Never ridden gravel? Aberfoyle is where to start
Gravel cycling sounds great until you start asking the awkward questions. What kit do I actually need? What's a "gravel bike", isn't that just a road bike with rough tyres? Where do I go that won't leave me lost in a forest with two punctures and no phone signal?
Fair questions. We hear them most weekends.
Here's the bit nobody mentions: Aberfoyle has the UK's first waymarked gravel trails. The Loch Ard Forest network was signed up specifically so people who don't know the area can ride proper gravel without a GPS, a guidebook, or a pre-ride spreadsheet. You follow the colours. That's it.
Three Aberfoyle gravel routes, walking you up the difficulty:
Faerie Loop, 10km (6 miles), 164m of climbing. Pretty much all fine gravel, gentle, an hour to an hour and a half if you're not pushing. Passes Doon Hill's famous Faerie Tree on the way round.
Aqueduct Loop, 20km (12.5 miles), 294m of climbing. Step up from the Faerie. Mostly fine gravel, a couple of singletrack sections, Loch Ard views. Two hours-ish.
Lomond View, 30km (18.5 miles), 494m. The proper one. Steeper, rougher in places, the Statute Labour Road, and Ben Lomond looking back at you when the cloud lifts.
Most first-timers ride the Faerie Loop, see what the fuss is about, and come back the next month for the Aqueduct.
What you actually need
Less than the internet says. Here's the honest list:
A bike with tyres wider than 28mm. We [hire gravel bikes](/bike-hire) set up for the Loch Ard Forest routes. Wider tyres than a road bike, gearing low enough for the climbs. If you're hiring from us, the bike side of it is sorted. Not sure whether to bring your own? We've written about that.
Helmet. Obvious.
Water and something to eat halfway round. The Faerie Loop is short enough that a bottle and a flapjack will do.
Shorts you can pedal in. Padded ones are nice on the Lomond View, optional on the Faerie.
Phone and a puncture plan. We can sort you out with a spare tube and pump from the shop; bring your phone.
Things people often think they need and don't:
Cleats and clipless shoes. Trainers are fine. Plenty of regulars on the Aqueduct still ride flat pedals.
A drop-bar gravel bike. A flat-bar hybrid handles the Faerie Loop. The Aqueduct, mostly.
A weather forecast that promises sunshine. Forest gravel drains quickly; the routes are rideable in light rain and only really get sticky after days of it.
What gravel actually feels like, if you've never done it
A bit slower than tarmac, a lot more interesting. The bike moves around under you on loose corners, which is the bit people are nervous about and end up loving. You're not racing anyone. You stop more often because there are more things worth stopping for: the view down Loch Ard, a deer in the trees, the bit where the old aqueduct crosses the path.
The Faerie Loop gives you about an hour of that for very little risk. If you don't enjoy it, you've not lost a day. If you do, you've found a sport.
How to actually do it
Turn up in Aberfoyle. Bike hire is what we do here; book ahead in summer, you don't always need to in shoulder season. Grab a coffee and something to eat at the café first, take the route map, follow the Faerie Loop signs, ride it, return the bike. You'll know within the first 3km whether a gravel ride in Aberfoyle is your thing. Most people's faces give it away by then.
If you're sceptical, fine. Bring a friend who's already into it and let them carry the conversation. If you're nervous about hills, the Faerie Loop is the gentlest route in the network and you can walk anything you don't fancy. Nobody's watching.
Aberfoyle is a 50-minute drive from Glasgow and 90 from Edinburgh. Monday to Saturday the X10A bus runs direct from Glasgow's Buchanan Bus Station, and from Stirling in the other direction. There's no Sunday bus, so Sunday's a car day.
Come and try it.
