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Some pretty remote and rugged country there, some of it more suited to a mountain bike as others have said. This vid shows the limitations of a gravel bike on more broken terrain. If you are into geology you'd enjoy the Berwickshire Coastal Path - it runs close to Hutton's Unconformity near Cockburnspath.

A really enjoyable video - great balance of POV/roadside/handheld filming and helpful narration around the route and the conditions. A special shout-out to Frank for the spectacular aerial shots; watch out though, he's going to want his own channel. I cycle that area often but still found 'new' and interesting sections here, which I'll explore asap. Thanks for another quality film.

Just found this one Rusty - terrific video, particularly the drone footage, and hats off for braving those conditions, when most of us would consider it too cold for cycling. Risking frostbite and falls on the ice to show East Lothian in these conditions shows great commitment, so well done. I hope you gave the bike some TLC after this one.

A great comeback Rusty - fantastic route, informative commentary and bags of enthusiasm. You should take a 1 year break more often. Just kidding.

Wow, the scenery is so beautiful!

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Thanks for the route suggestion - did this today ( without the falls of branklin bit at the start, just straight up the road). After all the nice weather the last few days, was disappointingly low cloud today, but was quite atmospheric as the windmills appeared out of the mist 😂

In September 2024 Rusty had 2.63k subscribers. Excellent

Gravel bike, you say? I have used a Dawes hybrid with 700x38c marathon plus tyres for years...

Hey Rusty, If you could do it again and you had acces to a light full suss mtb or a gravel bike what would you choose?

A big day Rusty, with plenty of climbing - great effort! I've done the Minch Moor route along the Old Drove Road on a mountain bike; good to know it's doable on a gravel bike. The continuation of the Southern Upland Way from Traquair to St Mary's Loch gave some nice riding too, and quit a bit of pushing!

Just completed this route today! Beautiful and truly a blessing to see. I would not suggest doing this route past mid September into winter as the water crossings in the first 2 miles of Glen Almond were getting higher, especially with the increased rain lately. There was a lot of mud and the tracks were deep into water in the grassy section. It was a real adventure and had to carry the bike on the back to cross one of the streams just a bit up away from the path. Right before the gate within the long and taller stone wall. Other than that, I had to force myself not to stop so often to take pictures. Rusty, thank you for putting this together! You absolutely got my support. I used a gravel Ti bike with 42 (45-46mm in my HED rims) S-Works pathfinders. No spills and traction/control was superb, there are plenty of baby heads, knuckles everywhere and sharp rocks. Maje sure you come prepared and with proper gear.

A really nice video Rusty, well put-together and very helpul and informative for anyone wanting to follow in your tracks. The effort involved in the ride alone would be enough for most folks, so much respect for filming the trip and keeping your cool, mostly!

Great route and video! Do you think it would be possible to do this on just 40mm gravel tyres? I have an all road bike that can take a max of 40mm tyres.

Hi Rusty Just come across this video. Great memories of riding this route twice, both times from Ardgarten going clockwise. First time was in late 90's and then again in 2008. At the time I had a fairly basic MB with no suspension but a great trip with fantastic views if the weather is good. Doubt I could repeat it now!! ATB Paul

i was there last week i cycled from kirkcaldy up thornton and glenrothes up throughup through pitkevy farm road up by glasslie up the coal pit burn car park then was going to go up the hill on the bike but was a bit to steep i should have went the other way up at muirhead then went up the long steep section like what your doing but i chose the silly end lol but decided to leave it and cycle on i went to falkland had a pie then came along down the a912 road then all the way back down home i did go just before noon so i should have went earlier cause i got back about 5

Thoroughly enjoyed. Gravel roads look great. Thanks for posting. There used to be a wee cafe stop at Clatteringshaws but not sure if it's open all year round.

Your visor is peak noob Rusty, slide it up a bit for optimal vision and cool points ;-)

if you look on the strava gravel riding heat map, you’ll see that someone graveled down heartbreak ridge, that wasn’t you by any chance? 😂

Kudos to you for doing that ride. Coincidentally, I did it last week and, like you, I was severely out of my comfort zone. I have to admit that I did walk one or two sections, but rode far more than I had anticipated I would do. . However, I was glad of an E bike to get up to the top!

Great video! Probably one of the best I've seen on that route. I write this as someone with no more skill on an MTB than you, but you would really benefit from some lessons. Get yourself down to the Tweed Valley and get some coaching and it will transform your off-road riding. I also write that as someone who hasn't followed his own advice! I came to road cycling from MTB so from day one I was a lot faster downhill than most roadies and unfazed by loose surfaces and when I moved over/back to gravel I realised I have complete comfort there compared to most roadies. But as I dabble more on MTBs I am running up against my limitations and I know it is going to take a coaches eye to fix my errors as repeating the same errors time and time again don't make for improvement (this I know well as I am a strength and running coach). I remember seeing the very first video of you on a MTB and immediately thinking 'roadie on an MTB' from your body language and it is visible here comparing you and your brother. Having a drone follow you is an amazing coaching tool if you have the eyes to see what you are doing or not doing but being able to translate that into technique changes might take someone with experience of coaching too.

Try and get yourself lower on the bike, bending your knees more - but do stay central. Think about raising your brake levers to be nearer the horizontal. Use a higher gear, means if you do pedal it'll be 'smoother' but more importantly keeps the mech up and more out of the way of rocks etc. Also put your garmin onto the top tube, using a mount plus bands - when you do crash you'll thank me.

Nice one, great video. Really enjoyed seeing Arran from another perspective. It is a cracking island, and we enjoyed some fab gravel north and south of Brodick a few years ago. Its amazing the different views you can get just off the main coastal road, isn't it? Makes me want to go back!

You did really well 👏

Longer than you think 😊

Great video - the drone work was really good! showed the trail really well.

HBR is an absolute classic. wonderful, wonderful trail.

frank rules!

remarkable content, great edit. thanks

When I do MTB rides like that, I always regret not being able to enjoy the views. You really have to concentrate on the track ahead.

I did something like that on a corporate day many years ago. I.e. mountain bike hire at Ballater and then they drove us to Braemar and we did some quite technical trails. Like you, I was well out of my comfort zone although very enjoyable day out

Next stop enduro on the Nevis Range?

So beautiful.

Zig zags are pretty difficult on a gravel bike. Did them in May this year. Wishing I had the MTB for them.

Ben Lomond is a great munro for a MTB descent. Hike a bike up mostly though!

Great videi

I fell off just after Laggan cottage, I was tired and the front wheel went into bog……over the bars I went 😢 bashed up my leg and was worried I’d broken it for a few minutes, the thought of trying to get out of there as it’s so isolated with nobody or even a road to get out, managed ok and eventually made it back to Brodick. DJI Mini 4 pro drone?

Rusty, that looked like a truly fantastic day. The colour on the landscape and water made it look, really spectacular. There a cracking old video on RUclips, from Pathe I think, showing the construction of Lubreoch Dam. Very interesting and enjoyable, just like your video. Best wishes.

Looks a stunning ride what ferry did you use and how did you transport your gear etc did you have a little helper

Brilliant video - we did Arran on the road bikes last year and thoroughly enjoyed it, although a bit busy at times. To see a route for the MTB's is great! may well be tempted to use the ebike though ... looks fantastic - thank you so much

Arran is one of my favourite places in Scotland. Only ever ridden the roads though. Are you a geologist, Rusty? Watching this was like spending time with my sister!

So the millionaires yacht was yours ?!!great video. Definitely going to try by this and mix in the earlier route comments

I’m only a mile from the ferry and really don’t get across enough. Mind you I don’t think I’ll be rushing across with my MTB to do that route it looks a total tic fest in places. I’ll stick to the nice gravel and roads😂

Another great video, Rusty. And thanks for another Geology lesson :)

Hi Rusty, glad you are back videoing your rides. I really loved this one as the aerial footage is fantastic. I live on Arran & road, MTB & gravel, ride these roads, trails all the time which as you say are fantastic. The trail south from the top of thre Brodick hill where you turned right & came down that very narrow over grown track, has a much much nicer trail down the side of the road into Lamlash, where you can cycle through the Village to Dyemill & continue the way you went. You can also carry on instead of heading round Glenashdale falls, to Kilmory by staying on the main trail, which is also extremely gravel friendly. That too has a couple of options for extra routes, making the southend a mecca for gravel riding, if you just want to gravel here. You'll probaly already know all this from Komoot, I know you were following the route from the Visit Arran website & the Arran MTB pages which have some great rides. Arran has something for all types of riders. Thanks for showing the Island in such fantastic form. Definitely four seasons in one day.

White poles are part of measured mile used by ships built on the Clyde undergoing sea trials. There is another set at Sannox

Nice one Rusty I rode round on mb after riding up to corryvreckan on Jura 12 years ago. Left car in secure parking in adrosan for 7 nights for anyone wanting to take bike tent etc its super cheap parking 🍻👍

Fantastic video once again. Great day for it. Pretty sure the poles you were pointing out wete BT telegraph poles, ive worked on them over there, never had the same weather as you 😂 thanks again