All the cycling data and info you'll need to climb Rest and Be Thankful (SW #68)

Monument originally placed in 1753.

Photo from Canmore.org

This climb is a bit of a GCC outlier, situated in southwestern Scotland near the North Atlantic Sea and within Scotland’s Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park.  Loch Lomond is the largest lake in Britain and some argue it is also the most beautiful.

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This climb is fairly wooded and follows River Goll for its first 2½ kilometers.  The first 1.5 kilometers are very mild at 2.8%, followed by 2.6 kilometers at 7.4% to the top of the climb.  Continue downhill for one kilometer at -4.2% to the Rest and Be Thankful Car Park and the replica Rest and Be Thankful monument.  

We didn’t experience 16%.  This is a mild climb with a high of 12%.

Steepest 1/2 kilometer begins at km 3.1 (11.7%).

This climb is fully within the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park in Scotland (186,500 hectares/460,852 acres, established in 2002):

“Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park...is a national park in Scotland centred on Loch Lomond, and includes several ranges of hills and the Trossachs. It was the first of the two national parks established by the Scottish Parliament in 2002, the second being the Cairngorms National Park.

The park is the fourth largest in the British Isles, with a total area of 1,865 km2 (720 sq mi) and a boundary of some 350 km (220 mi) in length. It includes 21 Munros (including Ben Lomond, Ben Lui, Beinn Challuim, Ben More and two peaks called Ben Vorlich), 19 Corbetts, two forest parks (Queen Elizabeth and Argyll) and 57 designated special nature conservation sites.

15,600 people live in the park, which is customarily split into four sections: Breadalbane, Loch Lomond, The Trossachs, and Argyll Forest Park.

The park consists of many mountains and lochs, and the principal attractions are scenery, walking, and wildlife.

For walkers seeking a challenge, the West Highland Way passes through the park, while the mountains of Ben Lomond in Dunbartonshire and The Cobbler in the Arrochar Alps on the Cowal Peninsula attract most hikers. Less intrepid visitors can detour from the A82 to view the Falls of Dochart.

There is a national park visitor centre at the southern end of Loch Lomond, called Loch Lomond Shores in Balloch, which includes a visitor information centre at the most popular gateway to the park, as well as an aquarium, shops and restaurants.

On Loch Katrine, visitors can travel on the historic steamship SS Sir Walter Scott, while cruises on Loch Lomond can be taken from Tarbet, Argyll and Bute and Balloch; there is also an extensive water taxi service between most lochside communities” (Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park in Scotland).

Cyclinguphill.com writes:

“Rest and be Thankful is a climb in Western Scotland, not too far from Loch Lomond. It is steady for the first mile, and then gradually increases in steepness giving a ski jump profile. But, although it is a testing climb, it never gets really steep, perhaps hitting 15% for a short time, but mostly averaging 10% for the last mile or so. The climb joins the A83 road. It is at the junction between the B828 and A83 where there is a sign with the words ‘REST & BE THANKFUL’ inscribed on a stone, by the soldiers who built the military road in 1753” (More).