[Closed] Scottish route advice

I've sort of done it the other way. Lots (and I mean that) of pushing from the end of the loch to the shoulder of Ben Alder. Great descent after that but that was going straight down, not the deviation marked on your map. Then it's largely fireroad out to Dalwhinnie.

Generally a mountain bike in that area is most useful as a means of accessing hills to go walking on (normally Ben Alder), rather than as a mountain biking destination in its own right.

There probably are trails I don't know about, but it wouldn't be my route of choice if good biking is what you are after.

Better to go up to loch pattack and then thru the pass I would have thought - the bit thru the pass will be hikabike and the first part of the descent is very rough from memory.

Check what the path is like from Geograph

Thanks for your advice guys.

Have a read of this - http://philsbikepacking.blogspot.com/2019/09/ben-alder-bike-rides.html

The "path" from the end of Loch Corrour to Bealach Dubh starts as a hydro track but then it deteriorates into an unmaintained stalking path with several sections falling into the burn. When that finishes you've a couple of km pushing up a steep hillside to get to Bealach Cumhainn. I've done it in the opposite direction and it was virtually all hike-a-bike even going downhill!

Look up the HT550 route: it goes from Bridge of Gaur over to Benalder Cottage bothy then up the well maintained stalkers path over Bealach Cumhainn and Bealach Dubh with a great descent down to Culra bothy. Then when it turns left after Loch Pattack turn right and follow the estate track out to Dalwhinnie.

Thanks mate

West to East will be better than what you've linked but you should avoid the side of Loch Ericht and head up to the Bealach Dubh instead.. You'll have 90 minutes or so of pushing uphill to get between the marked paths. The descent of the Bealach Dubh towards Loch Pattack is superb, though one or two of the water bars might need a dismount or risk a puncture/rim damage.

If possible, consider a detour to the restaurant at Corrour Station. The venison lorne sausage is absolutely amazing and worth the trip for this alone.

I covered this section in a blog https://www.blog.scotroutes.com/2017/04/back-round-ben-alder.html

I have used this route to cycle between corrour and Dalwhinnie ( you could start from Rannoch and join it at loch ossian)

Its all easy estate roads so no hikabike and goes past the beautiful Lochan na hearba Might not be what you want tho
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48802507277_602d9b16dd_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48802507277_602d9b16dd_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2hmvBag ]Image1[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/25846484@N04/ ]TandemJeremy[/url], on Flickr

After posting last night I realised that you hadn't said when you were intending to do this. There's a few burn crossings that might be "tasty" after rain or snow melt. Speaking of snow - Bealach Dubh is pretty high, 720m or so, my first trip over there had big snow banks that required careful negotiation. That trip had us building cairns in the middle of burns swollen with melt water as stepping stones to try and avoid being swept away!

The YHA at Corrour is very popular so pre-booking is advised. I haven't checked but is it open all year?

Some piccies ...

The path from Benalder bothy up to Bealch Cumhainn

Riding out from Culra bothy past Loch Pattack - Bealach Dubh is the low point on the skyline

Those shots were taken at Easter (19/20 April) this year, still quite a bit of snow around but there was none at Bealach Dubh on that occasion.

Following up from what TJ says - what are you hoping to get from this trip - good riding, a scenic trip through the highlands? What sort of bike will you be on?

Thanks again everyone, leaving by train from Glasgow on Monday, booked into the youth hostel for Monday night, going to ride a Specialized Camber short travel trail bike. Minimal gear.

That looks great, I'm not too bothered about a techy single track ride, just want to avoid slogging through boogy hike a bike sections....thanks

Enjoy

After Culra bothy it is better to cross the bridge and take the narrow singletrack on the other side rather than staying on the rough 4x4 track to Loch Pattack which then also leads you to a very wobbly bridge that is difficult to cross with a bike.

That bridge crossing is part of the fun.

And it's not that hard to cross.

As Whitestone says, personally I wouldn't go along Loch Ossian to Corrour due to the subsequent hike-a-bike. Instead I would take the track that runs just to the east of the railway line to Rannoch Station. That is now a large double track (the OS map only shows part of the track as being like that) so very easy riding. From Rannoch take the road to Bridge of Gaur and then off road following the HT550 route to Ben Alder bothy. When dry that is all rideable but at the moment I think there will be a "damp" section just before the bothy. You can then head north west up to Bealach Cumhann and finally over Bealach Dubh. That is a good track the whole way and surprisingly rideable.

Yes, there are a couple of definite problems with the mapped route on the original post.
Not insurmountable though... I'd say that taking the glen east from Loch Ossian up towards the Bealach Chumhainn is doable if you are ok with what becomes a 2km push/carry on very lumpy, tussocky, peat hag ridden ground, although the new track helps at first.
Secondly, the Ericht lochside east from Ben Alder cottage is a no: I've done it and it is passable but is risky in wet weather at first (steeply angled rock slabs high above the loch; would be a nasty slip/fall). After avoiding an early bath, you're then faced with pushing through scrub woodland that becomes open, tussocky grass path. It's just unpleasant, not difficult or inspiring.
With a starting point of the lovely SYHA Loch Ossian lodgings, I'd go around the loch, ride, push, carry up to Chumhainn, then Belach Dubh, Culra, cross the first bridge right after that bothy and take the singletrack to the Alder Lodge track SE of Pattack.

Since the OP states:

just want to avoid slogging through boogy hike a bike section

then neither the Uisge Labhair nor the HT550 route to Benalder Cottage fit the bill.

I'd go with either @tjagain's suggested route or a slight variation depending on weather cut right at Lochan na h-earba to climb the track up Coire Pitridh to this point http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=248950&Y=779960&A=Y&Z=120 Bealach Leamhain, then drop down to Loch Pattack and out to Dalwhinnie. I've done this bit in reverse but the climb is probably all rideable apart from a couple of burn crossings where it's a short steep climb out - it's basically a quad bike track to the pass. Again, have a read of http://philsbikepacking.blogspot.com/2019/09/ben-alder-bike-rides.html from which:

The descent down Coire Pitridh is a corker on a good stony trail. In terms of rideability you'd maybe be better doing this the other way round as you can get up this good trail and the rough descent is all rideable. Just be sure of your river levels though!

I believe the OP is going to take the Lochan na h-earba/Pattack route.

bookmarks.

Guys thanks all for your wisdom, I’ll update on Tuesday night and let you know how it went.

Hi all, trip went great, train to Rannoch then rode for about 1 and half hours to the YHA at Loch Ossian, decent rocky double track all the way. Beers at the station cafe. We then followed the map that tjagain kindly supplied which took us through stunning scenery it came in at 61kms to Dalwhinnie relatively flat with 650 metres climbing. Then jumped on the 3.51 back to Glasgow. Fabulous route nearly all rideable on a anything from a gravel bike.

Thanks for your knowledge.

NIce

*basks in the glow of getting someone to follow my route advice not that scotroutes chap*

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Actually I often ask Scotroutes as well!¬

Glad you had a great ride.

YES.

I've just booked a night in Corrour intending to ride there from home, stay the night then escape via TJ's route (ish) the next day. I'll be on my gravel bike so might see how close to Perth I can get on route 7 after Dalwhinnie.

ADVICE REQUEST: I'd kind of planned on riding from Lochan Na Earba around to Laggan Wolftrax for lunch and then out to Dalwhinnie from there. Is the Loch Pattack route straight to Dalwhinnie a better option? Is there still a cafe in Dalwhinnie other than the petrol station?

The loch pattack route involves a lot less climbing IIRC. there is a volunteer run cafe in Dalwinnie but I don't think its open much this time of year. there is a hotel you can get food in I think

Sounds a great ride. I’m trying to figure out a circular cx route in that area so I’ll base it around that as it’s a proven route.
Cheers.

trademark - if you want a circular route then follow the OPs route from Rannoch to corrour, my route to the a9 go up the a9 from Dalwhinnie to Dalnaspidal lodge, follow the track from there south alongside loch Garry and then continue along the single track ( IIRC either a boggy quad track or an almost disappeared stalkers track ( probably hikabike for a mile or two)) then pick up the double track south to loch rannoch. the left fork near to the loch is the nicer decent but takes you further away from rannoch station - then along the road to rannoch station.

I have done all that on the tandem with full camping kit

NIce

*basks in the glow of getting someone to follow my route advice not that scotroutes chap*

Yeah - the conversation carried on via Facebook and we reckoned the OP (and friend) needed to avoid the more technical bits like the Bealach Dubh.

Is the Loch Pattack route straight to Dalwhinnie a better option? Is there still a cafe in Dalwhinnie other than the petrol station?

It's certainly a lot shorter and less hilly. It also avoids a long road schlepp. There is a cafe in Dalwhinnie now - in what was the hotel. I've used it a few times and the staff are very friendly.

if you want a circular route then follow the OPs route from Rannoch to corrour, my route to the a9 go up the a9 from Dalwhinnie to Dalnaspidal lodge, follow the track from there south alongside loch Garry and then continue along the single track ( IIRC either a boggy quad track or an almost disappeared stalkers track ( probably hikabike for a mile or two)) then pick up the double track south to loch rannoch. the left fork near to the loch is the nicer decent but takes you further away from rannoch station – then along the road to rannoch station.

I've done that loop in both directions. I reckon it works best clockwise.

I’ve done that loop in both directions. I reckon it works best clockwise.

I've walked it about 6 times chasing DofE groups, cycled it twice.
I concur.

There's probably only a kilometre of boggy track after the end of Loch Garry, the first few hundred metres after the end of the track is firm going then it's a quad bike track that you wander around the line of to get the driest line. Again from the blog I linked to earlier:

The track runs out at the end of the loch and the marked path is another vague boggy non-line. It's not too bad and I did once do this on a Salsa Fargo so don't be put off as its only 1.5k. Follow your nose here as there is an argocat track to the left of the marked line which can be very wet. A rougher but dryer path is to the right. At one point the argo track crosses the marked line up a steep bank. Get on this as its the best route to the bridge.

A hydro scheme went in on the burn before Duinish bothy a couple of years ago (just checked - we did that bit at Xmas 2016) so you pick up solid vehicle track at this point - http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=261367&Y=767507&A=Y&Z=120 the 1:50k shows it but the 1:25k still has it as a path of some kind. The "footbridge" marked on the map has been replaced by a much more substantial affair to facilitate the hydro scheme.

Also the kilometre of track to the south of this bridge http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=254412&Y=781167&A=Y&Z=120 is very wet, the ruts are boggy so stick to the middle line and it will be fine. I don't think I've ever seen it dry.

Blog link mentioned above that discusses all these tracks, worth bookmarking.

http://philsbikepacking.blogspot.com/2019/09/ben-alder-bike-rides.html

Between them, Phil and Colin would be able to tell you all you need to know about all the tracks in that area.

Tjagain, thanks very much for that route, always good getting a pre-ridden route recommendation.
And thanks to scotroures, matt and whitestone for confirming direction and track status. Much appreciated guys, all I’ve got to do now is wait for lighter nights!

And cheers to tappit for starting the thread 👍

On the descent down to Rannoch you should make a short detour to see the Skyspace.

http://craiganour.co.uk/skyspace.html

Thanks, I didn’t know Scotland had a Skyspace. Sounds like a good bivi place to catch a sunrise and sunset!

also noted!

It would make an interesting bivvy spot.

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[url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/druidh2000/48336928912/ ]P1050901[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/22384952@N02/ ]Colin Cadden[/url] - [url= https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dariogf.flickr2BBcode ]Flickr2BBcode[/url]

Thanks for the advice. Will def be visiting the skyspace too.

All I need now is awesome weather. Definitely not too much to ask.