Our logo represents the core and spirit of Raiders Gravel – and it’s pretty dang beautiful, if we do say so ourselves. Let us take you through the inspirations and muses behind the design of the Raiders Gravel logo, and you might just learn something new about our event location!
Our logo was inspired by the natural characteristics of the South of Scotland, where our event will take place, as well as the history of the bicycle, and our passion for gravel.
1. Hills and peaks
The ‘peak’ of the Raiders Gravel logo pays homage to the hills and mountains of the South of Scotland.
Within Galloway Forest Park is the highest mountain in the South of Scotland: the Merrick. At 843m, the Merrick towers over the forest, providing a fantastic view of it.
The South of Scotland is also home to Scotland’s highest village: Wanlockhead. The village inspired Robert Burns’ poem ‘Pegasus at Wanlockhead’.
2. Dumfries and Galloway
As the home of Raiders Gravel, the beautiful region of Dumfries and Galloway deserved a mention in our logo.
Among its rich history, Dumfries and Galloway also flaunts close ties to the history of the bike and modern cycling. It’s no wonder that with these ties, the best cycling routes in the UK would be found here.
The Dumfries and Galloway native, Kirkpatrick Macmillan, is credited with inventing the first pedal-driven bike in 1840. Without this innovation, our sport wouldn’t exist!
3. Raiders Gravel
Raiders Gravel? Hey, that’s us! Obviously, we had to incorporate our own name in the logo…
The story of why we’re called Raiders Gravel is kind of long, but it has a lot to do with the history of Galloway and the Raiders Road. We hint at some of this history in our ‘Potato Smugglers’ blog post – give it a read!
Something fun we included in this part of the logo is a nod to the fabulous gravel tracks in this region – you can see the track cutting through our event name!
4. The viaduct
The viaduct is an iconic part of Raiders Gravel: you have probably spotted it in many of our photos!
The viaduct depicted in the logo and in many of our pictures is the Big Water of Fleet Viaduct, found just outside Gatehouse of Fleet. It was built in 1861 and stands at a massive 70ft tall!
The viaduct stopped being used by trains in 1965, but it remains standing in Galloway Forest Park. You’ll actually pass by and under it in all three stages of Raiders Gravel! And yes, those are little bike chains running across the viaduct in our logo: we’ll take any chance we have to shout out our favourite sport!
5. The lochs
The lines at the bottom of the logo are intended to resemble the ripples in the water of the many lochs in the South of Scotland.
Lochs are iconic to the country of Scotland as a whole, but they’re also a big part of Raiders Gravel in particular. Our routes will take you past four main lochs: Stroan Loch, Loch Grannoch, Loch Skerrow, and Clatteringshaws Loch, where one of the pit-stops will be located.
However, you’re very likely to see many more lochs as you ride. After all, there are over 30,000 lochs in Scotland…
