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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 over rough grass and bogs to
get around. Even crossing was a challenge with bikes and Spd's on
especially 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. |
Summer Only
Time taken: 07:26:23
Distance: 50.4km |
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