Hitlist: Pick of the best summer cycle routes

Trees are wilting; lampposts are drooping; pavements are melting. Small woodland creatures beg for mercy and rue the day they weren’t born with opposable thumbs, meaning they’re sadly incapable of building serviceable air-conditioning units to install in their burrows and nests.

And how do the human inhabitants of Scotia react? With one ecstatic voice they whoop: “Yay! Give us all ya got, you huge fiery ball in the sky. You better bring your A-Game, Mr. Sun, cos we can take anything you throw at us.”

So intent is the Scottish nation on worshiping at the alter of sizzle that we often figure out enticing new ways of getting into even more of a sweat.

One possible method involves wearing a duffel coat, a woollen scarf and a Cossack’s sheepskin hat, then going for a leisurely jog.

Such behaviour is perhaps a tad excessive, and will inevitably lead to heatstroke and cardiac arrest.

A more realistic approach is to grab a bicycle and go for a brisk peddle.

Summer cycling won’t merely have you perspiring in healthy fashion. It’s also fun to do with the family, allowing the entire brood to commune with the landscape; to become one with the hills and lochs that are all too easy to ignore when you’re barging through them by car or train.

Here’s our favourite family bike routes in Scotland. Get ready to ride, roll and ramble…

The Rob Roy Loop (Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park.)

ROB Roy MacGregor was a historic Scottish outlaw, similar in career ambitions to Robin Hood, though the suit he wore for business transactions was tartan rather than Lincoln green.

His legend has inspired boozy cocktails, novels, movies and this bike trail. Though it should be noted that the real Rob Roy - who roguishly romped through the 17th and 18th century - never rode a bicycle. It would have proved difficult to wield a trusty broadsword while also peddling furiously on a BMX or penny-farthing.

However, the Rob Roy Loop does guide you through the landscape inhabited by MacGregor. The circuit tracks north through Strathyre Forest.

Leave the forest and pass Balquhidder, where Rob’s buried and there are views of Loch Voil.

At Kingshouse you’re rewarded with sightings of Loch Lubnaig and Ben Ledi before returning to the start at Strathyre.

The Kelpies

Helix Park, Kelpies and the Falkirk Wheel

SCOTLAND’S favourite statue is the majestic traffic cone in front of Glasgow’s Gallery of Modern Art.

Unfortunately the statue has one minor flaw – a granite representation of the Duke of Wellington, which has somehow become wedged beneath the traffic cone, and has so far proved impossible to extricate without damaging the cone.

Falkirk’s Kelpies are Scotland’s second favourite statue, and have one advantage over Glasgow’s traffic cone - not a single Duke of Wellington in sight. (Not even a teeny-tiny one.)

This route takes you past the towering Kelpies, by way of Falkirk’s Helix Park. Onwards to Callendar Park  & Estate.

Next, the Falkirk Wheel, then back to Helix Park.

Plenty of picnic spots and cafes to refuel, ensuring you don’t become pure puggled while peddling.

Millport

Great Cumbrae Circuit

FOR decades holidaying Scots have visited Great Cumbrae to enjoy the town of Millport and its delightful amenities, which include crazy golf, a not quite so crazy putting green, and a disappointingly sane crown bowling club.

But what is the current psychological state of the cycle path? Well, we can assure you that it’s definitely a cycle path, not a psychopath.

Though some people believe you have to be a little bit bonkers to attempt the entire route, which tracks round the island perimeter.

In truth, a hale and hearty family of peddlers will manage the journey in a brisk two hours, with plenty of seascape to enjoy along the way.

Devilla Forest, Fife

IF you’re tree-mendously fond of trees then Fife’s Devilla Forest provides some devilishly delightful woodland cycling. Begin at the carpark next to the forest, then bust your way into a blaze of branch and leaf.

Paths are slightly bumpy, though easy to traverse. Observant cyclists will spot oodles of fuzzy critters doing their fuzzy critter thing. You may even spy red squirrels, though they’re a shy and elusive gang, nothing like their grey cousins (who are the Kardashians of the squirrel family).

Edinburgh (Image: PA)

Edinburgh city centre to Leith

IT has been noted by a few observant souls that Edinburgh is an attractive city. (Glaswegians vehemently disagree on this point, though have so far failed to supply persuasive empirical evidence to bolster their denials.)

Therefore biking in Edinburgh is lots of fun (unless you’re Glaswegian, in which case you’ll probably scream in anguish while being assailed on all sides by architecture that is unforgivably picturesque).

One memorable route involves making your way from Scotland Street in the New Town to Sandport Place in Leith.

This ten minute jaunt is long enough to cram in plenty of splendid buildings. Glaswegians are advised to peddle with eyes tightly closed to avoid unnecessary distress.

Rouken Glen Park to Queen’s Park

A BLEND of the bucolic and the bustling in this saunter through parkland and city streets.

Start in the verdant plushness of East Renfrewshire’s Rouken Glen Park. Peddle round the duck pond, out onto the Ayr Road, downhill to Giffnock and along Kilmarnock Road till arrival at Queen’s Park, for more verdant plushness. (Or is it plush verdantness? Either way, it sure is purdy.)

Necropolis (Image: Newsquest)

Necropolis to Cathcart Cemetery

IT’S rare to spot a family of bicycling goths, though such a gloomy scenario must surely occur occasionally. When it does, this is the jeepers-creepy jaunt for them to take.

Start cycling at Glasgow’s spooky city centre graveyard, the Necropolis, then down the High Street and south across the Clyde, through the Gorbals, along by Langside College and into Muirend, finishing at Cathcart Cemetery, which is another atmospheric and spooky Victorian graveyard.

Fun. Though not for the fainthearted.

Formartine and Buchan Way

THIS route along a former railway line takes you through the spectacular north east countryside, far from roads and traffic rumble. Starting at Dyce train station, the journey takes 4 to 6 hours but can be done in less exhausting sections.

At Maud you can peddle onwards to Fraserburgh or Peterhead, both with picturesque beaches.

The Lochwinnoch Loop, Renfrewshire

A BLEND of the arty and arcadian. The ten mile excursion begins at Paisley Canal and follows the railway line, finishing in Lochwinnoch. The going is smooth on a flat tarmac path which passes quirky sculptures including the Broken Pencils and the Bedrock Bike.

Assynt Achiltibuie Circular, Highlands

A CHALLENGING route only to be attempted by a muscular and relatively mature family who sport granite thighs and concrete calves.

This loop in north west Scotland clambers through countryside as wild and untamed as Albert Einstein’s hair on those traumatic occasions when he mislaid his shampoo and conditioner.

The journey begins and ends at Achiltibuie. In between there’s seventy gasping and groaning miles, though you’ll be oohing and aahing, too.

Pass mythical mountains including Sula Bheinn and Cùl Mòr, plus braw beaches and lush lochs.