CYCLING IN SCOTLAND'S CENTRAL HIGHLANDS

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SECTION 3. NATIONAL ROUTE 7 FROM BALQUHIDDER TO LOCHEARNHEAD
5.5 MILES LONG — UNDULATING MINOR PUBLIC ROAD & GRADUAL UPHILL CYCLEWAY
        The road east from Balquhidder to Kingshouse is two miles of minor ups and downs. Watch in the river valley to the right for more red deer. Watch cautiously for motor traffic coming suddenly upon you from the front or the rear. The road—though officially 2 lanes wide, barely permits two small cars to pass, and is filled with a tractor and hay wagon or a large lorry (truck). Lacking a bike lane, and with several blind curves and rises, this short (2.5 miles) portion of National Route 7 is about as dicey as it gets in rural Scotland.
        At Kingshouse, where the Balquhidder road intersects the A84, National Route 7 rejoins the abandoned Callander & Oban Railway and leaves all motorized traffic behind. But, if you need refreshment, stop at the Rob Roy Bar at the Kingshouse Hotel for a (soft) drink and a snack or a meal. The small pub is a magnet for cyclists, walkers, hotel guests, passer-by on the A84, and locals from Strathyre, Balquhidder, and Lochearnhead. Its reputation is not new. Travelers and locals have been stopping at the Kingshouse Hotel at least since 1799 when it received a Crown warrant as a "King’s House" inn under the protection of red coated British soldiers. The house itself is at least 200 years older than that, and would have been known to Scotland’s King James VI, who became England’s King James I, first of the Stewart dynasty on the British throne. Like his mother, the ubiquitous Mary Queen of Scots, James VI seems to have visited most every ancient hostelry and castle still standing in Scotland.
        From Kingshouse, the cycleway parallels the A84 through hilly country northeast to Lochearnhead. Because the route is on the old railway, it is a gradual ramp uphill with gentle curves. Along the way it passes by the hamlet of Balquhidder Station, home of the Golden Larches restaurant and a tea room accessible from the cycleway. Here the old railway split, with the main branch beginning the climb up north into Glen Ogle and a second branch staying in the valley below. This latter was the beginning of the east-west Lochearnhead, St. Fillans and Comrie Railway that officially ceased operations in 1951. The cycleway follows the lower branch north almost to Lochearnhead village near where it turned east and followed the north shore of Loch Earn to St. Fillans.
        A mile north of Balquhidder Station you pass Edinchip Estate, formerly owned by Clan MacGregor. Shortly afterwards comes the new Kendrum (or Edinchip) Viaduct which carries Route 7 high above the Kendrum Burn. When it was installed in July, 2000, the prefabricated bridge was discovered to be a half-yard short. Four days later the contractor had it right and the last major link in Route 7 across Central Scotland was in place. Shortly after the viaduct, there is an exit from the cycleway leading into Lochearnhead village. As elsewhere along the route, Lochearnhead’s shop and restaurants welcome cyclists.

Round-trip Callander to Lochearnhead: 40 miles. About 4-7 hours of gradually uphill cycling with minimal traffic.
A SCENIC BIKE RIDE GOOD FOR RIDERS CAPABLE OF MORE THAN A HALF-DAY IN THE SADDLE.

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Home at First offers travel to Central Scotland
and four other great regions of Scotland.
Have your own cottage in
the Southern Borders,
Inverness & the Northern Highlands,
or in the principal cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh.
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