Looking for some beta on trails around the grey corries and kinlochleven. Planning a ride from spean bridge south. Arrive Friday night off train then night ride south to Leacach bothy for the night. Then a beast of a day through to Bridge of Orchy. Either that or day one from Spean bridge to loch chiarain bothy and then day two through to Bridge of Orchy or Tyndrum.

Can anyone confirm how ridable the following trails are;

1. The two trails through the Lairig Leacach.

2. The Penny Pass to Meanannach looks fairly ridable and looks to have been widened recently according to geograph. Can anyone confirm and has it been turned into a dull track?

3. Meanannach to Creaguaineach lodge

4. Loch Treig through Gleann Lolairean to Blackwater

Been a while since I’ve been up that way:
3 – frustrating path along river’s edge with lots of burns to cross.
4 – hike a bike in, nice path through the glen, then can be a bit boggy until you get to the dam.

I take it you don’t mean this Friday? 🙂

4 – hike a bike in, nice path through the glen, then can be a bit boggy until you get to the dam.

Confirmed my suspicions. At least its doable. Seems like a cop out going via loch Eilde Mor.

I take it you don’t mean this Friday?

No I’m not that daft! Perhaps nearer spring time though.

1) AVOID! Look good but the only good bit is right at the end before you hit loch Treig.

2) In the direction you’re doing it, its a dullish quad track climb from the bothy (steep but easy surface) and a very rocky, technical descent down to Meananach. The guide books all recommend riding up the rocky singletrack, perhaps to avoid scores of people riding down it and trashing it. Either way, you’re riding it the GOOD way.

3) On a dry day with good legs this would be all right, there are some nice sections, but you’ll still be on and off the bike.

4)Starts a bit boggy and hacked up by motorbikes, the higher you get, the better it gets, rocky singletrack to the bothy. After the bothy its more of the same (starting to descend) until the lochside, at which point it sort of fades into 1km of bog until the reservoir (or at least, I couldn’t find that bit of the track).

Overall I reckon that sounds a great route, if you wanted to guarantee better condition trails (or its hammering with rain) you could detour from Meananachan to Kinlochleven on a good landrover track (with option mad descent) but would then need to climb the WHW back up to the Devil’s Staircase (assuming thats where you’re headed next).

Edit: Ah, that route above would be your ‘cop out’ 😀

Cheers for that Iain. Number 4 might be best left for warmer days then. The cop out is probably the sensible option for a wintery ride. Doesn’t look nearly as much fun though.

loch Eilde Mor. route is pleasant but non technical at all – just a decent landrover track apart form a couple of eroded rocky sections

. Meanannach to Creaguaineach lodge – mostly rideable downhill in the dry – a walk uphill in the wet.

Was hill walking in the Bridge or Orchy area on Sunday and there was about 4 inches of snow on the ground at road level. My boots never touched rock or dirt all day, thigh deep snow in area’s where the snow had drifted. I’m not 100% sure of your route but I would suspect that conditions under tyre would not be great….unless this is what you are after?

EDIT: just saw that you don’t mean this Friday.