Just an old man riding his bike: Day 2: Loch Venakar, Glen Finglas and The Meall......oh, and Stirling Community Hospital

Callander meadows

Was it a sign? If it was a sign, I wish it had come with trumpets blaring and a huge bright yellow flag| Parked up at Callander Meadows car park, which was Pay & Display. No problem, I thought it might be. Went to the parking meter, cash (coins) only - problem, I only had a £20 note. No problem, off to Tesco Express to buy something, bottle of water for later, head to tills, ooh, some protein bars. that'll be good also. Head back to car park with change, £1.40 in coins, charge was £3.20, didn't think that one through! At that point I was seriously considering jacking off the ride and heading off to Aberdeenshire......if only. Back to Tesco, buy a sandwich, back to meter to put coins in, £1, £1, 20p, 20p.....looked down for another £1 only to discover I only has a £2 coin. Aaaargh. Still, it was a lovely day, so chucked it in and set off for what I was hoping was going to be a cracking ride.

Out of Callander, the route led onto a "walker and cyclist friendly road", which it was, before turning off onto an undulating and twisting gravelly path alongside Loch Venakar, where tourists were parked on the lochside and swimming in the water. This eventually turned out onto a forest road and led through a farm offering ice-cream (open an hour after I passed). Here I caught up with an elderly couple on narrow tyred hybrid bikes who were on a family cycling holiday, and exchanged pleasantries.

Shortly after, the road turned over a lovely stone bridge, and then passed a pub with a London Routemaster bus in the car park! One of us must have taken a wrong turning.

The route then followed the A821 to Brig O' Turk, where I went left, passing a tearoom - this time I knew it would be closed as it only opened Friday to Sunday. The road continued upwards, passing a school and eventually onto a farm track, not before I had cycled past a couple walking their dog - I had to ring my bell as I didn't have enough breath to call out!

The road eventually became an undulating farm track, with lambing sheep again, and soon I was treated to some glorious views of Glen Finglas reservoir.

The route then came to a split point, and I turned off to follow the Allt Gleanne nam Meann river (stream?). This gravel track undulated for a couple of miles before finally cresting out, following some more pushing, at a cairn.

What goes up, must of course come down. What followed was a long downhill run of reasonable surface and occasional very steep ramps, including one that looked suspiciously like a dry ski slope! I took this carefully, but unfortunately came across a tricky rocky surface just round a corner, hit a rock, my front wheel got thrown and I came down heavily. Picking myself up, I found I had a lot of pain in my right shoulder, which I couldn't lift above chest height. Worse, I found I couldn't hold onto the bars when I tried to continue riding downhill, so for the first time in my cycling life I actually walked downhill.

Beware rocks!

Fortunately after about half a mile the track eased off, and I found I could ride again, although still needing to get off and push up the rockier slopes. Eventually I got back to the split point from where I was able to ride all the way back. I ditched my plan of following a forest path back to Callander in favour of the road, it being smoother and less likely to necessitate more pushing, and finally turned back onto the disused railway back to Callander Meadows and my car.

A trip to the very lovely people at Stirling Community Hospital confirmed that I had a fractured clavicle, and after much soul searching I decided that was the end of my holiday. Disappointing, as I was really looking forward to visiting Aberdeenshire again, but at least I can now include other rides (the distillery laden Isla Way for example) when I return later.