[Closed] Anyone remember my asking for route advice re Aviemore to Blair Atholl last week

Yes? No? Anyway it was on this thread [url= http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/route-gurus-helpaviemore-to-blair-atholl ]HERE[/url]....

Anyway if you are considering Lairig Ghru route, just don't! Despite 13thFloorMonk and others warning us off, we did it yesterday...howling winds,driving rain, unrideable trails. What an epic...

Started the day with one of our party being forcibly ill from both ends, insisting he was ok to go for it.(turns out he was) then the arduous slog up the rock strewn path from Rothiemurcus Forest. Just when I thought it couldn't get worse we reached the boulder field. And that, coincidentally, was when the rain kicked in for real...so after much tottering about in SPDs and we were across.

On the other side progress was slowed by the massive water bar features designed to aid drainage. I suppose a few of them would have been rideable/hoppable on another day, in another place(like a nice safe trail centre) but the fact we were P1ss Wet Through and freezing meant more carrying than hopping. I for one did not fancy lying in a foil blanket awaiting the arrival of a helicopter...the bothy came at exactly the right time so we got in there for some much needed shelter, food and to wring out the socks...

Mercifully when we re-emerged from the hut the rain had more less stopped so we started off in better spirits. This didn't last long as two of the four rode past the junction we intended on taking to head down the glen to White Bridge...despite our frantic whistling they were out of earshot and heading towards the Linns of Dee and Braemar...anyway the two backmarkers didnt fancy the extra riding this detour was going to add on to our day, so we followed, hoping they woukd soon notice we were a fair bit behind and stop/wait..eventually they came crawling back into the northerly wind we'd had behind us all day so far. We explained we'd missed the junction and were going to cut over the heather to get to the intended path, so they set off back to try and see where they'd gone wrong...we watched them dissappear back up the trail and reached the track within 5 minutes. The riding here was actually pleasant apart from one extended bog, where a couple of over the bar mud incidents did ensue, and eventually we reached White Bridge...here we discussed bailing out because of the painfully slow progress we were making but all four decided we should finish our day...

After a bizarre meeting with a bearded man on an aging Giant with upturned drop bars, we set off for the second leg of our journey. Three river crossings(only one dunking) later and we were at last making relatively swift progress on landrover tracks towards the head of Glen Tilt. Suddenly i felt absolutely drained, and happily this coincided with some lovely singletrack descents/traverse alongside a sheer drop to the river way below. My pal took a photo ospf me riing over the Bridge at Falls of Tarf, I distinctly remember forcing a smile, but the camera never lies they say, and the dark look on my face says it all.

So after many silly wee dabs and mishaps, thankfully I managed not to tumble to the river bed below, and we were on the landy tracks back down to Blair Atholl. In keeping with the varios problems/challenges we'd encountered, my front brake was down to metal on metal and grabbing badly. Too tired to get off and swap in a new set of pads, I pootled onwards, this made what should have been a final, fast freewheel into town into torture...every small short incline near nough brought me to a standstill...should have changed pads really.

So after setting off at 0710 from the Bunkhouse in Aviemore, we coasted into the carpark at 1830ish. A quick chnge into dry gear and four fish suppers were inhaled in record time. Then we were on the road back to Aviemore to pick up the other van...eventually fell into the house at 2320. Aching, exhausted and happy.

What a day!