Ideas for our second Scotland trip please!

Iain C

(Apologies to any readers of PistonHeads as I've posted there too)

About this time last year, with some top forum advice, the missus and I had a cracking week away in Scotland for the first time, where we ticked Glentress, Innerleithen, Mabie, Dalbeattie, and Kirroughtree (the best!) off the list.

We really fancy going again, perhaps heading a bit further north this time, and once again I wanted to draw on the experience of the PH MTB massive. Unfortunatly I had a spinal op earlier this year and have not been out riding very much, so the fitness and skills are going to be down the pan a bit, and also I'm not sure the old back will put up with a week of really rocky riding, so a mix of trail centres and "out there" bridleways etc would be good. So, can anyone help with the following...

-Suggested itinary away from the 7Stanes? (Don't want to move campsites every night or be driving hundreds of miles every day)

-How far north do I go? Is the scenery good around Fort Bill/Laggan Wolftrax/Cairngorms or do you have to go right into the Highlands for the real deal?

-Choice of bike? Do I take my lurvely new Inbred or is it better on my F/S Fuel Ex? (Thinking of my back here too!)

-Choice of car? The trust old '95 Discovery was great last year as I could fill it with kit, wet tents, lock the bikes in it and it got us some places that were out of the reach of a normal car. I don't want to go proper off roading as such, but does a 4x4 get you places further north that are worth the extra effort (thinking wild camping etc...IIRC the laws on access/camping are much more relaxed north of the border). Or does the fuel economy and speed of the car make much more sense?

-How long do we go for? Can you see a fair bit in a week, or do we really need 10 days or so?


Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

Cferg

Plenty of riding up in Cairngorms / Aviemore - Fort William not far away, Laggan Wolftrax, I think the Lecht( only say as I saw when skiing, quite sure they do), Cairngorms, plenty of tracks around Aviemore linking futher south with the likes of Pittlochry(very boring place, not ridden the track but seen it, looks good but its a fair trek). Theres probably quite alot in there that you could cram into a week, there obviously would be some travelling but not too much, if you were based around the Aviemore area, all the rest would be quite central I guess.

The scenery is first class around there I wouldn't worry about going further north, once you're away from a small village/town, you generally won't see another and will only see hills for the next while, especially on bike. I'd imagine there are much more informative books/maps etc. available for route that you could 'plan' to do, but I'd imagine a week would be enough and if I were you I'd take the FS, baring in mind your back etc. theres some pretty gnarly/demanding stuff up that neck of the woods!

cee

if you like miles and miles of sweet flowy singletrack....

Torridon.

Close the thread.

weescott

A few weeks ago I did this:

Sat: Dalbettie
Sun: Kirroughtree
Mon: Mabie:
Tues: Ae
Wed: Nevis Red:
Thurs: Aviemore (natural riding)
Fri: Laggan Wollftrax
Sat: Glentress
Sun: Inners

By friday we were getting a bit tired, by the second sunday we were shattered. Having a rest day after about 5 days is the the sensible thing to do, even if it does mean one day off the bike.

The 3 best trails have to be Kirroughtree, Nevis Red, and Laggan. 8)

There are more trails further north but you really need more time to allow for driving/recovery

The Lect and Morray Monster trails are going North East so it would be quite a round trip if you did the likes of Golspie north of Inverness.

Cferg

weescott, have you been to the Lecht? Quite interested to hear what it's like, only been when its covered in snow, tried to see if there was any videos or that on youtube but theres hee-haw that you can actually watch.

weescott

The Lecht is on my to do list as I'm not too far away from it just now.

CFS

Laggan on the F/S. Very nice scenery way better than Glen Tress.

Learnie if you want something a bit gentler. Fantastic view of the Moray Firth.

CycloRos

If you've done most of the 7 stanes I reckon you should set up base camp around Aviemore. It's an ace little town (almost alpine in feel) with tonnes of amazing natural riding in the Cairngorms and my fav trail centre in the UK Laggan, only a short drive down the road.

Paulie W

CFS wrote:

Laggan on the F/S. Very nice scenery way better than Glen Tress.

Learnie if you want something a bit gentler. Fantastic view of the Moray Firth.

I dont know if I was having a bad day at red rock or something but I thought the black bits at Learnie were way harder than at Laggan or Golspie

cee

did you want specifically trail centres? or places to go with loads of natural trails?

Eskimo427

Just a little something to bear in mind while your thinking about your route. Although Google maps may show places close together and the mileage may look small, a lot of the roads are very windy and can be slower than Google thinks. Aviemore to Fort William can take a lot longer than the 1hr 30mins Google thinks.

Just a little something to think about.

MuddyFunster

True, but it's worth the drive! I'd plan for a few days in Aviemore, riding Glen Feshie and around Rothiemurchus. The head for Fort Bill for the Witch's trail, the red downhill and Laggan.
Golspie is nice but it's a monster drive.

If you've got lightweight camping kit, you could head south from Aviemore via Glen Feshie, wild camp near White Bridge, the head down Glen Tilt and get the train back to Aviemore from Pitlochry. Just don't forget the Skin-so-Soft.

Cferg

MuddyFunster wrote:

Just don't forget the Skin-so-Soft.

Ooft, you ain't joking!

Northwind

I'd say Fort William myself, the lift-assists are unique in the UK and the XC WC route is pretty good too for when you feel like riding up as well as down. And then not too far to Laggan... Or if you want some natural riding for a quieter day there's the west highland way loop out of the fort, or ciaran path down at kinlochleven...

Iain C

Guys

Thanks for all the advice, some good stuff there. Last year, we stayed around the 7 stanes in July, and did not really see any midges. Is further north/later in the year a problem then? I can't stand midges!

cee

Iain C wrote:

Guys

Thanks for all the advice, some good stuff there. Last year, we stayed around the 7 stanes in July, and did not really see any midges. Is further north/later in the year a problem then? I can't stand midges!

The midges have only started to become fearsome in the last 4 weeks, due to the very cold winter!

They are out now though....in force!

Basically...if it stays warm, with some moisture...but no wind...prepare to defend yourself!

if it gets windy...no worries...
if it gets cold...no worries...

Northwind

Not every area needs to worry about them so much. Nevis Range gets plenty though, not up on the mountain but down in leanachan forest can be pretty bad. Glentress isn't bad for them. Never been to Kirroughtree etc in midge season myself.

Also skin-so-soft doesn't work too well for cyclists as it sweats off so you're left with evil chemicals.

Iain C

Guys

Thanks again for the input. Weescott...wish I had your energy!

Got a very rough plan that will be a day's drive up to Rosetta at Peebles (unless anyone knows anywhere better to camp round Glentress/Inners), a couple of nights there, and ride Glentress and Innerleithen. Then a day driving up to Aviemore, ride round there, day at Laggan, and then just see how we feel from there.

Question...anyone know a good campsite at Aviemore? Don't ask for much...minimal screaming kids, clean basic facilities, walking distance to a pub if possible. Bike friendly and OK with BBQs, tents not packed in like a refugee camp if possible, and reasonable cost!

Any thoughts?