Done my first century!

[jackthelad]

007 the route from erskine to arrochar is all path

erskine,dumbarton,balloch,luss,tarbet,arrochar the last 2 miles to arrochar from tarbet is road or walking path

to aberfoyle from balloch is country roads pass drymen etc upto aberfoyle about 20 miles

you could do cyclepath to balloch or luss or tarbet then take the ferry bus to inversnaid and come back the country road to aberfoyle about 15 miles

or go to the top of loch katrine 4 miles from inversnaid and 13 miles to loch katrine pier cycle path then country road into callander.

if you are not sure to how far you can go there is train station at dumbarton, also train station at balloch, train station at arrochar but check the times of trains first online.If you go the helensburgh route ferry at helensburgh pier and kilcreggan, kilcreggan 15 miles from helenburgh, times of ferries found on line easy.

basically a case of planning your route with a get home quick route incase of mishaps like the weather etc or damage to the bike



ps distance measures

erskine to balloch 10 miles
balloch to luss 7 miles
luss to tarbet 8 miles
tarbet to arrochar 2 miles
add the distances from beith to johnstone then 7 miles johnstone to erskine

additional route beith to bishopton or langbank or port glasgow.train to gourock ferry to dunoon turn right as you come off then head for routes like ardentinney etc ,cracking breakfast at sheilla cafe about 5 miles out after the ferry. Another option cycle to colintrave then ferry to rothesay then cycle the island to get the ferry at the other end to wemyss bay
then cycle about 4 miles to gourock for train up the road to bishopton etc
hope this has given you some ideas

jackthelad
ps there is routes the other direction as well towards ayr
troon to prestwick coastline cycle path route

 

[sayek1]

Jackthelad, sayek1, ammwhite - thanks guys. Lots of food for thought there.

I will definitely give the Haylie Brae a miss, the risk/reward factor is all wrong with that one. The climb at the Moor Road @ Fairlie sounds ideal, ideal - perhaps not quite the right word as it will involve some pain - but it seems a safer option.

The routes mentioned to Aberfoyle, Arrochar, Gourock, Loch Lomond, Bute etc etc certainly seem something to consider for this Saturday. I will pick one and give it a go.

Is Erskine to Aberfoyle cycle track all the way?

My head is spinning with the long distance routes on offer here.

Hi 007

From Erskine bridge its cycle track to Dumbarton - you then do a couple of hundred yards through some backstreets in Dumbarrton and then join the River Leven towpath - all fine for a road bike except about 50yds under the A82 which is muddy, but only 50yds. Once you get into Balloch you then go through Balloch Castle grounds, out onto a back road and down to the main road (Balloch to Drymen) You cross straight over this and onto very quiet backroads that take you all the way to Drymen - if you see more than two cars over the 10 odd miles I would be surprised - there are a couple of gravelly bits on old railways (footpaths) which is where I got my punctures.

Once you get to Drymen you leave on a very steep and absolutely deserted backroad that takes you over the top of the hills and drops you down to Aberfoyle - the last part is again a disused railway. It is a great route which I only found a few weeks back.

Once in Aberfoyle there are plenty of options for more touring/exploring.

Have fun - hope the weather improves.

Regards
K

 

[jackthelad]

sajek glad you replied I thought the only route was on the gatorcharn road to drymen then on the main road to aberfoyle,
jackthelad

 

[philhul]

I'm off work next Monday, Tuesday and Friday and am hoping to do a 100 if any of those days are nice, assuming they'll be pretty much my last chance. Furtherest I've done previously is 60 so will be interesting to see if I manage it but I'll have all day and just take my time. Going to go to North Yorkshire to do it I think, nice change of scenery should hopefully help.

 

[007]

jackthelad & sajek. Truly, thanks again for the advice. What a tremendous forum. Sunday will be the day that I am gonna go for a long run - seemingly the best weather for the bike, and Saturday I will have stuff to do - inconvenient real life stuff grrrrr.

i will flip a coin to see what direction I go in.

I will report back on where I go.

 

[Banjo]

Congratulations,

I did my first one last year on a very flat route I plotted for the occasion and a couple of hilly ones this year. Something very satisfying in seeing the magic 100 on the distance computer. The magic isnt quite as strong the next time you do it unfortunately.