A Beautiful Cycling Experience: Conquering The Majestic Ben Lomond
We here at Summits love the outdoors. From short trips that anyone, at any age can do, to the more obscure, challenging and extreme trips too. We are always excited to talk to our customers about their trips and ours, so here is one of the short trips that can be a great day out from the city, although not an easy one!
Ben Lomond
Ben Lomond is one of the closest Munros to Glasgow. It is only a 1-hour drive, passing through Balmaha where the views open up and Loch Lomond comes into view. On a nice day, you can see why Scotland is voted one of the most beautiful countries in the world.
The freshwater makes the loch popular for all sorts of outdoor activities. Open water swimming, kayaking, canoeing and wakeboarding are just a few of the activities you will see people doing. Looking down on the loch is Ben Lomond, which can be seen in the top right of the photo above.
Mountain biking a Munro
Most people go to Ben Lomond to walk up it, which is what the Summits Team has done many times. In fact, Justin, the owner of Summits first did this Munro when he was 6. Hiking up the Munro at night under the full moon and sleeping out at the top under the stars, we have done a lot of trips to this Munro. This time, the Summits Team wanted to mix it up, so Justin and Beinn grabbed their mountain bikes.
It was a warm summer day, the Summits Team was at work and wanted to make the most of the nice evening ahead. Heading off sharp, they made it to the car park at got ready to set off up Ben Lomond.
It was hot, very hot, like 28 degrees even at 6 pm kind of hot. That slowed down Beinn and Justin’s speed cycling up. Some parts were too steep to cycle but easy to walk so they did end up pushing the bikes at a good few points. The sun and clear sky gave amazing views as they stopped to let a few people walk down past them. To their surprise, they found out another few mountain bikers were ahead of them doing the same thing. Scotland is filled with adventures which we love!
As the sun started to dip, they realised that the heat and time they set off was working against them. Stopping just shy of the top, they strapped on their helmets and set off back down. Safe to say, it took a lot less time heading down than it did going up!
What equipment we used
On a hot summers day, we were lucky that we could get away with some lightweight shorts as well as some wicking base layer tops. It is essential to use wicking material next to your skin to help move the sweat away from your body. This was a prime example of how useful those tops are.
Being hot, we needed a lot of water. So we used a hydration backpack so we had a constant supply of water without having to take our bags off.
Catching it on film
As the sunset behind the hills, Beinn and Justin fired down the last of the track heading back to the car park. Some of the other Summits Team had set up to film them coming down. Martin put together a great short video of them having fun on the hill, it’s worth a watch – https://fb.watch/4HieCWX0sT/
That was one way to spend an evening after work. All be it a more extreme one! So with summer around the corner, get ready to plan your trips!
Information
- A 1-hour drive north of Glasgow
- Ben Lomond takes 4.5 to 5.5 hours to hike
- Loch Lomond is great for a dip after any hike so take a towel
- Also, make sure you check the weather before
Other Summits adventure trips can be found here:
https://maphub.net/Summits/Summits-Map
