The West Highland Way on one brake

Rosee Woodland | Blog, Mountain Biking Uk | 22/10/2010 11:41am

Reader Dene Happell and his mate Kevan recently tackled the West Highland Way and sent us their story of the three day epic. Here’s what happened on Day One…

Day One – Milngavie to Inverarnan 40 miles 11 hours with stops

Left Milngavie at 10am and set off full of energy and enthusiasm about the trip ahead. We soon left the familiarity of Mugdock and descended quickly into Dumgoyne along some lovely tight singletrack, passing the many walkers. The sun beat down on us and the blue skies opened up, the hills increased in size, was this a taste of things to come?

After a quick refuel in Drymen we set off towards Balmaha, I had a feeling my back brake was a bit dodgy. Leaving the Garadhban Forrest we were soon out in the open heading towards Conic Hill and the heavens opened, wet and grinning, we pushed to the top. After a quick check of my bike I realised my back brake was knackered – the piston had snapped off – just what I needed. This made the descent of Conic Hill a bit interesting as I slid down on my front wheel most of the way.

After lunch in The Oak Tree I called the various bike shops to see if they could arrange for a brake to be sent on ahead. No joy. That was it then, I had no alternative, I decided to cycle the rest of the way with one brake, I’d swap the front one to the back at the next stop.

We cycled and carried our bikes the seven miles along the loch side road and path to Rowardennan, passing and smelling wild mountain goats as they meandered along the road. We reached Inversnaid around 5.30pm and the rain had just started again. Initially the path looked OK and rideable and we had fun trying to work out where Rob Roy’s cave actually was.

I’d researched the stage between Inversnaid and Inverarnan and been told it was a little tricky but rideable. Nothing prepared us for the nightmare ahead. It took us four hours to do this seven mile section carrying our bikes up, over and down steep rocks and thorough tight crevasses. The ground was muddy and slippy, the rain was heavy and we were losing light fast. We passed the bothy on route, its welcoming candle in the window acting like a siren to our needs.

If you enjoy lugging 30lbs bike over piles of rocks then this is for you, if not hop on the ferry across the loch and rejoin the WHW at Rowardennan. This section is rubbish with a bike, don’t bother attempting it.

We were exhausted, had one small head torch between us and beginning to wonder what we were doing out here alone in the dark. After a gruelling four hours, we eventually saw the welcoming lights of The Drovers Inn and spirits lifted, made our way there. The bar has a certain charm about it although the rooms are a fair bit more shabby than chic. After a quick bath we devoured haggis and whisky – the best way to refuel after a day like we had. Sleep quickly set in and we hit our beds by 11.

Check our blog next week for the second stage of Dene and Kevan’s adventures…

This entry was posted on Friday, October 22nd, 2010 at 11:41 am and is filed under Blog, Mountain Biking Uk. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.