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Description:-
A long day out this one, probably best kept for the summer months, as the route can be boggy in places.
Starting from the village, head onto the B863 along the north shore of the loch, heading towards North Ballachulish.
After about a mile, turn right at tag 2 where you join a single track road that climbs up to Mamore Lodge Hotel. This is a long and steep climb in places, all rather sudden after the nice level run along the lochside.
Just as you reach the hotel, turn right, then right again at tag 3 to joint the hardpacked road that cuts across the hill above the hotel. Continue up the hill towards the houses and barns at tag 4. The road carries on through past the house, but there's a small sign on the right asking you to take the path around to the right. No reason not to - it's a nice little singletrack for 100m or so that doesn't present any difficulty. rejoin the road at tag 5 and continue on upwards.
As you get higher up, and over the bridge crossing the Allt Coire na Ba the track deteriorates a bit here and there, where the hardpacked surface has broken up to leave some loose rock on the surface. Still perfectly rideable though. Apart from the fact that you're still going uphill.
As you approach tag 6 the view really starts to open up making it all worthwhile though. There's a good viewpoint at tag 6 to stop and take it all in.
About half a mile past tag 6 you eventually top out, and get a little downhill to the shore of Loch Eilde Mor, where you get a level run from here to tag 7 along the shoreline of the two lochs, with the mountains on either side of you.
Past the end of Loch Eilde Beag there's a small climb to tag 7, before the track descends to the bothy at Luibeilt, where the track stops.
There can be a lot of water in the the Abhainn Rath, so pick your spot to cross carefully. Once across the path is not that immediately obvious, but there is one that heads directly for the other bothy at Meananach. Your best bet is to pick your way along the riverbank along the sections of singletrack that you find.
Unfortunately the path can fade away on you as quickly as you find it, and it continues like this until tag 9, where the singletrack becomes more permanent, and any place where it does disappear is usually just a flat grassy riverbank that you can cycle over wherever suits you. Past Staoineag to tag 10 the path gets a bit rockier, with a nice gentle downhill to the bridge over the river.
Cross the river and join the landrover track as it goes round the shores of Loch Treig, and keep a look out for the faint path that turns off at tag 11. If you cross the burn just past tag 11 on the track, you've missed you turn off !
The singletrack from 11 to 12 is easy enough to follow, but once onto the open hillside at tag 12, it tends to spread out and fade away as it makes it's way up the initially rather open Gleann Iolairean. This bit is tough, it's not that steep a climb, but the trail fades away into bog often enough that you'll find yourself pushing as ofter as cycling. If in any doubt though you can't miss the bulk of Meall a Bhainne ahead of you, so aim just left of it !
Things pick up the higher you get though, and you should be cycling again before you reach the hight point at tag 13, where you have a long and gradual downhill to the bothy at Loch Chiarain. You also get a fairly unique view of the Glencoe hills from here.
Continue round the bothy and out towards Blackwater Reservoir, where the long gradual downhill continues. The nearer you get to tag 15 the boggier this place is, so keep your eyes on the path as it can be difficult to follow in places here.
Continue on to 16 and the north end of the dam. At this point, you're at the start of the Ciaran Path descent. I was pretty tired at this point though, so decided to leave that for another time and took the easy option down.
Crossing under the dam to tag 17 to join the land rover track, there's a level / slight downhill run along the hardpacked track, until tag 18 where you join the West Highland Way.
The track is a bit rougher here, with a bit more loose stuff on top, but it's a fast blast down to the village. Be aware that there might be walkers on the track around those corners, but it is certainly wide enough to pass though. This track is also clearly used by the smelter occasionally to access the pipeline etc, so keep an eye and ear out for anything 4x4 coming your way as well !
Once at tag 18 follow the river into the village back to your starting point.