Cycling loch lomonds’ rubbish

🚴 Cycling Loch Lomond: Drymen to Tarbet via West Loch Lomond Cycle Path 🌄

In the first of a three-part cycling series, I ride from Drymen to Tarbet along the not so stunning West Loch Lomond Cycle Path in Scotland. 🏞️ Along the way, I encounter red deer, take in breathtaking views of Loch Lomond, and sadly, document the growing rubbish and litter problem affecting this iconic landscape. 🦌♻️

This video includes my honest review of the route — covering scenery, cycling conditions, and how pollution is impacting the experience.

🔔 Subscribe for parts 2 and 3 as I explore the isle of Skye by bike!

#LochLomond #CyclingScotland #BikeTrekking #WestLochLomondPath #ScottishHighlands #CycleTouring #Bikepacking #ScotlandByBike #EnvironmentalIssues #LitterCrisis

Here are links to my kit and some things i wish for! If you buy anything from these links I do get a commission and you do not pay any extra! You just watching and liking the video is always enough!

Bike:

Brooks B17 Saddle – https://amzn.to/3F60HoD
Continentgal Unisex’s CTM516 Tyre – https://amzn.to/3FmXtNA
Lamicall Mobile Phone Holder – https://amzn.to/3DpJzK4
Mud Gurads – https://amzn.to/43vUPPI

Clothing:

Danish Endurance Cycling bib shorts – https://amzn.to/3QPipiS
DHERA Cycling Bib Trousers – https://amzn.to/3QXNgcZ
Buff Merino Wool Multi Functional Headwear – https://amzn.to/3QQkgnx
Yobenki Warm Winter Gloves – https://amzn.to/3FcsdB2
Rockbros Cycling Glasses – https://amzn.to/3FdW783
Sealskinz socks – https://amzn.to/41NzXSH
French Fitnbess Revolution Helmet Liner – https://amzn.to/3XtWMrZ
Fatvoto Mountain Bike Helmet – https://amzn.to/3Fe5qES
Fox Ranger 2.l Water Mens Waterproof – https://amzn.to/4kw3Ez0
Five Ten Mens Bike Shoe – https://amzn.to/3QQkkUj

Recording:

DJI Standard 4 combo – https://amzn.to/3FdTbs4
DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro Standard Combo – https://amzn.to/3FdBatN
DJI mini 4k drone – https://amzn.to/3FmWvAW
DJI mini 4k drone fly more ( you get extra batteries) – https://amzn.to/3DxNh4k
DJI mini 4 pro drone – https://amzn.to/3DC1BJ4
DJI mic 2 – https://amzn.to/4bB3RwJ
DJI Lavalier – https://amzn.to/3DmqM2o
DJI mini mic – https://amzn.to/41M0dgi
Boya mic – https://amzn.to/43rXuKg

Chapters

Intro 0:00
Drymen 0:55
Balloch 4:24
Loch Lomond 5:27
Skye 17:17

Today on Bike Trekking with Carl, I start my Scottish Highlands series. And to kick things off, we’re starting out with Lock Loman. This is the largest inland stretch of water in Great Britain by surface area alone. It measures 24 miles. On this channel, I show you my real rides, my real experiences, and this is the first ride to kick the series off. And even though I was hugely excited to do this ride, this is going to be remembered for me as one of the most disappointing bike rides. Even with that disappointment, this is still the Scottish Highlands. So, I’ve got one heck of a video for you here today. This channel is still growing. So, your likes, your comments, and even your subscriptions, if you feel generous enough, really do help me out. So, without any further ado, let’s do this. Today’s ride starts us out in Dryman, starting outside the Winnick Hotel in the famous square. I snuck out the room in the morning, leaving my wife in bed so I could get an early start on this ride. So, I was being very quiet and on my best behavior. Good morning. Welcome to Dryman, somewhere north of Glasgow and just south of Lach Loman. And today it’s well it’s 5:00 a.m. and I’m going to do a very early ride. Yeah, there’s red deer out here all sorts. So, we’re super early. So, we might actually see something. So, anyway, without any further ado, let’s do this. Cue the stereotypical Scottish music. People always seem to think this is an ebike. This is not an ebike. I know I’m an ebike charging station right now, which makes it look slightly suspicious, but I swear, you know, this is the the real deal. Not that I have anything against ebikes. I mean, if you give me an ebike, I I’ll take it and I’ll ride it and I I’ll love it. Right, let’s get on the road. [Music] Today’s ride is 27 miles and nearly half of that will be spent reaching Lock Lmond. Now, I considered doing the West Highland Trail. However, I hear this is a very technical route and I was under a time constraint. So instead, I opted for the West Loman cycle path. But before that, there was plenty of glorious Scottish countryside to make my way through. And I was absolutely buzzing. So last night the uh I think it’s the Winnick where we’re at. It was uh it was definitely the place to be. Everyone was drinking, singing. Woo! We were shattered. We just done a think and we done like five, six hours in the car. So, we worked that up for it. I mean, especially my poor wife. So, uh yeah, we got something to eat. But me and Harrison, my three-year-old, we snuck we snuck down to the pub and I had a cheeky half a pint and he had a fruit sheet and it was pretty cool. But yeah, there’ll be a few sore heads this morning. [Music] Today, I’m going to see some red deer. I feel like it’s going to happen. And if you’re uh if you’re not from England or Scotland, uh this is a road. This is a this is a proper road where cars will just like absolutely hammer it down. Yeah. It’s just crazy, isn’t it? The rest of the world, they have like huge wide wide roads there. Not in England. This isn’t a cycle path. This would be a cycle path in like uh Norway, would it? The first half of this ride consisted of winding narrow country roads, purpose-built cycle path. Yeah, this is the uh John Murray way. Thank you, John. Oh, brunch. And at this point, I was ready to recommend this ride. Like red deer sightings were plentiful. I’ve just seen another red deer. When they see you around here, they really give it some. I mean really go they go quick like with quite a bit of power. It was just so good. And if you’re going to do the area then this is the bit I would recommend cycling. I was still convinced at this point the best was ahead and in some ways it certainly was because I was here to see Llman but then I got to Balac and I started to notice litter in the streets. I didn’t really comment on it at the time because I thought oh that’s just a blip or maybe something from the night before. Um, but that was a sign of what was to come and it was going to get far worse. However, at this stage, I was still excited. And let’s face it, this is still Loman. Okay, be prepared for some pronunciation absolute massacres cuz I always get this wrong uh whenever I try to pronounce anywhere at all, even if I’m from the area. So, here we go. This is the river Levven, and it flows from Lach Loman from the north and all the way down to the south where it meets the river Clyde. Yeah, the River 11 is very popular for salmon fishing apparently and trout fishing. I had a salmon last night for my dinner at the hotel. But yeah, River 11 pretty epic. Pretty epic. And this is kind of pointing us towards Lloman. So, let’s go. And finally, it was the moment I’ve been waiting for. This was the highlight of the tour in my mind. We were about to start the West Loman cycle path. I was about to be riding alongside Loman and I was up for it. Aha. This has got to be it, hasn’t it? This has got to be the cycle path here. This has got to be it. Yes, this is it. This is the uh fabled cycle path on the west side, not to be confused with the West Highland Way, which I very nearly did today, but um commute was telling me that. But part of it I’d need specialist equipment. I don’t know whether that’s correct or not. But I didn’t want to risk it as uh if it did turn out I had to turn back when I have time and we’d be late going to sky. So this is the route I picked instead. This road’s like a motorway. I’m so glad I have to be on this road. This cycle path’s needed here. Really needed. And now it was time for me to face reality. And that is Lman’s rubbish. Share this cuz this is like everywhere around here. Like the bins like they’re just overflowing. We need to get somebody on that. I mean literally just through the uh village I passed through as well. Like just bins overflowing everywhere. But check this out because this is what we’re here to see. Bam. [Music] But it wasn’t just the rubbish. It’s this psychop path as well. So, I’m just going to let this unfold for you now in real time as it did for me. Uh, well, so far not. This isn’t great to be honest with you. This cycle path. So, we were greeted to a lovely little view of Lach Lmond coming right onto the cycle path. However, I didn’t want to stop there too long cuz there’s a little aer drone right next to it and I didn’t want to fly the drone near it. I don’t need a a drone aircraft collision on my hands. So, I thought I’ll just move on to the next bit and get a shot. And for quite a bit of time now, it has just been cycling next to the uh next to this very busy road, which is the quietest it’s been now since I started filming. Um, and then I’m on this side of me. That’s that’s Loman over there. But that’s pretty much all I can see right now. That’s all I can see. And this cycle path, I’m not knocking it cuz it’s good it’s here. You know, basically cyclists can cycle on the foot path because it’s just these roads are really really busy and the cars are very fast. But yeah, if you’re going to do this, uh, you know, the West Highland Way would really be more my style. Uh, but there’s loads of issues. I couldn’t do it. So, uh, let’s just hope that I get back to see the lock and I’m not just going to be cycling on the foot path next to a very busy busy road looking at a hedge. Cycling along the cycle path. I went through many different phases. I went through my denial phase. There’s probably worse, you know, technically worse cycle paths out there. And then finally settled at acceptance. This is rubbish. This is terrible. Why did I get stuff for this? One thing to note about this cycle path is that a lot of the waterfront real estate is taken up by golf clubs and private boat marinas, properties, that kind of thing. So, there’s never going to be a cycle path that runs along the side of the lock on this side. That’s just unfortunately a fact. But eventually, I was able to get down close to the water and this is what I found when I got there. Yes. What I’ve noticed about this particular route is there seems to be a lot of people parking up or on bikes who are just kind of jumping the barrier or jumping the hedge and just going down and maybe it’s a bit grassland like that down there and then just camping on it. Actually, let’s go down ourselves. Yeah. So, like a lot of people are just kind of like jumping over the hedge or parking up in the verges then coming and camping on bits like this which I can see why. It’s it’s beautiful once you manage to get off that road. It’s gorgeous. I reckon if you were bike packing it, you would have a totally different take on this, wouldn’t you? Because you wouldn’t be spending all your time on this road. You would come off, you would stop here and then you’d be spending an entire night in just a gorgeous little spot and then you just hop back on that and that’s just a means to an end. Um, but in terms of a ride, man, it sucks. It really sucks. Everywhere I go, there’s rubbish. There’s discarded rubbish or burnt debris and stuff, you know. all around here. butts and things and it’s all kind of in the wash line as well, you know, like surgical gloves in there and all sorts. It’s I’m torn to be honest with you. can see what really torn right so yeah anyway so we got a good look at the lock might be the last look I don’t know but um we’ll keep pressing on and hopefully I just you know bit disappointed I’m a bit disappointed I’m not going to lie let’s keep going north up the cycle path I was beginning to get used to the juxtaposition of epic scenery and absolute disgusting filth. This is what it’s like. It’s just everywhere. Like all over everywhere. People are going to get mad at me for this. I always say my rides I I just I film what I see. I don’t go out looking for stuff. I came out here super excited at the beginning of the day ready to have like such an epic ride. And uh I am just like super disappointed right now. Like so disappointed. So we’ve just passed Lus and finally it’s happening. I mean there she is. The view. This is what I thought I’d be. This is what I thought it’d be like. We still got the busy road there to the side, but it’s quietened down a lot. still busyish, but there’s now a view to look at. I can just turn my head this way and I can see all this. There she is. I’m going to keep saying this over and over again. Loman itself is out of this world amazing. If you just ignore all the rubbish and this rubbish cycle path, which has gotten better now, to be honest with you. This is what I was hoping for, which is just uh this is it, isn’t it? I wish it was on that side over there. I bet that side’s better. Slightly more difficult uh to traverse. And when I managed to get away from the road just for a minute and the rubbish and the baby wipes, Llmond gave me exactly what I needed. Come on. I think this actually could be nice. This is why we’re here, man. This is it. Ah, look at this. This is what I came to see just like this. And the view. Oh, it’s just so nice. I think this is what a lot of people think of when they think of LL Lmond. Something like this. I’m just feeling like a little bit of serenity for the first time on this ride. I can’t I can’t describe the feeling, but it just feels like stress and tension is just leaving my body as I’m stood here. Just bit of quiet from that road for a little bit as it’s just constant like in your ears. And when it’s gone, when the noise is gone, the absence of the noise is so noticeable. It’s like pure relief. All right, so we’re getting to the end of this now. I was just about to For God’s sake, this isn’t Look, look. And it’s just stuff like that everywhere. It’s just disgusting. I didn’t honestly I didn’t set that up. I was trying to say the further north you go, the better it gets. And that’s still true. But wherever there’s like people camping, there’s stuff like that. And it’s like everywhere and it’s disgusting. So, I don’t know. People watch this one. I think some people are going to take offense to what I have to say, but I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I’m struggling here a little bit on this bit. I said it before and I’ll say it again. Like, I don’t set out to find stuff wrong. I just film what I see. And unfortunately today I’ve just seen a lot of abuse, disrespect of nature and like it kind of makes me a bit sad cuz I want wild camping in England. I think it’s really sucks that we don’t have it. And you need to like you need to treat your places with respect. You can’t just leave your rubbish everywhere. You need to leave no trace because eventually people will get sick of it and then they impose draconian laws and then before you know it wild camping’s banned. I mean and this cycle path as a whole like this road just being an example. It’s not not been my favorite. There’s been some absolutely outstanding bits, but some bits just suck. So, that’s my review of this cycle path. Lock Lmond, you know, absolutely amazing. This side, this cycle path. Oh my god, this awful. Look at this. Watch this truck coming by now. Hit the tree. How’s that fun? Anyway, going to hit Tara and then we’ll wrap it up. Good. Here we are at Ta. This is the uh ferry crossing and you can get to the other side of Lmond here. It’s immensely popular. Um, with a power of hindsight, I think I would have gone on the other side, done some of the West Highland Trail, and then got on the ferry and come across to here if possible. So, maybe if you are going to come to Lot Lmond, try the other side. Uh, but remember that some of it is like really it looks challenging. Uh, but on that note, u, thank you very much for watching and there’s going to be more Scotland videos coming up because we’re on the way to um on our way to the aisle of Sky next. So, that one is going to be good, I think. All right, see you soon. Bye-bye. Good morning. Welcome to Sky is like so magnificent. It doesn’t look real. Like, I’m staring at it with my own eyes. Take your left turning, good lads. There’s like an award for the most remote beach in sky. This has got to be it. I can feel them fighting me all over. I can see a waterfall just coming down the side of that mountain. I think I’ll fill up there. Oh, so that is the end of the day. [Music]