[Closed] The Badger Divide - Glasgow to Inverness

I've only ever ridden the Corrieyairack Pass with bikepacking kit and it's not a killer. You should be fine.Great descent.

The Moorings in Fort Augustus is where all the endurance/adventure cyclists make for.

You've a big push out of Drumnadrochit so make sure you've topped up with scones.

And don't miss the Eco Cafe at Abriachan. It's the highlight of the trip.

Thanks Scotroutes.. All noted down, the Eco Cafe sounds good.

What's the "best" (or easiest) direction to do this? I'll be carrying tent etc.

I'm contemplating this over 4/5 days at end of June but will be on sleeper from London so need to decide on ending up in Glasgow or Inverness. Never been to either city.

What bike? Arkose or Short travel 29er?

Thinking probably Arkose in case I need to bail out on roads

Midges - will I die?

Glasgow to Inverness as you are most likely going with a South Westerly tail wind that way.

Prevailing wind more likely to help starting from Glasgow so I’d plan on doing it this way.

Midges? You might wish you were dead, but IME, death doesn't occur, no matter how much you beg.

Smidge up.

And also FWIW there's little additional climbing on the high-level route of the GGW and it's definitely worth the effort.

The Corrieyairack is just a long climb with lots of scenery. It's not hard, just a wee bit where it's easier to push the bike unless you're really enthusiastic.

However, the weather at the top can be very different and change very quickly. Not a place to be underdressed without options. You should be ok with bike packing gear though. Many years ago I had to overnight near the Telegraph hut because of a blizzard (around the August Bank Holiday). Next morning the snow disappeared quickly and we got sunburnt.

Ridden it Inverness to Blackburn of Corrieyairack on a loaded London Road in an easy day, was fine. Via Haggis Pizza at The Moorings of course.

Next time will be on an MTB though, more fun. And I'll make sure not to ride straight past the Eco Cafe also.

The Eco Cafe.... £8 for a piece of cake, nice cake mind you, and a coffee... Weird place, odd people, be sure to not let them tag you on FB or you will forevermore get oddly worded pop ups...

Certainly an experience.. 😀

@jimdubleyou I've just done it in early May, with quite a few snow squeals and it's a beautiful route - I'd recommend it Inverness to Glasgow.
Our photos are here - https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2165836573453163&id=772698899433611

@jimdubleyou - I'd go with the 29er, things like descending the Corrieyairack Pass (in either direction) would be a bit much on the Arkose. It's a close run thing though and long sections would be better on the Arkose.

I did it on my rigid Singular Swift with 29x2.0 tyres and thought that was the best compromise 👍

Another + for the Eco cafe. We called in one snowy day to find 2 utterly bemused Belgian tourists who clearly couldn’t understand what was going on. Priceless

Would it be really bad choice to use a gravel bike with drop bars ? Thinking something like this (as opposed to my Anthem 29er ?)

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cube-Cross-Race-Pro-Cyclocross-Gravel-Bike-Shimano-105-Fulcrum-Disc-Brakes/223545686310?hash=item340c5c7926:g:qRIAAOSwyuZc~JiM

At some point in the journey you'll be thinking "I'm on the wrong bike" - regardless of what bike you take.

Rode GW pass and that area towards Inverness a few weeks ago on a loaded 29er and tbh would not have been as much fun on the Arkose or similar. Would have coped but most of the tracks and estate roads we were on, loaded up, suited bigger tyres.

This is what the Corrieyairack Pass is like:

Quite a lot of waterbars like this:

Alternatively this is the track by Lochan an Earba

I got those images off Geograph.org.uk. It's worth persevering with the clunky interface (the browse by map is the best) to have a look at the various bits. As you can see the off-road tracks vary from near tarmac to quite rough.

Interestingly my wife has done Corrieyairack twice this year: once on a reccy and once on the HT550. The reccy was in really hot and dry conditions whereas the start of the HT550 was a little damp. She reckoned the damp conditions were easier as the bed of the track was bonded together whereas when it was all dry all the stones were just slipping and sliding over everything else.

I do feel that the Corrieyairack is best done from Spey Dam to Fort Augustus. The climb goes on a bit but is all rideable up to the zig-zags (and beyond if you're fit enough) and the descent just rolls on forever. It also means that the mahoosive waterbars (shown in one of Bobs pics) are all roll-able whereas they are notorious for causing flats and rim-dents when approached head-on.

I also think the views are better as you cast your eyes across to the West and then down to Loch Ness.

[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/2934/14294799270_36cd4b42a8_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/2934/14294799270_36cd4b42a8_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/nMbzNo ]Enjoying the descent[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/druidh2000/ ]Colin Cadden[/url], on Flickr

[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/2909/14501531813_6eb8a1fbca_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/2909/14501531813_6eb8a1fbca_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/o6s9bz ]Loch Ness[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/druidh2000/ ]Colin Cadden[/url], on Flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/druidh2000/14501531813/in/album-72157645347399053/

Anyway, who wants to go for a good ride and end up in Glasgow?

I've only ridden it from east to west, I just chose those particular shots because they happened to show the track rather than the view from it. Most of the water bars have an obvious rollable line through them. It's a much bigger climb from FA as well, the road head at Melgarve bothy is at roughly 350m asl. whereas FA is at a mighty 18m or so.

Interestingly one of the shots on geograph shows machinery at work on the zig-zags repairing them, this was in 2006, so presumably the track was good then and it's decayed in a decade (sorry). At Easter I decided to ride until I first spun the rear wheel and got to the first zig-zag but if you picked your line I reckon they are mostly rideable, one corner did look decidedly tricky.

Interestingly one of the shots on geograph shows machinery at work on the zig-zags repairing them, this was in 2006, so presumably the track was good then and it’s decayed in a decade (sorry).

Yeah - some repairs were done then and a lot of the track was resurfaced, primarily to protect the original (Wade) cobbles, in 2011.It caused quite a fuss on t'internet at the time (including STW) as it was deemed to be "sanitising" a classic route. As always, things weather in again after a few years, especially in an environment like that.

It’s a much bigger climb from FA as well, the road head at Melgarve bothy is at roughly 350m asl. whereas FA is at a mighty 18m or so.

Which also makes it a much longer descent 😉

Anyway, who wants to go for a good ride and end up in Glasgow?

Good point :p decision made on route and bike (29er).

Cheers all

Whitestone - Great, thanks for finding those photos and posting. No question for me...it's the Giant Anthem 29er with 2.25 racing ralphs based on those photos.

Used to do the Corrieyairack Challenge every year back in the 90s (I think that's when we started..) Was up from F A and down the baby head boulders to Melgarve. Climb up W-E was a real test of mind, never came close to doing it all. You're just done by the last couple of miles. Descent on E side was loose and getting looser, you could lose someone in the gully channels at some points. Was a hoot though.

Well, I just booked some rather expensive sleeper tickets LON-GLA & INV-LON so I'd better finish it 🙂

Will be on the trails 28th June - 2 July. Say hi if you see me struggling up a hill 😛