In mid April we hosted the inaugural Bikes, Bees and Trees rally, a long distance cycling event with a plan to help people engage with the environments they are cycling through. The plan for the weekend was conservation work at our Dumyat site and tree planting at Glenaros with a hefty off-road cycle in between.
On the Friday morning a group of 10 met up including our Forest Manager Jamie Adcock, they quickly set off for a tour of the site by bike, grinding up the steep Logie Kirk road to the top of the site and up past the main Dumyat car park. Once into our core woodland creation area, where planting is well underway with 184 ha of mixed native broadleaf and Scots pine, the group learnt about how the land is being managed, including the benefits and impacts. It was then a fast, flowy descent back down the hill with stunning views of the Forth.
We then set out on our conservation project for the day; enhancing a habitat to benefit Northern brown argus butterflies. An area of the hillside is becoming dominated with gorse and broom which has almost entirely reduced the area of common Rock rose, the food plant of northern brown argus butterflies. We carefully removed areas of scrub and are working on promoting regeneration of rock rose both through direct seeding and later in the year will be planting plug plants.
Long distance cyclists are famously hungry people so after a late lunch of soup and sandwiches it was time to set off on our cycle towards the Isle of Mull. There was a wide variety of bike setups from comfort oriented touring bikes with large pannier bags with warm layers, comfy tents and snacks galore to ultralight bikepacking setups relying on their ability to push on fast and light. We all set off at 4pm knowing we had a good four and a half hours until night would set in and it was forecast to be a cold one.
The route started out on a rough old track climbing from Braco into the Doune windfarm, we were quickly rewarded with a high speed descent down to Callendar with grins ear to ear, the group gradually drifted apart as some pushed on fast while others took their time to enjoy the spring sunshine. We then joined cycle route 7 up the back of Loch Lubnaig and past Strathyre as the sun started to drop behind the hills and temperatures were into single digits.
Pulling into Killin, the Falls of Dochart inn was irresistible for some with a crackling open fire and venison stew on the menu. Most of the team camped up for the night between Killin and Glen Lyon, while Ailsa Beck pushed on right through the night in preparation for an upcoming ultra distance cycling race.
The highlight of the ride was the most remote area travelling through from Glen Lyon to joining the west highland way at Bridge of Orchy. It involved several river crossings, for most initially taking care on the first one to keep their feet dry before soon realising wet feet were inevitable. It had snowed the night before and we were riding right at the snowline. As the sun rose we finally felt some warmth come back into our freezing hands and feet and it turned into a truly incredible spring day, perfect for pushing on towards Oban to get the ferry out to Mull. Riding through Argyll on a sunny day is truly a special experience.
The team gradually arrived to Glenaros through the Saturday afternoon depending on the pace they had travelled and whether they had decided to stop for a beer in Oban. Stories were shared of experiences along the ride and we received a warm Glenaros welcome with the biggest vegetarian lasagna I’ve ever seen and a giant pot of Venison stovies, silence descended on the team as everyone tucked in to some well earned comfort food. Tents were pitched on the front lawn of the estate house and gradually everyone drifted off to bed.
We woke early on the Sunday to the smell of coffee and a large bowl of porridge. Plastic bags were put into soggy cycling shoes and off we went on a mission to plant 400 trees a few hundred metres from the main estate house. We planted a mixture of Sessile oak, Downy birch and Hawthorn. Once everyone had got their planting technique sorted they quickly got stuck in with occasional stops for chats about people’s cycling plans for summer and what events they may be doing. Discussions were had about how cycling and cycling events can become more sustainable with non recyclable waste being a hot topic.
The team went their separate ways at Sunday lunchtime with some making their way back home and others staying on Mull longer to experience more of what the area has to offer. We discussed what people enjoyed most about the event and what people would want to change so we can grow the event in the future. We’d like to make it accessible for a wider variety of people while also ensuring that it remains challenging as some of the most special experiences come from when you push your limits.
The event was organised by our Forest Manager Jamie Adcock working with The Racing Collective, a not for profit bikepacking club of self supported racers. They run low impact races across the UK and have been pioneers in pushing sustainability in bike racing.
Photography by Adventure Photographer, Tom Gibbs
What are we doing?
Here at the Future Forest Company, we are working tirelessly to increase forest cover in the UK. Our mission is to plant enough trees to remove one million tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by 2030. We plant native, broadleaf trees on our UK sites to aid biodiversity, creating thriving habitats for our depleted woodland-dependent wildlife.
What can you do?
Join us on our mission! Choosing to plant a tree with us means taking action to reverse climate change and restore biodiversity. All the trees we plant are native broadleaf species as part of our sustainable reforestation across the UK – always planting the right tree in the right place.
