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TRAIL
IN THE SKYE, CHIEFY'S ACCOUNT:
Isle Of Skye Trail 1
'This trail will test your mind and
body, not to mention the bike to a new
limit' |
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 From the
'Dunvegan hotel' car park we turn right onto
the A-863 and headed to the campsite at the
end of Loch Dunvegan. We then turned right
onto the coastal tarmac road which headed
off twisting and turning as it followed the
shore line. This was an easy pedal turning
ride to the first of the trails climbs, just
after the gift shop in Colbost. The road
climbed over a short steep hill & then
dropped down into Glendale on a fast
swooping downhill run, which was made more
exciting by dodging sheep stood in the way.
Glendale has the only snack shop on the
route, anyway we turned into the strong head
wind and started the long, long climb up to
the summit below Beinn nan Corrafidheag
(260m)
Now came the downhill to Ramasaig, here on
the ridge you could get fantastic views of
the lighthouse & Moonen Bay way down to the
right. At the bottom of the downhill run we
pick-up the red dirt track heading up the
valley to Lorgill, the track cuts its way
over rocky out crops and then drops downhill
over grass land to some old sheep pens by
the river. Naturally there is no bridge to
cross over the river, so its walk it or as
we attempted to ride it. From there on we
attempted to follow vague sheep tracks to
the beach and cliffs off to the right and
aimed for the left side of the beach. Here
we had to shoulder the bikes and haul it up
the Cliffside to the top on no proper track,
once on top we could ride a bit but most of
it was either bogs or pushing through thick
grassy mounds or cliff edge sheep tracks.
So often we
would come to a deep gorge with fast flowing
water and have to turn and head inland a bit
to over rough grass and bogs to get around.
Even crossing was a challenge with bikes and
Spd's on especially on smooth slippery
rocks. The trail/tracks became 'so no trail'
we just rode around trying to pick up some
sort of dry gap in the grass. The views from
the tops of the cliffs were simple stunning,
but all we could see were row upon row of
ridges we still had to tackle. 'This trail
will test your mind and body, not to mention
the bike to a new limit' On reaching the
headland point and the turn for home our
spirits lifted, but even then we could not
find a clear trail track to follow. So it
was ride the best looking bit of rock, bog,
grassy mound you could see.
Then we came
across the best bit of single-track we have
seen all day, heading along the valley to
the woods. But it stopped dead at some big
wooden 'bloody stupid' gates, which pissed
us off after all the shit we had covered. We
encountered 3 or 4 of this gates which you
have to get through. After a short climb
came a beautiful downhill single-track to
the chopped down wood below. 'Shit happens,
tubes relieve themselves of air'. Once fixed
it was back off downhill but skidding to a
slow skip over the sharp edged drainage
channels on tenterhooks the tyres would not
blow.
At the woods
we picked up the first signs of a proper
trail track in ages, from here on it was
just a case of following the trail and road
back to the start. We were glad to be riding
on flat ground with out are bikes sinking
into bogs or bouncing of grass tuffs.
'This trail route is very hard, you will
need:
A good map, Proper kit, Time, Experience,
Good weather, Whistle, (Phone no good here!) |
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YOU WILL
BE: RIDING, PUSHING, CARRYING, LAUGHING,
ALONG CLIFF EDGE TRACKS, WADING, COMING OFF,
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Summer Only
Time taken: 07:26:23
Distance: 50.4km |
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