Concealed in the Clackmannanshire countryside is a secret little cycle path that connects Alloa with Dollar. Secret perhaps to you and me but not to the people who live close by for it's a well used route. It's called the Devon Way and runs for seven miles, mostly using the bed of an old railway line.
The route is bounded by trees and hedgerows which in May are bursting with spring greens and birdsong. And when there's a breeze, there is a blizzard of blossom. Above the trees the steep Ochil Hills rise to the north. I agreed with my dad when he said the Ochils seemed very distant when we started in Alloa but over the few miles to Dollar, they had really closed in above us.
So flat and easy and pleasant was the route that we seemed to be magically whisked to our destination in no time at all, oblivious to the world beyond our tunnel of green. I'll therefore always think of the Devon Way as a kind of teleporter.
Fact File
Start/finish: Alloa train station.
Route: exit the train station and turn right. There is immediately a pedestrian bridge over the railway - this is the start of the Devon Way and is signed for NCN767/Tillicoultry although it goes all the way to Dollar. At the end of the route it's worth going into Dollar for a view or walk up Dollar Glen. We returned by the same route to Alloa. Except for one very small hill, the route is flat and easy and all off-road.
