My amazing ride through stunning Perthshire countryside from Alyth with round-the-world cyclist Markus Stitz
Network extends to nearly 200 miles over varied terrain
The birdsong is intense, as if amped up in the still forest.
I’m on a track in Drimmie Woods, just outside Alyth, pausing to drink in the sound of nature while road testing a newly-devised network of cycle routes centred on the attractive Perthshire town.
The clarity of the sound is also amazing - the aural equivalent of being able to see the night sky clearly away from the light pollution of cities.
It’s my second memorable stop on the 14-mile loop, following a brief meander through Den of Alyth on the edge of the town, an enchanting wooded river valley like a small scale version of The Hermitage near Dunkeld.
Between them, I’ve pedalled along country lanes edged with purple foxgloves, hill tracks bordered with gorse in vivid yellow flower, and tranquil lochans.
This is also red squirrel country, and although I didn’t see any that day, pheasants and rabbits were among other animals crossing my path.
My guide is round-the-world cyclist, author and film maker Markus Stitz, whose Bikepacking Scotland business rents out a base in Alyth for riders - a three-bedroom terraced house up a car-free back street.
Stitz’s prodigious activity has also included a series of guidebooks to cycle routes across Scotland, numerous films about cycling and running treks, as well as establishing the Dawn Patrol in Edinburgh - early morning group rides round the city three times a week.
Back in Alyth, the Drimmie loop continues with a steep descent into Blairgowrie before almost immediately diving back into the countryside to follow a series of gravel paths which zig zag the borders of fields tall with crops.
Virtually all the sections of the routes shared with traffic are on “cycle-friendly roads”, as displayed on the many signs that remind drivers of their reduced 40mph limit.
Drimmie is one of 13 routes developed by Stitz with funding by the SSE Drumderg Community Fund, established as part of a nearby wind farm, and the Perth-based Thomson Charitable Trust, founded by a family-run wine and spirits merchants.
He said the nearly 200 miles of trails that the Alyth Gravel Network comprises made it one of Scotland’s most comprehensive gravel cycling networks. The interconnected routes also feature riverside paths, open moorland and a former railway line, near Newtyle, which closed in 1967.
There are also historic sites along the way which form part of the “museum without walls” Cateran Ecomuseum, which stretches across eastern Perthshire and the Angus glens and includes standing stones and stone circles, and historic drove and military roads.
It also features more recent structures, such as the sorry-looking Belmont Castle, near Meigle, south of Alyth, a former care home that was once the home of Prime Minister Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman in the early 1900s, whose grounds we rode through.
Other dramatic landmarks are also visible, so easily missed if speeding through the landscape in the confines of a car, such as the haunting outline on the southern horizon of 18th century Kinpurney Tower, built as an observatory and like something out of a Thomas Hardy novel but for its location.
Stitz said the network was aimed at making it easier for riders to “explore the area responsibly, stay longer and support local businesses”, such as shops and cafes.
A prime example is Alyth Cyclery, housed in a charming former Victorian church in the centre of town, which both kindly lent me a Merida Big Trail 500 trail bike for the tour and also serves food.
The cycle shop - which also offers bike rental and where Stitz’s round-the-world bike is on display - is a key part of his efforts to help develop Alyth as a cycling destination.
He pointed out that it’s now even easier to get there by bike thanks to electric bus operator Ember, which carries cycles, whose Dundee-Aberdeen services stop at Blairgowrie, six miles away.
The cycle routes extend north to Spittal of Glenshee, near the Aberdeenshire border, which is also on the bus route. It is the overnight half way point for another of Stitz’s enterprises, the annual two-day Cateran Dirt Dash - more of an endurance trial than race - which became my baptism into bikepacking three years ago.
Stitz said: “There’s amazing road and gravel cycling and mountain biking around here. You can combine parts of the routes for a short day on the bike or a mega day, or even a multiple day trip.
“I see the network as giving people the inside knowledge to the nice paths and quiet roads to ride on, but they can also plan their own journeys.
“Some are easy routes, which are pretty much doable by anyone who has a bike or just started cycling, along with intermediate and challenging ones for more experienced riders.”
Alyth Gravel Network routes are available at cateranecomuseum.co.uk/explore
Bikepacking Scotland accommodation in Alyth: https://stay.bikepackingscotland.com/
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