Hello there, I’m looking at the cycle route from Glasgow to Balloch, Drymen, Callander, Killin, Aberfeldy and Perth – is that a satisfying enough route on its own or are there any tweaks I could make to take in some more scenery? Is the path generally good enough to travel at 15-18mph most of the time, or are the surfaces too variable? I’m guessing that outside of the towns there won’t be much in the way of dog walkers etc.
Apologies for the length of this post, this route has unofficially become my specialist subject.
It's overall an excellent route, but it is pretty variable in parts - particularly the first 10 miles or so.
Before Kilpatrick you'll find it mostly paved, some canal towpath, lots of barriers and rubbish signing - council putting in the barest minimum effort in places.
After Kilpatrick it's better but will have dog walkers.
Lots of fishers and dog walkers on the River Leven path between Dumbarton and Balloch but generally not too bad, once you're out of Balloch it's on quiet backroads all the way to Drymen (ignore the signed off-road section at Croftamie), and from Drymen you follow a very quiet road to Aberfoyle (with the option to jump onto a parallel cycle path further up)
From Aberfoyle to Callander you have two options: the Duke's Pass on road or the rough forestry trail past Loch Drunkie. I would take the road 99 times out of 100.
After Callander you'll be riding an unpaved - but manageable on a road bike - surface no matter what you do past Lochearnhead and up onto the Glenogle viaduct (unless you want to mix it up with traffic on the A84 (strongly not recommended)).
You can either descend from the top of Glenogle to Killin via the main road to Lix Toll or take the offroad forestry route instead, and while this is less suitable for road bikes it is doable. From Killin onwards NCN7 is bliss, fantastic scenery, great rolling roads.
To get from the east end of Loch Tay to Perth you have two options:
- via Amulree and Crieff
- via Dunkeld
Two ways to get to Amulree: I've never ridden it personally but the road from Kenmore to Amulree is extremely steep, narrow and twisty.
The other way involves a steep but safer climb up onto the moor road from Aberfeldy.
The moor road splits, with one way leading to Crieff via Amulree and the other to Dunkeld.
I don't know enough about the area around Crieff to say what the best route to Perth would be (having only ridden there once or twice)
I've never found a remotely direct route from Dunkeld to Perth I like. If I had to, I'd cross the bridge at Dunkeld and take the back roads through Murthly, cross the Tay at Kinclaven/Meikleour and then work my way down to Perth from the direction of Scone.
If you're merely aiming for a train station, Dunkeld and Birnam station is on the same line as Perth, or if you fancy a bit more adventure you could continue north to Pitlochry.
I don't know you or your fitness level but for me at my peak of fitness where I could do 135 miles in a day it'd be a big ask to do the whole ride in a day due to the off-road bits lowering the average speed.
