The 'Bicycle Tree', found near Brig o' Turk in Scotland, has consumed an entire bike that now hangs out of its bark.
The Tree That Ate a Bicycle in the Scottish Highlands
In the Scottish Trossachs, about half a mile north of the village of Brig o' Turk, stands one of nature's most bizarre curiosities: a tree that has eaten a bicycle. The frame and handlebars of an early 20th-century bike protrude from the bark like mechanical bones, seemingly swallowed whole by the living wood.
But the bicycle is just the appetizer. This hungry sycamore has also consumed horseshoes, nails, chains, and dozens of other iron scraps, all partially or completely encased in its trunk.
How Does a Tree Eat Metal?
The Bicycle Tree didn't develop a taste for iron—it simply grew in the wrong (or right) place at the wrong (or right) time. The sycamore self-seeded sometime between 1860 and 1900 on or near the site of a blacksmith's scrap heap. As the young tree grew, it slowly expanded around the metal debris scattered on the ground and hung on its branches.
When the blacksmith died in 1923, the smithy closed and the land was abandoned. Without anyone to clear the scrap, the tree had free rein to continue its decades-long consumption. The growth rings added layer upon layer of wood, gradually enveloping the metal objects in a woody embrace.
The WWI Legend
Local folklore has romanticized the bicycle's fate. According to one popular tale, the bike belonged to a young villager conscripted to fight in World War I. He leaned it against the tree before departing, expecting to retrieve it when he returned.
Some versions claim he died in combat. Others say he was simply away so long that by the time he came home, the tree had already swallowed his bicycle. While it makes for a poignant story, historians believe the bike was more likely just another piece of scrap from the blacksmith's collection.
Scotland's Greatest Arboricultural Curiosity
The Bicycle Tree became a tourist attraction in the late 1990s and has been described as "one of Scotland's greatest arboricultural curiosities." Hikers make the pilgrimage to witness this botanical oddity, snapping photos of the rusty handlebars jutting from the bark at chest height.
In March 2016, recognizing both its natural and cultural significance, the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park Authority granted the tree official protection with a Tree Preservation Order. It's now legally safeguarded against damage or removal.
The phenomenon isn't unique to Scotland—trees around the world have been known to consume fence posts, street signs, and even rifles. But few have done so with quite the same dramatic flair as the Bicycle Tree of Brig o' Turk, where an entire bicycle appears to be growing out of living wood, as if the tree decided one day to go for a ride and simply absorbed the bike in the process.