Creag Gharbh bike n hike
Fionas: Creag Gharbh
Date walked: 07/11/2023
Time taken: 3 hours
Distance: 16.5km
Ascent: 626m
Earlier this year I was planning an exciting multi-day camping, hiking and bagging adventure in the Loch Lednock area, but my thyroid had other ideas. It seems to be back in balance now and I’ve got lots more energy - just in time for shorter days and cold nights. So I’ve been devising alternative ways to attack these hills.
I seem to enjoy the route planning as much as the actual event, and I had a great bike n hike route planned to link the Grahams Creag Gharbh and Meall Buidhe near Killin. I’m getting fed up with long drives, so much of my planning has revolved around public transport, but living in North Ayrshire it would not have been feasible at this time of year. So I set off very early in the morning… only to sit on the M8 for almost an hour, due, it turned out, to a car fire on the Erskine Bridge. The knock-on effects of then hitting rush hour meant that I didn’t get to Killin until 11.30 and it was almost midday by the time I was on my bike.
I hadn’t used my bike for about eight months, and it felt odd… the gears seemed to be in the wrong place on the handlebars. It was only after I’d cycled 100m that I realised the front wheel was the wrong way round.
Things did improve after that shaky start. It was a glorious autumn day and the views were spectacular as I puffed and panted my way up.
The path is well surfaced and perfect for cycling.
But the gradient was a killer! I was soon pushing my bike, and continued to do so for about two-thirds of the way from 150 to 400m elevation. After that the gradient eased out a bit and I enjoyed the smooth undulating terrain, despite saddle sore starting to set in!
From the dam the road turns into a rough dirt track, though nothing that Betsy, my Carrera Vengeance mountain bike, couldn’t handle.
I stepped off the track to start the hiking section of the walk at NN632321. It took me about 25 mins to get to the summit - a round trip of 1.37km with 131m ascent, over tussocky ground.
It was already clear that with the late start, I would not have enough time to do the 3.5km bike ride followed by about 5.5km with 350m ascent to climb Meall Buidhe before sunset at 4.20pm. Still, it was a good bike-and-hike test outing. I’m hoping to do more of this in the future.
The bike ride back to Killin was fun, and mostly freewheeling. Just as I approached the forest, where the steepest part of the descent was to begin, I whizzed through a group of farmers gathered on the road, who seemed to be holding a small livestock market. They didn’t look particularly pleased to see me.
The whole descent took me about half an hour, and I used the brakes a lot on the steep bit - even so, Strava put my top speed at 36mph, not bad for a nervous nellie!
Despite the steepness I would say this is an ideal route for a bike-hike.
I seem to enjoy the route planning as much as the actual event, and I had a great bike n hike route planned to link the Grahams Creag Gharbh and Meall Buidhe near Killin. I’m getting fed up with long drives, so much of my planning has revolved around public transport, but living in North Ayrshire it would not have been feasible at this time of year. So I set off very early in the morning… only to sit on the M8 for almost an hour, due, it turned out, to a car fire on the Erskine Bridge. The knock-on effects of then hitting rush hour meant that I didn’t get to Killin until 11.30 and it was almost midday by the time I was on my bike.
I hadn’t used my bike for about eight months, and it felt odd… the gears seemed to be in the wrong place on the handlebars. It was only after I’d cycled 100m that I realised the front wheel was the wrong way round.
Things did improve after that shaky start. It was a glorious autumn day and the views were spectacular as I puffed and panted my way up.
The path is well surfaced and perfect for cycling.
But the gradient was a killer! I was soon pushing my bike, and continued to do so for about two-thirds of the way from 150 to 400m elevation. After that the gradient eased out a bit and I enjoyed the smooth undulating terrain, despite saddle sore starting to set in!
From the dam the road turns into a rough dirt track, though nothing that Betsy, my Carrera Vengeance mountain bike, couldn’t handle.
I stepped off the track to start the hiking section of the walk at NN632321. It took me about 25 mins to get to the summit - a round trip of 1.37km with 131m ascent, over tussocky ground.
It was already clear that with the late start, I would not have enough time to do the 3.5km bike ride followed by about 5.5km with 350m ascent to climb Meall Buidhe before sunset at 4.20pm. Still, it was a good bike-and-hike test outing. I’m hoping to do more of this in the future.
The bike ride back to Killin was fun, and mostly freewheeling. Just as I approached the forest, where the steepest part of the descent was to begin, I whizzed through a group of farmers gathered on the road, who seemed to be holding a small livestock market. They didn’t look particularly pleased to see me.
The whole descent took me about half an hour, and I used the brakes a lot on the steep bit - even so, Strava put my top speed at 36mph, not bad for a nervous nellie!
Despite the steepness I would say this is an ideal route for a bike-hike.
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Comments: 5
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natubat
- Activity: Hill Bagger
- Pub: Crask Inn
- Mountain: Beinn Alligin
- Gear: Map
- Member: Scottish Hillwalkers, Mountaineering Scotland, MTA
- Ideal day out: A great scramble with clear views
- Munros: 207
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- Corbetts: 83
- Fionas: 84
- Donalds: 89+52
- Wainwrights: 4
- Hewitts: 8
- Sub 2000: 14
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- Trips: 1
- Distance: 16.5 km
- Ascent: 626m
- Fionas: 1
- Trips: 1
- Distance: 13.3 km
- Ascent: 1600m
- Fionas: 1
- Sub2000s: 1
- Trips: 1
- Distance: 24.4 km
- Ascent: 1217m
- Fionas: 2
- Donalds: 2
- Trips: 2
- Distance: 41 km
- Ascent: 600m
- Joined: Aug 21, 2015
- Last visited: Apr 13, 2024
- Total posts: 23 | Search posts