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I think the two people who are a fan of this thread might have been wondering where it had got to- well, here it is! There was a bit of a delay because I was holding out for one more before Christmas and just managed to sneak it in. I’ve only managed ten this year since Covid shat all over everything but it’s been a year of quality over quantity.
As ever, feel free to post up your own adventures in the replies.
[b]Ben Chonzie[/b]
I can’t remember going up a mountain in January before but the weather this year has been a bit odd. A mild start to the year and a group of friends (remember them?) wanting to ride at Comrie Croft before heading back to work gave me the opportunity.
Chonzie’s not that exciting - it was January, I was on my hardtail and absolutely nothing scary happened. It’s basically a savage fireroad climb and descent but fun all the same. I’d not do it without Comrie Croft afterwards, but I don’t find Comrie that thrilling either. The two together is a nicer day out than either on its own, they compliment each other nicely.
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[b]Carn a Chlamain[/b]
Then came the long wait. A glorious April and May came and went, followed by a rare decent June. Then we were allowed out and my first stop was as local as I could get while doing something new. I was meeting someone for a ride the following day and took a flier from work, put an airbed in the van so I could sleep in the car park at the Glen Tilt car park and headed up Carn a Chlamain in the evening.
The climb is a brutal landrover track but entirely rideable if you’re strong, even allowing for the fact that you have to ride a good 7 miles or so to even get to the foot of it. It’s difficult to describe how glorious it was to be back in the hills again after so long - the vast expanse of Cairngorms to the north and east, the peacefulness. It was wonderful.
The descent is a serious set of tight switchbacks, excellent fun and pretty fast. First, though, you have to survive a very short, fifty metres or so, set of turns in some really loose head sized rocks with a plunge to your right. It got the heart racing nicely.
I also got my first taste of my favourite mountain food of the year - McVities ginger cake, squashed for several hours at the bottom of a backpack. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
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[b]Beinn a Ghlo[/b]
After a night in the back of my work van, I got up early and went to meet a friend to ride the three munros that make up Beinn a Ghlo - Carn Liath, Braigh Coire and Carn Nan Gabhar. I’d seen on Strava that a few people had plummeted south off the face of Carn Nan Gabhar but when we got there it just wasn’t a goer - having already ticked off the three summits we were forced to retrace our steps and head down a boggy track between the two larger peaks.
The descent of Carn Liath is the best of the three when ridden this way, but I can’t help feeling that there’s a better way of riding these three summits. I’d ended up on the boggy track about 10 years ago and it was a pain then - maybe off to the north will work, but that’d make it a much bigger day out.
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[b]Beinn Dearg[/b]
Another short hop up the A9 later in the year let me ride up to another hill I’d spotted on the map when scoping out Carn a Chalamain - Beinn Dearg. This one’s pretty remote as a summit, with a long landrover track bash to get there. The landscape round here is weird - stereotypical Cairngorm shooting estate desert and apart from one cow we saw no wildlife. No birds. No rabbits. Nothing. It was a terrible advert for the management of estates in Scotland.
However, the ride itself is very pleasant. Not mega hard, but very fast and fun and in a magnificent setting. You pick your way through a Cairngorm boulder field before the trail turns into a fast, scalextric style gravel singletrack that spirals its way back down the hill. One of the surprising highlights was the bit of singletrack just before you get back to the Glen Tilt car park, a great swoopy trail through the woods. We finished it all off with a swim in the Tilt.
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[b]St Sunday Crag[/b]
This was the highlight of the year for me, no question. A trip south for work and a pal who lives in the Lakes and can play out on bikes during the week was a recipe for success. The climb is savage - absolutely straight up the face of the hill, no messing about at all. It’s hike-a-bike pretty much from the moment you get off the tarmac.
The rewards are enormous. A fast and flowing ridgeline trail suddenly dives north down the hillside, becoming very technical, very steep and twisty. Not every corner goes, with tight switchback after tight switchback testing your skill before you even get to the bloody great big boulders everywhere.
Eventually you’re spat out at the bottom of Dollywaggon Pike and we took the Grisedale descent back to the car. This in itself is a gem of a trail, and it ends up your descent mileage is twice as long as your ascent. Highly recommended.
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[b]Sgor Gaoith[/b]
My first ride on truly familiar ground - I only did this last year but it bore repeating. We’d planned to do something much more dramatic up at Fisherfield but my riding partner had just set the record for the Cairngorm Loop and his legs were toast so we stuck to something not too mental, just midgey.
It was every bit as good as I remembered but with the advantage that it’s now become popular enough that a proper path exists at the top. Wild and boggy at the top, the trail suddenly turns into a well maintained and very fast twisty trail about halfway down. The top lived up to its name - it was windy enough to knock you about up there, and, as every, there was no view.
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[b]Ben Vorlich and Ben Ledi[/b]
A glorious day towards the end of August left me undecided as to where to ride. I had a full day but was alone so didn’t want anything too serious. Tossing up between Ben Ledi and Ben Vorlich, two familiar southern Perthshire Highland hills, I wondered why shouldn’t I do them both?
It’s not a ride for everyone this - 40 odd miles, nigh on 8,000ft of ascent and a long cycle path stretch in the middle, but I bloody loved it. Sunshine, clear-ish trails and that feeling of satisfied exhaustion which makes a day out truly special.
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[b]Heron Pike[/b]
This was the last one before the Covid rules changed and I couldn’t leave the limits of the city. Another one on the Helvellyn massif it’s a surprisingly lively trail with big rocky features, gnadgery turns and some seriously greasy steps. It’s also not that long - it’s easy to tie in with any ride starting from the Rydal area.
The only downside for us is that it was unbelievably wet. We’d hoped to do more but were trapped in Whintlatter the day before by the weather. You know you’ve had a damp one when your saddle is fizzy at the end.
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[b]Ben Vrackie[/b]
And this was it - a trip to Perthshire for work and a sprinkling of just the right snow for riding bikes on meant I stuck about after I’d finished and headed up Ben Vrackie at the back of Pitlochry.
Most years I don’t go up a mountain in January or December, let alone both. I’d hoped to do some of the Glenshee summits but the MWIS forecast said “gales” and “a bitterly cold day in the mountains, -20C with windchill” so I sacked that idea off. The wind up top was savage but the trail up and down Vrackie is sheltered by the slopes of the hill and so it was a perfect day out.
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Bookmarking for future reading.
Only seems like a couple of months since last years thread
Superb stuff
Oh yes.
I do think A'Ghlo is best done up Glen Tilt, hike up the North slope of Meall a'Mhuirich from the bridge in Glen Tilt. You then traverse North East-South West with the descent down Carn Liath to finish.
More pics of the lurcher please!
Curious to read about St Sunday Crag. Walked up once to do the scramble but we couldn't locate the start and most was descending. Would never have known / thought to bike up there.
Good reading, if very envy-generating.
Absolutely love these threads. I spent so many happy times in the mountains (Wales), pre-kids!!
Ace! We're there any hares on Chonzie? It's usually mobbed, mind the Lurcher would soon see them off 🙃
Superb thread. What a great ride and read.
Fantastic, inspirational, will aim to tick some of those of this year 👍.
Thank you!
Good work Luke
I think you will find that I am a fan of this regular thread too!
What camera are you using these days? Some lovely shots in there!
Ben Chonzie - rode it once with a monster tailwind which became 80 to 90 up top. Our bikes were like shit kites as the back wheels blew in the air as we crept our way to the summit. Ended up having to drop into Glen Turret as going back the main path would have been more crawl than riding. Good day though!
Cheers
Sanny
Nice; making the best of a difficult situation and getting some decent days out by the look of it.
Am intrigued by Beinn Dearg, that's not one that has been on my radar before now; How did you tackle the approach, did you go in via Glen Bruar or up past the shooting range? By 'spiral', do you mean that you went north off the top and then around by the west face to return to the ascent route?
I've only had a few days on proper hills this year. Once on Sgorr Gaoith, descending on the Mule Trail instead of the Stalkers' Path this time. Then once on Ben MacDhui, a shorter day ride by carrying up Sron Riach and descending the usual Etchachan/Hutchison/Derry route.
Plus twice up Beinn a Bhuird (on separate days and with different folk). Only one short, 3 day bikepacking tour in a circle around the central Highlands with the Mrs. Oh aye, and a bike/ferry tour on Islay back in August, that was ace...
Re St Sunday Crag
I rode it in the other direction and much preferred it. My mate Pete and I did it on a windy day just after Storm Desmond. At the summit, a gust hit us then spun us around 180 degrees and blew us about ten metres down the trail with brakes locked on!😯
Cracking descent mind.
Rode a peach of a ride over the snow covered Kilpatricks yesterday. Great ride until we reached Loch Humphrey when we came across big groups of young guys stinking of booze and weed. It was like a scene from Cheech and Chong! Fair to say the social distancing message hasn't reached them in the last nine months!😉
What big rides have you got planned? I am meant to be doing the Buchaille again for a feature but the snow is putting paid to that at the moment. 😕
Ace as ever.
Some superb images there
Stunning views. The forum needs a like button.
St Sunday- the trail we rode was (on the OS 1:25k) from the D of Deepdale Hause to the S of Stepping Stones at Grisedale Tarn. It's a black dashed trail. It was just my sort of thing - very slow, gnadgery and twisty. My friends say I like trails that are awkward and that probably sums it up best.
Being Dearg- we rode up past the shooting range then back towards Glen Bruar but turned left and went down the glen between Bruar and the shooting range. The extra single track on that route makes it much more worthwhile than out and back. When I say it spirals down, it's more how it feels - it starts with a straight line descent then you just seem to keep turning left! It's not a world beater but it's a nice day out.
I didn't see any hares on Chonzie. In fact most of the exciting wildlife I've seen this year has been from home in the Pentlands. I'm lucky that these are so close, some days they do good impressions of Munros- like today!
As for next year, who knows? This summer was mostly taken up with seeing friends we hadn't been allowed to see for a long time and going places we hadn't been able to go. Hopefully next summer we'll have time and opportunity to do ALL the things we love - seeing friends, riding bikes and sometimes both at the same time!
Sanny - most of my shots on my solo rides are with my phone but the rest are with a Nikon J5 mirror less SLR that I've had for a few years. I got a new lens for it last year that lets me take the photos I want to take more easily though, and I think that's the effect you're seeing here.