WORDS PETE SCULLION
the Trossachs… A sleepy corner of Scotland where the wide open spaces of the lowlands meet the first ripples of the Highlands made famous by Sir Walter Scott and William Wordsworth following their writings on one of the area’s most famous men, Rob Roy. their work drew in Victorian visitors on a train line long since closed. Nowadays visitors come from Glasgow and Stirling, much the same as they did a century and a half ago, to wander about the woods before eating ice cream on the main street.
Recently, thanks to some industrious locals, the riding scene has exploded, and way more than just in the microcosm of fat tyres. the omnipresent road fraternity who come to cycle the thats of the Forth Valley before taking on the Duke of Montrose’s legacy, the Duke’s Pass, have been augmented by an ever-growing gang of gravel enthusiasts, while the mountain bikers choose to either hammer out the miles, or opt for a ‘winch and plummet’ on the hand-cut delights in the plantation forests that overlook the village of Aberfoyle.