Balblair’s blue and black trails start with a fireroad climb leading
out of an unassuming carpark on the right of the road heading out of the small
village of Bonar Bridge in Scotland.
Both the blue and the longer black share a first climb, first descent
and final descent. Completing all of the
black options will net you about 11.5km of total trail, plenty of which is
singletrack.
The first descent, called "Woopy Doo”, is a wide dirt trail through the woods,
raised to help drainage but a bit tame for experienced mountain bikers.
The blue branches left here and right provides more fire road and the
first of some excellent views for riders following the black. Although there
are a couple of fireroad climbs, only the first feels like it should be
replaced by singletrack. The others
provide a nice breather between technical sections! You have to earn your descent somehow though
and overall it’s hard to complain about the layout of the trails here when you
consider what comes next.
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| So much surprisingly flowy rock |
It’s not too far until you’re back into singletrack that quickly goes
from a typical gravelly/dirt path surface to one that takes you over large
natural rocky sections that have been incorporated into the trail. The trail
features loads of rocky sections and provides a really enjoyable and involving
riding challenge. The rocks feature small steps to climb and sections which
slope upwards, downwards and provide all kinds of off camber trail to test your
balance on. I was glad I was riding a
full sus bike on the rocky black sections but a hardtail would have completely
fine if I was only riding the blue.
Before and after passing by a large communications tower, there are
long sections of north shore style elevated wooden runs to help make the most
of the rocky ground. A great example of
the right way to do wooden trails right; a flat flowing surface, grippy sandpaper-like
covering, well secured at either ends to rocky ground, no drops to upslopes.
Balblair’s north shore could be livened up by some drops or more corners on the
wood, but to be honest it provides a welcome contrast to the technical rockyness
elsewhere on the trail.
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| Perfectly built boardwalk leading to more of the hard stuff |
There was a black loop at the top which was closed for maintenance when
I rode past. Out of interest I still checked it out and it looked to be one of
the most technical pieces of trail I have ever seen. Bring some trials skills would
be my only recommendation! Luckily, this is easily skipped as it is an offshoot
of the main trail which re-joins at the exact same spot where it leaves.
At what felt like the furthest point from the car park, the backside
downhill is a lot of fun, featuring tight but flowing corners and a good
natural trail surface as it re-enters the woods. The trail was looking pretty
overgrown in this part, which was odd considering that this was only the start
of the summer. Perhaps the trails are so far out of the way that they do not
get used much at all? I saw no other riders while I was there. After taking in some
scenic fireroad and singletrack climbing the final couple of downhill sections
were a bit less technical, with the finale taking place after re-joining the
blue trail. These bits were overgrown too and I had to duck down as far as I
could go to avoid getting slapped in the face by branches quite a few times!
Towards the end the trail appears to provide a shortcut which avoids
the majority of the first fire road climb if you’re going for another lap. The
trail is a nice length and it’s probably worth doing twice if you’re not going
anywhere else that day. As it was, I
headed off to the other Kyle of Sutherland Trail centre: Carbisdale.
Carbisdale starts out of the car park for the impressive Carbisdale Castle youth centre which was closed for redevelopment
while I was there. The trail features a blue loop of about 3km and a red
extension which takes the total length to 4.5km.
The blue / red starts out of the car park with a short off road climb,
followed by a road climb, followed by an off road double track climb. There are some nice views from the top here.
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| Fast and smooth on the red |
Next up is a shared descent which seems suitable for the blue grading
but features a couple of larger rocks you can launch off if you know what
you’re looking for. The red splits off soon enough and climbs further into the
woods.
There is a pretty fun descent through the woods on singletrack covered
with pine needles and leaf litter before the trails merge again for the final
descent that has a red option featuring a couple of large boulders which
provide an easy taste of what you might encounter on the Balblair black . Before
you know it you’re back at the car park.
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| View down the glen before the final downhill blast |
Short, but a good blast as a second ride in a day or for introducing
someone to mountain biking; as the loop is short you could do the blue, then
head back up to tackle the red sections to build up a newer rider’s confidence.
I heard that you could ride between the Balblair and Carbisdale trail
heads and, while I agree you could, I
would strongly suggest getting in the car and driving between them as the ride
between centres is probably twice as long as the ride you will get at Carbisdale.
The Kyle of Sutherland provides two solid trails to ride in a half day
and their relatively short length means you can easily do a couple of laps if
you wanted to spend longer in the area. I would suggest that if you are in the
area and are comfortable on black runs your top priority should be to ride the
Highland Wildcat Trails at Golspie first, then if you have another day, or a
lot of energy(!), hit up the Balblar and Carbisdale trails later on.
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