Alva Glen
Just to prove that I do actually ride a bike, I have created this wee write-up about alva Glen. Alva Glen is a small tourist attraction based at the foot of the Ochils. It is about 8 miles outside Stirling and there are a couple of ways to get to it - the easiest way is to ride out on the road, the harder way (which we did) involves following the road but about 500 yards closer to the hills! The route we took isn't exactly waymarked however it is marked on the map so paths are reasonably easy to find and follow. Starting at Logie Kirk, we rode past the cemetry and joined the track that would take you up the Witche's Craig. We then took an abrupt right turn and rode almost in a straight line to Alva - through the back of Blairlogie, over the back of Menstrie (watch out for the mad dogs - they stink and make a lot of noise!), and then into the back of Alva. From the tourist car park, we rode round the nature trail and followed the stairs all the way up. We then crossed under a big pipe and followed the road to the left (it climbed up to a gate and then became a path). The track to the right joins the road to Farriers and on to Ben Cleuch. Our original plan was to ride up Ben Cleuch but Brennan thought otherwise - he stormed off up the track on the left leaving me little time to think of any sort of argument... This track then winds its way alongside the river, take care though as the drop is severe and the path is interlaced with the big pipe (very slippery in the wet) and a large selection of rocks. This path doesn't really go anywhere but is great for the scenery. Once at the top of this path, when you turn round you see a track up to the right. This track snakes it's way up the hillside (loads of switchbacks, big steps and rocks!), until it comes to a fenceline. David Brennan was in his element up this, the only things that were defeating him were the bigger steps at the corners of the switchbacks. I was a bit worried as my glasses kept steaming up and I kept missing the edge of the track! Once at the 'top', we had to cross a fenceline and choose where we were going to go. The weather looked far more inviting to the left (effectively heading back towards civilisation) as to the North the mist was rolling in and we were already soaked to the bone. Again Brennan shot off down the trail, this was a completely different trail to the one we had climbed as it was very grassy and had very few rock outcrops to ride (which were incredibly slippery!). We barrelled down the track at ever increasing speeds as it changed from slightly steep to steeper and back again...like an early roller coaster ride. The grass was getting ever more slippery but thanks to the brakes (or luck!), we managed to stop just in time before we ended up off the drop and onto the Alva Golf Course. After picking our way down the last rocky track and stopping in the car park at the very bottom, both Brennan and I reckoned that would be an excellent ride in the dry...perhaps a future Wednesday night ride? After the climb and descent I managed to find a shop that sold some amazing home-made soup - can't remember the name, but it was well worth the visit to the Glen!
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