Touring Attire

I'll be looking more like the guy on the left. It's all about the socks.

Overall Route for Loch and Glens Bike Trip June 2026

I worked a bit with Gen AI (Gemini) to create a full trip GPX from each of my daily expected routes. The resolution provided is not quite navigable, but I did get an overview that is fairly accurate. Just follow the line in a generally clockwise fashion from Glasgow. 

 Gemini summarized the tour fairly accurately and succinctly with the following description:

Route Landmarks and Geography

• The Southern Start: The route departs Glasgow and follows the Forth and Clyde Canal corridor toward the Campsie Fells.

• The Trossachs: You then head west into the National Park, navigating between Loch Venachar, Loch Katrine, and Aberfoyle via the Duke's Pass.

• Highland Ascent: The track turns north, climbing through the rail-trail corridor of Glen Ogle to reach Killin and the shores of Loch Tay.

• The Northern Loop: After reaching Pitlochry, the route includes your excursions to Tummel Bridge and Old Blair before heading south.

• The Descent to Stirling: The return leg follows the National Cycle Route 77 through Perthshire and Dunblane into Stirling, before the final climb over Tak-Ma-Doon Rd back into the Glasgow basin.

Making the Highlands Climbing easier?

I decided to rent a modern bike with 7 (rear) x 3  (front) = 21 "speeds" rather than bring my 1971 Raleigh Sports fitted with a 3 speed Sturmey Archer internal gear hub. (Actually, I own and can alternatively fit the Raleigh with a wheel that has a 3 speed Shimano Nexus internal gear hub.)

In any case, back in the 1920's, this ad indicated that "3 is all you need":

To me, it's not the number of gear ratio combinations. More importantly, it's the available low / high  range. It is nice to have a finer resolution of gear ratio combinations between the low and high, but to me, that's not critical.

For example, my 2016 Trek Verve 2, also a 7 x 3 geared bicycle, has the following gear inch values across its range of combinations:

Trek Verve 2		Tire Circumference mm (measured)
Tire diameter in inches		Tire Size 37-622 700 x 35 cm
27.50	Front # Teeth	Front # Teeth	Front # Teeth
Rear # Teeth	28	38	48
34	22.65	30.74	38.82
24	32.08	43.54	55.00
22	35.00	47.50	60.00
20	38.50	52.25	66.00
18	42.78	58.06	73.33
16	48.13	65.31	82.50
14	55.00	74.64	94.29

The Raleigh with the Sturmey Archer AW 3 Speed has the following gear inch values:

Raleigh with AW Hub
Tire diameter in inches	Rear # Teeth	Front Chainweel # Teeth
26.00	22	48
Gear 1 reduction	Gear 2 Direct (1:1)	Gear 3 Increase
-25.00%		33.00%
42.55	56.73	75.45

So, the Raleigh with the Sturmey Archer AW hub has a low gear equivalent to a frequency used low gear I apply on the Trek Verve 2, and a high gear equivalent similar to a high gear I use on the Trek. I have more range on the Trek, and finer resolution between gears, but it's not that dissimilar. 

The BBC Scotland Seagull Story

 Listening to this program is tuning my ears to Scottish English ...

Check out this clip from today's broadcast conveying a funny seagull story. 

Seagull on Niles Beach, Gloucester, Massachusetts