Garmin is broken, he's leading from memory! Just as well the rest of us have SatNav and local knowledge.
Another wee mix up in the park, finally we join @traljapa Tracey.
It turns out her and Catherine know how to get out of the twisty park path better than the rest of us, so with some, ermmm, discussion, we finally make it to the meeting point with @Harry_Palmer79, just about an hour later than agreed.
Said @Harry_Palmer79 (Ross) did not wait at the roundabout, but a bit further along: another 10 minutes delay, by now we should have met with @bigjim in Bearsden: I was sure I saved his number, but hadn't! No worries, he had mine, we would hear from him later.
Here the major disaster of the day: the road we had chosen to follow to Aberfoyle, avoiding a very hilly section of the NCR7, was extremely busy with motorized traffic due to another road closure we did not know about.
Things got quite hairy, some of us were riding 2 abreast to shield the more vulnerable, if we were to meet @bigjim as agreed we would have had to carry on on that road.
I can see car forum comments next day: them blinking women cyclists riding two abreast, carrying the kitchen sink couldn't make it uphill, a nonsense the lot of them
Change of plan: fearless @Edwardoka and @Harry_Palmer79 went in pursue of Jim while the rest of us changed route at Drymen. Regrouping at Aberfoyle.
We did not see them again until Callander: they never did find Jim, who rode by himself the first day of the tour.
It is to be noted that after the fearless racing snakes left us, all went plain sailing, Fifi and I having done the route couple of weeks before. Well, @Somebuddy dropped his phone and @flyingfifi rode over it, bit of a minor mishap in the grand scheme of things.
We had a lovely lunch at Drymen, the real start of the hilly hills.
Strange how some hills are definitely more hilly then others in spite of the map profile that shows them less hilly, if you know what I mean.
It's only 10 ondulating miles from Drymen to Aberfoyle on the NCR7, but our nerves were frayed, the afternoon sun was stinging, the Duke's pass was looming in our thoughts.
It was not looming in Catherine's thoughts, because she was blissfully unaware. It was not looming in @traljapa's thoughts because she's an ace cyclist, it was not looming in the boy's thoughts for the same reason, so, well, yeah, it was really only looming in mine and @flyingfifi's thoughts!
Gulp!!!!
Now, there's an important detail I must not forget: remember Catherine, her humongous luggage? Think Terry Pratchett and you're not far off. Remember our group split before Drymen, the fast boys in pursuit of @bigjim? Our cavalier leader @Edwardoka offered to carry a hefty part of this luggage, ended up carrying it up the Duke's pass too. Kudos aplenty to him, if he'd known he could have ditched the whole lot into the first nearby bush without affecting the outcome of Catherine's trip maybe he would be KOM now. What was in this luggage I hear you ask: oh, all will be revealed later!
Up the Duke's pass:
After a wee coffee break at Aberfoyle, Catherine and Fifi decide to walk the steep bit, Tracy takes it in her stride, quickly disappears up the hill, Dave shoots off too, I decide to give it my best try, cycling as much as I can, walking when I can't. Pat 5mph up a mountain pass? Pass me the chocolate, can't we get the bus instead?
I did pass the pass
slowly slowly, half walking half cycling. @mcshroom mega kudos to him spinning all the way, soon caught me up, hurled himself down the descend.
I was all alone on top of the world, immersed in the Queen Elizabeth forest.
On this day I conquered my fear of descending: clicked into my highest gears and went for it, right down to Brig o'Turk, only briefly stopping for a picture, up another minor hill at Loch Venachar, like a real cyclist Pat 5mph was signaling traffic behind that the road was clear for overtaking, never missing a pedal strike.
Up and down, down and up the shores of the Loch that I had ridden from the other side 2 weeks before on the off road section, this was so easy in comparison.
A quick right turn into the path, skipping the busy A84, I'm in Callander, sipping a well earned double espresso, meeting up with the Embra posse, Catherine and Fifi arrive 15 minutes later safe and sound.
The hostel is lovely, Christian the receptionist makes great coffee, is pleasant to all.
We are introduced to Maddie mini- Fubar who is on her very first cycling tour, on a month old bike, on clipless pedals only since last week. She did great! We all did! The Belles on Bikes rock!
Catherine is sitting among her 3 mega panniers.
She brought bedding, a bath towel,swimming costume, two dozen spare batteries for her camera and lights, 3 rolls of toilet paper, a pillow, a large bottle of shower gel, 3 tubs of hand cream, tea lights, many items of clothing. She did not pack a spare pair of shoes, so had to use mine every evening
We make a cull, leave one pannier with the ever helpful Christian. The batteries and the tea lights are kept. @Fubar needs to confirm that at no stage of this trip own bedding and pillows are required.
We finally retire for the night.
Addenda:
In Drymore I took my helmet off for the heat: few ascents later, bombing down a gravel strewn downhill I remembered I'm 52, BigCat depends on me, have no helmet on, go "eeekkkk!!", carry on bombing downhill regardless. This is a pattern that will repeat several times on this tour
After the Brig o'Turk, on a slight uphill, I got passed by the two American tourist on hybrids I was chatting with, she seemed to barely be able to ride her bike, wobbled so much.
The man laughed, said " we have electrical assist, we're on holiday!!" ... I could see @mcshroom in the distance, they were catching him fast
On the Duke's pass, two young riders on heavy mountain bikes effortlessly did the bits I was walking, the girl was laughing with her partner like they were on a canal ride
To be continued, thanks for reading
We rode up and down the Scottish hills and glens, among beautiful scenes of forests and waterfalls; we suffered, we cried and we rejoiced to be safe together at the end of each day.
Day one: Glasgow to Callander, via the Queen's view, Drymen, Gartmore, Aberfoyle, Duke's pass.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/371641503
Pictures here - I can't get them in the right order, but the descriptions should be self explanatory.
The day did not start well for me: I was running late to the meeting point, the cat had been not well, my panniers needed a last minute adjustment on the road.
@flyingfifi had already set out to meet @mcshroom at Glasgow Central. I later heard the meeting went like this:
Hiya, you must be Fifi! I'm Mushroom
... well, not really, I'm Marcus Having adjusted my panniers I was hasting to the SECC, when a mini tornado almost blew me off the road: it was @Edwardoka running late too.
Ten past ten, we are comparing bikes and luggage: Catherine appears to have exceeded her 25kg allowance ... more about that later.
Already 20 minutes late on schedule, we ride to meet @Somebuddy half a mile up the road.
I see a cyclist waiting, tell Catherine, please, run along ask him if he's John Somebuddy from Cycle Chat. She comes back saying, no, he's Dave from Cycle Chat. That will do, tell him to come along
Right into Kelvingrove park, our leader for the day @Edwardoka is not taking the lead ... his Garmin is broken, he's leading from memory! Just as well the rest of us have SatNav and local knowledge.
Another wee mix up in the park, finally we join @traljapa Tracey.
It turns out her and Catherine know how to get out of the twisty park path better than the rest of us, so with some, ermmm, discussion, we finally make it to the meeting point with @Harry_Palmer79, just about an hour later than agreed.
Said @Harry_Palmer79 (Ross) did not wait at the roundabout, but a bit further along: another 10 minutes delay, by now we should have met with @bigjim in Bearsden: I was sure I saved his number, but hadn't! No worries, he had mine, we would hear from him later.
Here the major disaster of the day: the road we had chosen to follow to Aberfoyle, avoiding a very hilly section of the NCR7, was extremely busy with motorized traffic due to another road closure we did not know about.
Things got quite hairy, some of us were riding 2 abreast to shield the more vulnerable, if we were to meet @bigjim as agreed we would have had to carry on on that road.
I can see car forum comments next day: them blinking women cyclists riding two abreast, carrying the kitchen sink couldn't make it uphill, a nonsense the lot of them
Change of plan: fearless @Edwardoka and @Harry_Palmer79 went in pursue of Jim while the rest of us changed route at Drymen. Regrouping at Aberfoyle.
We did not see them again until Callander: they never did find Jim, who rode by himself the first day of the tour.
It is to be noted that after the fearless racing snakes left us, all went plain sailing, Fifi and I having done the route couple of weeks before. Well, @Somebuddy dropped his phone and @flyingfifi rode over it, bit of a minor mishap in the grand scheme of things.
We had a lovely lunch at Drymen, the real start of the hilly hills.
Strange how some hills are definitely more hilly then others in spite of the map profile that shows them less hilly, if you know what I mean.
It's only 10 ondulating miles from Drymen to Aberfoyle on the NCR7, but our nerves were frayed, the afternoon sun was stinging, the Duke's pass was looming in our thoughts.
It was not looming in Catherine's thoughts, because she was blissfully unaware. It was not looming in @traljapa's thoughts because she's an ace cyclist, it was not looming in the boy's thoughts for the same reason, so, well, yeah, it was really only looming in mine and @flyingfifi's thoughts!
Gulp!!!!Now, there's an important detail I must not forget: remember Catherine, her humongous luggage? Think Terry Pratchett and you're not far off. Remember our group split before Drymen, the fast boys in pursuit of @bigjim? Our cavalier leader @Edwardoka offered to carry a hefty part of this luggage, ended up carrying it up the Duke's pass too. Kudos aplenty to him, if he'd known he could have ditched the whole lot into the first nearby bush without affecting the outcome of Catherine's trip maybe he would be KOM now. What was in this luggage I hear you ask: oh, all will be revealed later!
Up the Duke's pass:
After a wee coffee break at Aberfoyle, Catherine and Fifi decide to walk the steep bit, Tracy takes it in her stride, quickly disappears up the hill, Dave shoots off too, I decide to give it my best try, cycling as much as I can, walking when I can't. Pat 5mph up a mountain pass? Pass me the chocolate, can't we get the bus instead?
I did pass the pass
slowly slowly, half walking half cycling. @mcshroom mega kudos to him spinning all the way, soon caught me up, hurled himself down the descend.I was all alone on top of the world, immersed in the Queen Elizabeth forest.
On this day I conquered my fear of descending: clicked into my highest gears and went for it, right down to Brig o'Turk, only briefly stopping for a picture, up another minor hill at Loch Venachar, like a real cyclist Pat 5mph was signaling traffic behind that the road was clear for overtaking, never missing a pedal strike.
Up and down, down and up the shores of the Loch that I had ridden from the other side 2 weeks before on the off road section, this was so easy in comparison.
A quick right turn into the path, skipping the busy A84, I'm in Callander, sipping a well earned double espresso, meeting up with the Embra posse, Catherine and Fifi arrive 15 minutes later safe and sound.
The hostel is lovely, Christian the receptionist makes great coffee, is pleasant to all.
We are introduced to Maddie mini- Fubar who is on her very first cycling tour, on a month old bike, on clipless pedals only since last week. She did great! We all did! The Belles on Bikes rock!
Catherine is sitting among her 3 mega panniers.
She brought bedding, a bath towel,swimming costume, two dozen spare batteries for her camera and lights, 3 rolls of toilet paper, a pillow, a large bottle of shower gel, 3 tubs of hand cream, tea lights, many items of clothing. She did not pack a spare pair of shoes, so had to use mine every evening
We make a cull, leave one pannier with the ever helpful Christian. The batteries and the tea lights are kept. @Fubar needs to confirm that at no stage of this trip own bedding and pillows are required.
We finally retire for the night.
Addenda:
In Drymore I took my helmet off for the heat: few ascents later, bombing down a gravel strewn downhill I remembered I'm 52, BigCat depends on me, have no helmet on, go "eeekkkk!!", carry on bombing downhill regardless. This is a pattern that will repeat several times on this tour
After the Brig o'Turk, on a slight uphill, I got passed by the two American tourist on hybrids I was chatting with, she seemed to barely be able to ride her bike, wobbled so much.
The man laughed, said " we have electrical assist, we're on holiday!!" ... I could see @mcshroom in the distance, they were catching him fast
On the Duke's pass, two young riders on heavy mountain bikes effortlessly did the bits I was walking, the girl was laughing with her partner like they were on a canal ride
To be continued, thanks for reading
the hostel in Newtonmore is reached.
on the map, the village only had one cafe, closed on Sundays.
)
to preoccupied scoffing my lunch ...
