Bob Wightman

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Glen Kinglass and Loch Etive

Desperate to get away from the mawkishness of the jubilee weekend we headed up to Scotland for a week or so’s bike riding and generally messing about. I’d a few trails in mind that I’ve wanted to do for a while so created some GPX files incorporating them.

One of these was Glen Kinglass which I’ve noticed whenever driving along the A82 past Loch Tulla and also when riding along the WHW. It’s in the Vertebrate MTB guide and graded black in there but that route is linear, starting at Tyndrum, heading out along the WHW, through Glen Kinglass to Loch Etive before following estate tracks to Taynuilt and getting the train back to Tyndrum. The other “trail” I was interested in was the one heading inland along the east shore of Loch Etive. One or two have done it and let’s say the tales were interesting!

We pulled into the Real Food Café in Tyndrum for a bite to eat to find a dispirited Rich Rothwell - he should have been riding the HT550 but heading down Glen Lyon he was accidentally taken out by another rider and injured his thumb and ankle and had limped back. Suitably refreshed we headed to Victoria Bridge to start the ride.

Easy estate tracks led to a ford.

Rideable in low water but might be a problem if things were wetter.

Then one that wasn’t really rideable.

Then we came across a group of young stags. They really weren’t bothered by us, Cath halved the distance to the one ahead of her in the shot below before it trotted away a few metres. They had probably been fed by the estate overwinter.

The track deteriorated a bit but it was all ridable.

After a while things got a little more rural.

That led to the “Moab like” slabs. Yeah, right.

So if anyone mentions the Moab Slabs in Glen Kinglass, this is what they are like - all of them.

Down into Glen Kinglass

There’s one more ford just after the slabs before the long descent in to Glen Kinglass itself.

Then turn right at the bottom and head up towards the head of the loch. Since the Vertebrate route took good tracks from this point to Taynuilt I’ve no idea why they graded it black, apart from the fords of various burns it was all ridable and if things had been wet beforehand you wouldn’t have got past the first big ford so there’s no commitment as such.

That patch of rock on the far hillside are the Etive Slabs a well known climbing destination. Unusual to see them from this angle.

As the track ended the views began to open out. The Etive Slabs are visible on the hillside ahead.

Then things got a bit rough. Not sure what the brush was, I thought maybe Alder, Cath thought Bush Sage. Whatever, it made a mess of our legs and there was a lot of it.

Our camp spot/bivy for the night. We took the tent as Glen Etive is midge central. As it happened there was a strong wind so we pitched the tent behind a gorse bush!

Not a bad spot for a camp. A couple of beers cooling in the water, no midges, sunshine.

The following day there was more Alder/Sage/whatever but also some riding:

Last night’s camp was on the shore to the right of the trees.

And boulder hopping

There are several large burns that drain the hillside above. They can be tricky to cross.

At one point I thought I saw a Scottish wild cat - I came round a corner and something shot off before I could get a proper look. Fortunately we were on the beach at this point and found these tracks.

Pretty sure these are wild cat paw prints.

Could have been a wild cat.

Further up the loch things definitely got more rideable

Some quite nice riding with the occasional dismount for river crossings.

Sometimes you can feel very small in Scotland. The Etive slabs at top right of shot.

Nearing the head of Loch Etive but there’s still a way to go before things got easier.

So far we’d done just 8km in 4 hours

Up the Etive road avoiding the tourists who don’t know how to drive on singletrack roads. We pulled into the Kingshouse for something to eat and the first person we saw was Lars Henning who was covering the HT550 for Dotwatchers!

At the Kingshouse with the Buachaille beyond.

Then it was just back along the WHW to Victoria Bridge.

Trying to dodge showers on the old military road.

So what of the route? Well, it’s a ride of four quarters:

Glen Kinglass itself is classic open country riding.
Loch Etive is very much adventure riding/walking/bush whacking.
The road up Glen Etive can be touristy.
The West Highland Way is well graded old road.

The track alongside Loch Etive is “almost” rideable, it’s one of those tracks that needs more people riding it but its current state is likely to put people off, especially those who want things a bit tamer. Sort of Catch-22 really.

We took things very steady, without camping gear and with no messing around it’s easily doable in a day (we were sub 24hrs, it was just spread over two days). If you are into packrafting then the very boggy section from the end of the loch to the road could be avoided by paddling across to the road head. You could also then extend the route by paddling across Loch Bá and down to Rannoch then train back to Bridge of Orchy or down to Bridge of Gaur (not on the river!) and reverse the first section of the Highland Trail route back through Glen Lyon.