You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
I'm going to Aviemore over Easter, and I just googled for trails and found this:
It says 50km and 1200m of ascent, but the time they suggest is 15 hours! Is it all pushing through bogs or something?
Anyone got any other suggestions for a classic 3-5 hour loop? Ideally from Glenmore.
That's going through Lairig ghru, it's a lovely sweetflowing ribbon of singletrack, take you an hour tops, mind let us know how you get on.
Not so much peat bog as endless boulderfield of despair. There is some good riding on it but lots of carrying too.
I ran that route in November in some really really rotten weather and it took 8 hrs. I don't think the bike would be any quicker might even be slower but 15hrs seems excessive.
Avoid avoid avoid (on a bike anyway).
You’ll spend way more time
Hike a bike than pedalling. Probably even more challenging at Easter when high river levels and damper conditions will add to the challenge.
Look at Badaguish, lower Lairigh Ghru and High Burnside for techy trails.
Or Burma Road, Glenfeshie, Ryvoan-sluggan if want something more about the miles and scenery.
I'll send you a couple of gpx files later, once I'm at PC.
Get in touch nearer the time and I can also give you an update on trail conditions.
Possibly meet up for a ride and beer too?
PS the lower bit of the Lairig Ghru track from its junction with the Rothiemurchus Lodge track is lovely. Higher up there is an extensive boulder field that will take you a couple of hours to cross, carrying and pushing your bike.
Bothy bikes still the go to folk for route maps?
^^^ aye, or Colin .. 🙂
Some lovely riding in the area MOlgrips. Some nice segregated cycle paths as well alongside the main roads 😉
Yeah, if it's a family holiday then you'll find some decent riding for the kids too.
Bothy bikes still the go to folk for route maps?
I bought the maps from there and thought the route(s) we did were dire. Utterly dire. I was deeply dissapointed.
As scotroutes says
PS the lower bit of the Lairig Ghru track from its junction with the Rothiemurchus Lodge track is lovely.
The best way to do this is via the Chalamin Gap from near the ski centre. Lovely route for a family day out.
Let us know how you get on.😜
hm, have a set of Bothy Bike maps from way back. Sometimes hard to decipher on the move, but they have led to some fantastic trails -- and since I was 'in charge' of routes, it was good for my self-esteem as well.
try and get the low-down with annotated versions though.
Possibly meet up for a ride and beer too?
Possibly, come join us at Glenmore Lodge if you like 🙂 You may also know the people we're camping with.
We will have kids, they will have bikes too, so we'll want kid routes too. Also perhaps look for somewhere to have a bivi with the kids.
That route, primarily because of the push up Lairig Ghru from the south, looks like hell. A lot in it is good (some of those descents are amongst the best in the country) but there's no neat way of turning it into a ride that includes all the best descents on there. I'd take whatever Scotroutes gives you.
For balance the first half of the route in molgrips post isn't the lairig ghru.
It's the lairig au laoigh and is a good day out if you go back via glen geldie/ feshie
15hours is probably a good time estimate for your average cyclist for that loop.
*edited because i really shouldnt look at maps on my phone 😀