Part of a series covering cycling in the Highlands of Scotland - Sustrans National Cycle Network Route 7 Lochs and Glens North (Glasgow - Inverness). Watch for new sections as they get added. The routes are all done as return trips so you can see the conditions and scenery in both directions and are intended to give you a feel for the route, gradient and surface - as well as showcasing the beautiful scenery.
A beautiful evening run, Balloch to Drymen – the shortest stage on this Route 7 series , approx 10 miles from the Leven Bridge – and chasing the sunset back to Balloch and Loch Lomond on the return leg.
It’s a short ride a couple of hours of cycling time, ideal for an evening. The stage overlaps the John Muir way for a lot of its length.
Loch Lomond and Balloch are only 10m above sea level so we are starting low, and almost immediately have a 50m climb up through the Balloch Castle Country park – that’s the biggest and longest climb. We then drop a few metres down to the main Stirling road before another short climb to about 80m and a very gradual downhill for a few miles to the bridge over the Endrick Water at about 15m and then finish with a short sharp climb back up towards Drymen and a final gentle downhill and flat section ending at about 55m.
It’s minor road and footway/cycle track, roughly 70/30 proportions. No rough stuff at all and some of the road sections were getting resurfaced. The roads have little traffic and have generally good visibility. There are 3 main road crossings with fast traffic.
The pipe bridge/walkway over the Endrick Water near Croftamie is a highlight of the route - once a railway bridge its just a pipeline now with a narrow and high metal walkway on top. It’s approx. 50m long, just 1m wide (98cm inside clearance). I’m not good with heights, but for me it was fine – not being able to see the ground (it sits on top of a pipe) through the grating helps, so no problem crossing. You might prefer to walk across – especially if on a road bike and you are worried about your tyres. The sides are high enough, but when sitting on a saddle you might feel a bit exposed, especially if windy. It’s a nice spot.
Cycled with a Specialized Tricross with 32c Marathon Plus tyres.
GoPro Hero 4 Silver, 1080 wide, protune, gopro colour -0.5 ev to retain the skies using the Grad Filter effect in https://youtu.be/5W3QNmbGs98
Additional material Lumix TZ30 set at -2/3 ev
Edited with Sony Movie Studio Platinum 13. No stabilisation (it cuts the field of view). Some Youtube compression artifacts after upload owing to the lack of stabilisation lots of detail and not enough bits to go round.
Royalty-free music by Underwaterbeats and Riot (courtesy of You Tube Music Library)