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How does the following Aviemore to Blair Atholl route rate as a day ride: Loch Morlich, round Bynack More, L-a-L, Glen Derry, Lin of Dee, White bridge then down to Glen Tilt and Blair Atholl.
I've done parts of the route some time ago, but not all at once. Seems far, but a lot of the riding must be fairly smooth. One piece I've not done is round Bynack More to the Fords of Avon, so don't know how rough that is.
I've gone up L-a-L and across to Glen Avon and that was a total ballache, but coming down it I've read people on here say it's way more rideable.
Anyone been through this way recently?
The way down from Bynack More is fine, but the climb over the shoulder to the Fords is a pain - same as the climb from the Fords to the shoulder before Glen Derry. Nothing unmanageable though!
A few pictures on this thread:
[url= http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/a-cairngorm-loop ]Scroll down for Lairig an Laoigh bit[/url]
Remember that thread josemctavish - great stuff. You had the weather Gods in your back pocket that day.
I was just about to shout Ben Macdui/Glen Derry but I think that's already quite an epic day out without knocking out Munros; sounds like a lovely route!
I did Braemar to Aviemore following much of the same route but carrying on to do Carn Ban Mor on the way there before roading it back to Aviemore.
It's a good route but likely hard going for the middle 3rd if it's been very wet.
I've fallen for the Cairngorms after being a West Coast fan boy for too long.
I was over Bynack Mor to Derry Lodge last year. The riding from the shoulder of Bynack Mor to the top of the Glen Derry descent is "intermittent" - and often frustrating. There was some path reconstruction going on along the first section that didn't look very bike-friendly either.
We did Cairn Gorm - Ben Macdui - Glen Derry - Glen Feshie on Saturday, couple of vans parked at Cairngorm ski centre and Aclean to cut out road miles at start and end of the day. Turned out about 64km. Amazing ride but the bit between Glen Derry and Glen Feshie was horrible; on and off the bike every 30 seconds for 8-9km, not getting above walking pace when on the bike!
Macdui had some amazing descents....really pushed the boat out a bit getting a bit crazier than I really should have done given the location, but the white rock was so grippy and the bike was going wild skipping over the top of even the roughest bits so I couldn't hold it back - grin factor high.