I took the above autumnal photo of Schiehallion on the way to Kinloch Rannoch and my immediate thought was, that the predominant colour was, burnt sienna. Now, that is not a shade you hear mentioned very often. Golden brown, tawny, russet, chocolate, coffee, caramel?  but rarely burnt sienna. So, you have to ask yourself: why would such an obscure colour pop into my head. Perhaps you didn’t ask, never mind you can’t escape so I am going to tell you anyway. Memory is a mysterious thing. You can walk into a room and instantly forget what you went in for, yet vividly recall details from a childhood over sixty years ago. For some unfathomable reason, the colour burnt sienna, has always stuck with me.

After pulling on full gloves and a wind jacket, I set off through the village and headed along the northern loch road to connect with the road to Rannoch Station. I soon heated up and began to take in the glorious unending yellows and browns of the trees and hedgerows crowding the roadside. It was a spectacular show. The loch not to be outdone was as calm as a mirror and reflected perfectly its surroundings, creating an image where it was hard to tell exactly where the water ended and the shore began. It was simply not a day to hurry.

Once you reach the west end of the loch, the road to Rannoch Station is signposted: five miles ahead, a dead end. From here, the road starts to rise gently and the landscape undergoes a dramatic shift. With the River Gaur as your companion, the scenery turns bleaker and rough moorland becomes completely dominant. It has a brown, undulating, almost soulless feel, a bit like being in Mordor, or at least, that’s how I find it (perhaps it’s a bit more welcoming when the sun is splitting the sky).

Before long, however, the station appears, and a welcome coffee is at hand. Even if the café is closed, they usually have an honesty shop with tea, coffee, and biscuits available. There was no cake for me today; instead, I enjoyed a sandwich lovingly prepared for me before I left. It was just bread, butter, ham, and lettuce – four simple ingredients that tasted absolutely wonderful out there in the wilds. The return leg back to the loch is an easy five-mile cycle, where I eventually I took the turn-off to head down the south side of loch.

The return leg along the south side is a delightful road – slightly undulating to start with, but the views more than compensate for the effort. Once again, I found myself travelling through a tunnel of vibrant yellows and browns. The road is narrower on this side, very quiet, and boasts a good tarmac surface. With Perthshire in full autumn bloom, I had expected to see plenty of traffic, but I only encountered two cars the entire way – and thankfully neither driver thought they were on a racetrack.

The Route

This is an ideal route for someone who isn’t quite confident doing a longer ride. Fairly flat, good tarmac and quiet roads – miss the detour to Rannoch Station and the route is around 24 miles.