[Closed] Glen Ample sanitisation

Not ridden it for a few years but the climb up from the road was steep! Good surface though.

Answered my own question today, had been hankering to see Glen Ample for ages and it lived up to my expectations, beautiful wee glen.

The track sucks though 😕 We avoided the traditional straight climb up and took the more gradual forest roads from the second Loch Lubnaig carpark. Problem is they've been chewed to bits by foresters and it took a bit of hike-a-bike to get back on the Glen Ample track proper.

Once up into the Glen the 'new' track is an atrocity. wide, ugly and badly built. Its the width of a motorway in places! It also has a drainage ditch every 10 metres, but they're neither hoppable or manual-able, so its just repetitive and annoying. I really hope the estate has a good use for the track and haven't just driven it up there as a 'just in case'. Some of the ditches didn't even look passable for a landy.

That's a shame, it was a nice wee route that I've enjoyed several times.

We rode the over Glen Ample a couple of years ago, first time in nearly twenty years. The path was badly eroded and the couple of fords were barely crossable as the water level was so fast and high. Its a surprise to hear that the track has been 'improved'.

Oh dear god no! That was a classic ride. Had some great times on that ride, destroyed rear mechs on river crossings, puncture hell where everyones pumps failed, cuasing near hypothermia. The last big ride did in Scotland too. 🙁 Happy days
Where does the new trail start? After the deer fence I presume?

Bigyinn, its still exactly as per the map, just where the map shows singletrack, its now quad/landrover track.

McMoonter, it may not have been 'improved' since you rode it, depends what you mean by eroded. One of the fords lower down was bad, looked barely passable by vehicle. Further up they weren't really eroded, just a pain in the ass shape, and lots of them.

On the plus side, the rooty singletrack beside the falls of leny was fantastic, and the falls were in extra angry form today.

the old path through the glen took a battering in the storms of August 2004. totally changed it's character - for me at least - lots washed out and (more impressively) some gulleys totally filled with debris.
http://www.stirling.gov.uk/index/council/news.htm?id=31647&m=&y=2004

STIRLING'S storm damaged countryside will take more than six months and £1 million to clear up, says Stirling Council's Countryside Service.

Work is already well under way repairing pathways and bridges swept away by the torrential August rains that caused the Lochearnhead landslide across the A84.

Gillie Thomson, Convener of the Council’s Environment Committee, said: ?It is important that people take extra care over the next few months when walking in the area hit by the storm because some of the paths are still unpassable and others can be used only with care.?

?We are doing all we can to ensure the paths are safe and the lost bridges rebuilt,? said Councillor Thomson. ?But it will take time.?

The August 18 storm that settled over Stuc a Chroin threw out an enormous amount of water over a two hour period. Glen Ample was devastated and burns that had previously run along the surface, now run through twenty-foot gorges.

The estate track was scoured out, walls and fences removed and the footbridge at Glenample Farm broken up and relocated a mile away. By Edinample the road bridge that had only recently been strengthened, was destroyed and a twelve foot deep hole in the road created.

At Keltie Water a wall of water destroyed all the bridges in the upper reaches, including those at Scout Pool and Bracklinn Falls. The circular walk between these two points is now impassable and the route through Glen Artney to Comrie requires a river crossing.

The Bracklinn Falls footbridge was 30-40 feet above the river and the remaining tide mark is another 10 feet above that. There is no sign of the bridge and very little to show it ever existed. Such was the power of the river that 100 tonne plus boulders have been relocated and even the shape of the falls has been changed forever.

The public road above the falls was so badly damaged that it is has now been closed.

Jesus, wish I'd been there to see that! I'd heard/seen about some of these bridges being swept away but hadn't realised the severity of it.

Maybe I'll just reserve judgement on the state of the track today then...

Walked Ben Vorlich and Stuc A'Chroin and came back through Glen Ample a couple of months after the storm. It was a pretty impressive mess, I've not been up there recently though.

Adds 'stormchasing' to list of things I want to do in the hills... 8)