Words and Filming: Tom Caldwell
Photography: Ben Winder
What comes to mind when you think of Fort William? Exactly, that famous downhill track. Well, boot that from your head, because for A Slice of British Pie section 3, we dove towards the real tracks that Fort William has to offer. Steep, outrageous trails hidden away from plain sight and certainly out of the public eye that falls upon the town every June.
The outlook was bleak driving past Glasgow in heavy snowfall, but filming began by boiling a kettle to defrost EVERYTHING, and that pretty much set the tone – minus 6, frosty ruts, and very, very cold ears. We sat down in Wetherspoons with Liam Moynihan of the Dudes of Hazzard, and the up and comer Lachlan Blair as soon as we arrived, to try and rally as many Scottish riders to Fort William as possible. Kenta Gallagher, Rampage Ryan and Ben Cathro joined us. Cathro was the only one rocking a 29er – and was dually mocked for this – but holy cow he can ride the balls off of that thing. I didn’t know 6” 7’ could go round corners like that!
HERE’S 5 THINGS ABOUT SECTION 3 YOU WOULDN’T KNOW WITHOUT FILM MAKER TOM CALDWELL TELLING YOU…
On the first day of filming, I had to spend 20 minutes unfreezing the locks on my car, it was 7am and about minus 5. In Fort William, that feels a lot colder!
