[Closed] Torridon - overhyped? (long & pic heavy!)

Wow some excellent photos - what were you shooting with, and what time of the day were most of these shot at? Lighting is incredibly dynamic for a quick "lets take a snap here" type photos - excellent job.

Cheers! Shot with a Panasonic GF1 - mostly with the 20mm f1.7 lens but a few with the 14-45mm. Quite a few were fairly early morning or late evening but the ones on the main Torridon route were mostly between 1-5pm.

I always shoot in RAW and most of the landscape ones have had some tweaking in LR such as graduated filters on the sky and playing around with the highlights/shadows/blacks sliders to try and get the most dynamic range out of them.

Look crap

*sobs with envy*

Fantastic pictures!

superb shots !

Clickbait!
In the half a second it took me to read the title and click on it, I'd already half written a rebuttal!

Terrific photos. It's a very special place.
I shall return!

Some of the best photos I've ever seen posted on here, really amazing stuff.

You make me sick (with envy).

Thanks everyone! It is a special place - I've travelled around the highlands and islands quite a bit and it's definitely one of the most spectacular bits I've seen. Everyone was so friendly too.

Forgot to add this bit in:

When we got down to Achnashellach we were giddy with excitement about the trail we'd just ridden but also bloody knackered. The prospect of climbing back up and over the mountain wasn't feeling very appealing, but after a bit of a rest we got on with it. We had fairly crap lights with us and didn't fancy the prospect of getting caught in the complete darkness so we descended back to Annat in double quick time. Luckily the white rocks were gleaming in the dusk and you could see the trail pretty well.

Overtook a guy on a quad bike (with his headlights on!) near the bottom at around 8.30pm in the gloom. Managed to still crack on fairly quickly and got to the bottom without injury - result!

An amazing part of Scotland, I've done a fair few of the Munros in the area and along Glen Carron looking over to Torridon.

You always take brilliant pics Grum, I could never take pics that give it any justice.

Wow.

Just wow.

wow indeed...I am sold

Thanks Dobbo! Yeah I really fancy coming back and having a go at Liathach and Beinn Alligin at some point (not on bikes 🙂 ).

Beautiful - maybe one day

I hate you 😥

Makes my ride round the local forest this weekend look boring and uninspiring to say the least

Great writeup! And fantastic pics, proper postcard material.

Beautiful place, Torridon. Very nicely captured in those pics, too

looks awful as usual, no one should go there.

I should carry my lumix and 20mm lens more, such a great little combo for stunning shots. Hats off shooting in raw though, I started off doing that and never processed a single shot...

Excellent work all round. Sitting in my office dreaming of those singletracks.

What they said ^^^ Love Torridon. Paradise when the sun shines.

goosepimples here. thanks for sharing

I've travelled around Nz, Australia, south east Asia, but we have some of the most scenic and varied countryside anywhere. Never made it out west or past Fort Bill, but these photos of our British Isles are truely magical. Makes you want to start planning a trip, pack the camper, fix the bike, load the fire pit and go....

Rubbish.

Nothing to see here. Move along please.

Agree. I never want to go there. Your pictures make it look awful.

Your photographs are bloody stunning!

On my to do list!

meh.
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😉

Inspirational, thank you for sharing. 😀

Awesome Grum that looks nearly as good as Lake district riding

Looks shit. I'm off to Withernsea in a few weeks. Wait until you see my thread...

Agree with most of the above, very nice photo's and a good narrative,looks like the weather was in your favour too 😉 Have put it in my Bucket list, thanx.

It's an amazing place, lovely phots too Grum, the main thing is the sheer scale of the terrain compared to the rest of the UK for me, made a trip up there a few years ago and gutted won't have time after WEMBO to get a day or twos riding up there again, pic from the trip:

[url= https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8233/8487856357_c6097a1c22_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8233/8487856357_c6097a1c22_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/dW3tYZ ]big ass decent wide angle[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/people/55204994@N03/ ]Loco Tuning[/url], on Flickr

Stunning scenery and photo's that wouldn't look out of place in a magazine. Great review, I thoroughly enjoyed reading.

Post of the year as far as i'm concerned!

Ace grum - Torridon is on my list for next year as we're headed up that way at Easter 😀

Just gorgeous. Also not long back from a highlands trip & the weather was just stunning. If only I could take an even half decent pic. Thanks Grum, favourite thread in a long while.

There in 3 weeks, even more excited now great post

Superb mate. Brilliant images. Any number of them would look brilliant in the printed magazine.

10 of us are heading up to Torridon next weekend, staying at the YH. First time for me, can't wait and those photos just wet the appetite even more. Thanks for sharing Grum.

Superb, I miss Torridon.

Saved to faves...

And as if that's not enough, there's a beer festival next weekend!
Torridon inn, 3rd - 5th Oct.

I'm planning to be there for the heady mix of bikes and beer 🙂

Part of the highlands I haven't stayed yet. Your photos make me want to change that. Thanks for posting.

you bastard grum, that looks ace, broken hand means no enjoying this inidan summer for me 🙁

Like many have already said......Wow!!

Torridon is one of my favourite places in the entire world.

Excellent post grum. I'd like to see more of these ride report type posts.

When we got down to Achnashellach we were giddy with excitement about the trail we'd just ridden but also bloody knackered. The prospect of climbing back up and over the mountain wasn't feeling very appealing, but after a bit of a rest we got on with it.

Yep, you get to that point and all of a sudden it's a bigger ride than the map shows or your legs felt when you were doing that descent from Coire Lair. When I was last there in June I had half a mind to carry the bike up the bealach between Maol Chean Dearg and An Ruadh Stac (what a dramatic peak that is!) as the track round the west side of Maol Chean Dearg is fantastic... but I couldn't face a 1000ft of carry.

I would definitely recommend mixing it up on a trip there with getting the boots on and going over Liathach or Beinn Alligin or Beinn Eighe.

Has anyone tried the path that shows on the map running from Coire Ghrannda down to Glen Torridon?

I scrolled down to ask and comment on the pictures.. I was going to ask if you took your 'big' camera, only to find that you took a GF1 (something I've just bought) but I can't see me getting pics like those out of it. Amazing pics.
At last, pics of Torridon showing it probably better than it looks in real life! I'm twice as stoked as I'm amazed at the pics coming from a GF1. So.. how much is LR? :O)

Has anyone tried the path that shows on the map running from Coire Ghrannda down to Glen Torridon?

Wow, quite a response! Cheers everyone. I can only reiterate - get yourselves up there, it's lovely. All those who are already going, you will love it (although the weather probably won't be as good 😛 ).

There were hardly any midges when we were there as well. 😀

Yup the GF1 is a great little camera, especially shooting in RAW then tweaking in LR. My first 'proper' camera and I still love it, especially with the 20mm pancake.

you bastard grum, that looks ace, broken hand means no enjoying this inidan summer for me

Sorry kimbers. 🙁

::perks up at midgeless torridon:: I thought it would still be a bit crap.

I've taken next week off so hopefully it'll stay nice and I might take the GF1 over for another bivi!

I've bought it from someone on here with a 14-42 but recently bought an adaptor to fit my old Canon FD lenses to it having watched a few clips filmed with FD lenses. Took me a while to find out how to set it up to shoot without lens but looking forward to messing around with it this winter.

Pah!

You should try 'the chase on a busy Sunday'.............. *rolling crying eyes icon here*

Beautiful, you have just inspired me to take my lads there and do similar next year.

THanks, + love the photo content...awesome.

Amazing pictures Grum.

Shared with my MTB mates. Great stuff!

What a sh**hole that place is.

Couldn't agree more. Looks awful.

Why anyone would venture north of Glentress is beyond me.

Looks amazing Grum!

waaaah. 2015 things to do box tick.

Fabulous pictures.

I have been wanting to get up to Torridon for a few years now and this thread has made up my mind that next year is the year for it.

I shall start another thread with some questions rather than hijack this one.

Thanks Grum.... inspiring.

Great pictures, thanks for sharing! I was there that weekend too to run the duathlon - I think the lack of midges was probably due to most of them being attached to my legs...

'kin 'ell

I was going to saw Wow but that's been done. Fantastic pictures, what a stunning advertisement for the place. Thanks for sharing it.

Can I ask what your approx ride times/stats where, time, climbing, distances ?

Definitely need to work out how to do such a trip, sadly from London it's 12 hours which is as long (if not a bit longer) as it takes to get to the Alps

Well done mate... great post.

Next time try and take in the climb up and around Bealach a choire Ghairbh. Beast of a climb but the decent is ace.

Love the photos - you've done a great job there!

We were up there a couple of weeks ago - amazing place although I wish we had the same weather as you.

Already planning a return visit ... maybe up onto the Islands?

Looks like there is going to be an influx of STWers descending on Torridon - god help them!

Glad you've all enjoyed the pics/writeup. Might do one on our Four Passes trip in the Lakes earlier in the summer seeing as this one went down so well.

Superb mate. Brilliant images. Any number of them would look brilliant in the printed magazine.

I only live down the road from STW towers too - whaddaya reckon STW? 😀

Can I ask what your approx ride times/stats where, time, climbing, distances ?

Applecross ride I think was about 40km/730m of climbing and I think took about 4-5 hours. We're far from super fit and stopped for pics/mechanicals etc.

Torridon ride was probably about 40km/1250m of climbing and took about 7 hours in total somehow.

Next time try and take in the climb up and around Bealach a choire Ghairbh. Beast of a climb but the decent is ace.

Yeah we didn't end up setting off early enough really with the trip back from the bothy first thing. Would stay in Torridon itself the night before next time.

Might do one on our Four Passes trip in the Lakes earlier in the summer seeing as this one went down so well.

[i]Why anyone would venture north of Glentress is beyond me.[/i]

Trail centres are miles better than places like Torridon. Trails centres are where it's at man! Plus weather's more predictable at trail centres.

Great thread, and great pics as ever; though particularly as we're off to Gairloch in October - with the GF1 and the bikes 🙂

Might just throw this in here:

www.grahamwynnephoto.com

😀

There's a few more pics from the trip on my flickr too:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/grum_wynne/

I'll be in Torridon 13-18 October, with bikes and on a family holiday, hoping to get a couple of proper rides in at least. Anyone want to hook up? I'm pretty familiar with the trails.

Hope you have better weather than we did a couple of years ago then! We were in Ardaneaskan round that time & the weather was absolutely shoite all week!

The advantage of an (extended) family holiday- we've got a decent house for the whole week, so I should be able to choose which days are worth going out! Trail and weather conditions can be excellent in October.

Is it just me that thinks that the effort involved in getting up to Coire Grannda (lollipop route) is not worth the reward of the first part of the descent of Coire Lair? It really seems like an effort in gaining height at all costs.
The Classic loop that takes in the lower half of the Coire Lair descent gains its height gradually and offers lovely views on the way.

Oh......amazing pics. I'll be using these to show my biking mates in the south where I go riding *smug*

Is it just me that thinks that the effort involved in getting up to Coire Grannda (lollipop route) is not worth the reward of the first part of the descent of Coire Lair? It really seems like an effort in gaining height at all costs.
The Classic loop that takes in the lower half of the Coire Lair descent gains its height gradually and offers lovely views on the way.

I was wondering about this. I think next time I would probably do that but add on the climb/descent that lowey mentioned.

Nice one, looks you had a cracking week too.
We were up there 2 weeks ago in unbelievable 'once in a lifetime weather'. hot all week, so perfect conditions.
You'll recognize where these shots are, we did a morning riding up through Coulin estate than down the brilliant Acnashellach descent, then pushed back up to enjoy the great singletrack back to Coulin.
Will be back, but doubt I'll ever enjoy conditions like that again!
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Wow I thought we had good weather! I hope there was plenty of midges. 😛

My mum showed me pics of walking up there and they had great weather too so maybe it's not as rare as we think.

So what is the consensus for the best route: Annat, coire lair, achnashellach station, around the west of Maol Chean dearg, back to Annat?

Why would you do the alternative along the A896 road/Glen Torridon, then through Coulin forest?

It's a 13 km warm up road ride up Glen Torridon if you do that one STS, which is what we did last time. Gonna do the 'Lollipop' next time & suffer the slog up the Coire Grannda.

Thanks egf, thats what I wondered, just an easier/road option because the climb then descent of Coire Grannda isn't particularly worth it.

[quote=grum ]Wow I thought we had good weather! I hope there was plenty of midges.
My mum showed me pics of walking up there and they had great weather too so maybe it's not as rare as we think.
It's very rare. Only 5 sunny days per year 😆

Still, as a result of the No vote in the referendum at least the workers in the secret underground midge breeding factories are assured of continued employment.

I think it often looks even more dramatic when the weather isn't as clear and sunny.
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I think it often looks even more dramatic when the weather isn't as clear and sunny.

Yeah completely blue skies is actually pretty dull for photos.

So what is the consensus for the best route: Annat, coire lair, achnashellach station, around the west of Maol Chean dearg, back to Annat?

Think we will try the road up to Coulin forest next time and add on the climb to go around Maol chearn dearg.

Grum, when you reach that saddle just west of MCD, start your descent off low to your left as the trail down into the coire is not the one that you would be standing on as you arrived..! It's odd, but the trail that becomes the main descent is lower on your left, not the obvious line that starts right in front of you. As this descent gathers itself together, the first few hundred metres are particularly bouldery yet it soon mellows out. This bit is just like being on the Bealach na Lice route to Annat, just longer... I think it's worth the extra climbing but know that not everyone agrees.

[img][url= https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3837/15196300466_e5bdbef5cb_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3837/15196300466_e5bdbef5cb_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/p9R1Gs ]IMAG4398[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/people/53513185@N07/ ]Shinythings2[/url], on Flickr[/img]
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The climb out of Coulin....
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..and that corner on the descent... you know the one!
I would definitely recommend the Coulin to Achnashellach return route, it's a must do half-day out.
Check out this entry at the Coulin bothy the wknd before...No word of a lie, we had to cool off in the river in 25deg +
[img][url= https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5577/15049775298_481cba0705_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5577/15049775298_481cba0705_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/oVU2Ss ]DSCN1194[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/people/53513185@N07/ ]Shinythings2[/url], on Flickr[/img]

So what is the consensus for the best route: Annat, coire lair, achnashellach station, around the west of Maol Chean dearg, back to Annat?

Personally I don't think it's worth going round to the west of Maol Chean Dearg. It's a bigger carry than anything else on the route and the descent is not of the same quality as the others.

Gonna do the 'Lollipop' next time & suffer the slog up the Coire Grannda.

For my money this is the way to do it. Going up Coire Grannda is mostly rideable with just a little bit of carrying to the Bealach Ban and the last few hundred metres to the bealach at the head of the corrie. The scenery and descent from here are both excellent - about 650m of vert to the station.