Wild About Argyll

Each day you’ll ride along picturesque lochs, cross rugged peninsulas, pedal through serene spruce forests and past ancient castles with each viewpoint beating the last.

The joy of gravel riding in Argyll lies in being able to get into nature and experience the natural wonders with few visitors around, and with a steady variety of fun riding surfaces to keep things interesting on the bike.

Your riding starts in Helensburgh, a handsome Victorian coastal town on the Firth of Clyde and the starting point of this route as well as another famous one, the John Muir Way. It’s not long after climbing out of Helensburgh that we enter Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park, and we follow Glen Fruin, Gleann Culanach and Glen Douglas before reaching the top of Loch Long and continue around the Ardgarten Peninsula to Lochgoilhead.

We continue down the shores of Loch Goil and wind past Holy Loch to the main coastal town of the Cowal peninsula, Dunoon. From here we ride north along Loch Eck, via Glenbranter Forest and a final climb through Glendaruel to stop at Portavadie. A morning ferry crosses Loch Fyne before we leave the stunning shoreline and climb to the highest point of the route for some tremendous views. Before long we pass Castle Sween the oldest stone castle in Scotland and follow Loch Sween toward Lochgilphead. Our finish winds back to Helensburgh via Hell’s Glen, Glen Croe and Loch Lomond in the shadows of some towering Scottish peaks.

This holiday is aimed at those who have enjoyed Skedaddle road cycling or mountain bike trips and want to have a taste of gravel riding in a remote area, as well as gravel riders wanting to see what this fabulous location has to offer.

Highlights

• Rugged landscapes and spruce forests on the Ardgartan Peninsula
• Scenic shoreline riding on Loch Goil, Loch Long and Loch Eck
• Pairing Scotland’s finest seafood with local whisky and craft beer
• Deep glens beneath towering mountains in Loch Lomond & the Trossachs National Park
• Sunsets across Loch Fyne at Portavadie
• Chance to spot otters, red squirrels and white-tailed eagles

The Wild About Argyll Trail features a good mix of off-road riding as well as some minor, quiet roads, with the occasional busier section of road where unavoidable.

The route takes advantage of some terrific forest roads and tracks, composed of gravel and hard-packed surfaces, some rougher paved sections, grassy and occasionally muddy single track, and some looser surfaces on select single track sections which are a bit more technical.