Glentrool Big Country Route pt2

Part #2 of the Glentrool Big Country Route (GBCR). Approx 35 miles / 3700ft ascent of, well, let's be honest, fire road, and minor tarmac roads. This isn't any issue whatsoever if you are after a BIG XC style day out with fantastic scenery and views, which is what we wanted.
This abridged clip (misses out a lot of pedaling, especially the uphill bits) and starts at marker post 8 (the route starts at the trailhead. Getting to marker post 8 is simply a case of pedaling along a tarmac forest road) We leave the route at marker post 24 (where we originally joined the route) and head to our digs by riding through Kirroughtree utilizing some of the fab blue/red trails.
As a bonus we've included one section of a recently upgraded blue trail at Glentrool, we rode this as part of our ride up The Merrick, it's a sweet little trail which gave us a smile in the grim weather.
The route is ideal for any type of bike, except long travel (160mm+), as there is nothing but an awful lot of pedaling or rolling downhill, over terrain that any hybrid bike could handle pretty well enough. We had almost perfect weather and found this to be a great all-day XC ride, as we stopped at the viewpoints, picnicked at the Loch's, etc.
We started at our digs on the Cairnsmore Estate and rode in via the outskirts Kirroughtree and came back along a few of the Kirroughtree blue/red trails. This added around another 12 miles and 1000 ft of ascent to the ride.
#bethebestyoucan