Scotland - Beta on Etive and Rannock

[journeyman]

Hello! Im planning on an Oban to Montrose crossing in May. Has anyone biked up the East side of Loch Etive past the entry to Glen Kinglass (Ive been that way before to Bridge of Orchy) to get to the Kings House? Im hoping its then possible to take the Rannoch Moor Crossing via the Black corries lodge to end up at Rannoch station, I know the central section of this has a reputation of boggyness; is it good or should i look for a better alternative to get to the Rannoch area? Afterwards the plan is to go to the cairngorms via Glen Garry. Ta!

[jam bo]

no, but I've ridden the west shore. 90% rideable with a km or two of bog hopping at the end before reaching the road.

[jam bo]

http://bearbonesbikepacking.co.uk/phpBB ... 10&t=10757

[journeyman]

I read that thread - very useful thanks. The west coast of Etive is definitely plan-b but I'm hoping there is not too much more HAB on the east side. The first part to Kinglass is a bit of a trip down (Up?!) memory lane which I'm keen to repeat

[ScotRoutes]

Strava Heatmap will give you an idea of how many folk have ridden/attempted it.

Geograph might come up with some photos.

I've certainly heard of it being done but can't recall details.

[whitestone]

If you search for "etive" via the search box there's a few threads on this. It seems like it can be somewhat variable depending on whether it's been a hard winter or there's been lots of rain. Some have said "never again" and some reckon it's OK. I've a vague memory of talking to htrider from on here about it and he reckoned it was mostly rideable but quite techy in places - might have got this completely wrong!

[journeyman]

Heatmap looks useful, thanks. Ive been checking Heritage Paths website too.

[AlasdairMc]

I’ve done it, but downstream from the Kingshouse and then back to Kingshouse via Glen Kinglass.

We had a great day for it, minimal annoyances, and this was back in the days when I had less of a tolerance for hike a bike.

[fatbikephil]

Did the east shore of loch etive a few times in the '90s. A lot of it was nice and nadgery but the southern bit did disappear into the bracken I seem to recall. Alan G nearly put it in the Highland trail route for 2016 but thankfully took a different route instead! Dunno anyone whose done it recently but no reason why not to give it a go.

Kingshouse to Ranoch has been on my list for years but I missed the golden opportunity to do it last spring when it would have been bone dry. It is pretty boggy according to a hill walker mate but doable if you don't mind a bit of walking. Worth having a good look at bing maps and aerial photos as there is an argo cat track which deviates off the line in a few places but could be a better bet.

As an alternative - up east side of loch etive to glen kinglass - up this to Forest lodge, back south east to Bridge of Orchy then further down the WHW to Auch farm, follow the Highland trail route over to Glen Lyon, bridge of balgie over the bump to Rannoch then the old road to the isles from near Ranoch station to Loch Ossian.

[ripio]

Rannock?!

[journeyman]

oops. ill be putting an e in whisky next

[Ray Young]

oops. ill be putting an e in whisky next

Yup shuodlnt go mnixngi dirnk and drgus,

[Alpinum]

I know the central section of this has a reputation of boggyness; is it good or should i look for a better alternative to get to the Rannoch area?

Nothing too bad. At least if you don't expect to be able to ride all of it.

Here's some info to be found too:
http://bearbonesbikepacking.co.uk/phpBB ... och#p80566

[journeyman]

I missed that thread in my search - probably due to my spilling. Has the bog porn been deleted to protect the innocent? They aren't showing on my pc. Anyway I'm going to plan to stick with plan-a and go the east side of Etive and across Rannoch from the Kings House. For anyone interested I'm going to finish getting to Brechin and Montrose via the Whisky way and the Clash of Wirren. Anyway, thanks for the advice everyone

[Alpinum]

Has the bog porn been deleted to protect the innocent?

Censored by BB admins.
I'll bribe them.

[Alpinum]

Here's some bog porn.

I rode from Pitlochy past Rannoch Station to Kings House, so the other direction.

Some of the landmarks can be well spotted with aerial imagery. Navigation in bad visibility will be dead slow without a rough guiding route to follow. I plotted the route using 50 or 25 k OS maps and found mapped tracks to be quite close to the actual tracks I saw on the ground, but they didn't always cover.

Enough said. I'll let the photos speak.

[fatbikephil]

Nice one Alpinum
That looks like a job for the fat bike this summer

[journeyman]

Boggynessabounds . Nice one

[journeyman]

The Heatmap mentioned by Scotroutes is also really good for planning too - quite a bit of cycle traffic that way

[JoseMcTavish]

A few less stylish pictures here:

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=11904&p=147209#p147209

We mainly just followed the telegraph poles to keep us right.

You could always mix it up a bit and cross the Moor by passing Gorton Bothy and continuing East to cross the bogs of doom into the far end of Rannoch Forest:

[whitestone]

On BBC2 tonight at 8:30 is one of Paul Murton's Grand Tours, this one is of Loch Etive so might be worth a watch.