A long held target for me was the circuit of the
Macdui/Cairngorm/Bynack Mor block and I’ve finally got it done. The forecast was not great but supposedly
improving for the afternoon.
Day one
then in the wet&windy stuff. From
Inverey past the Linn and up the Glen Dee estate track, then climbing on the
walkers path past the Corrour bothy (found a guy “drying” his socks over a gas
stove in there). Onwards and upwards in
the rain to the Pools of Dee and then finally the boulder field that is the
Lairig Ghru (835m ASL). Ben Macdui had
been on my right but I couldn’t see anywhere near the summits due to the
steepness of the valley walls at this stage.
Somewhere in this section I tore open a knobble on the back tyre so it took a while to get sorted with a tube going into a tubeless tyre! Said hello to eight Gold DofE kids heading the other way with the wind on their backs. Started on down-ish then the Chalamain Gap path joins from the right as the path properly headed down toward tree level. Once properly on the Glenmore side of the hills of course there’s a very sweet downhill section of single track that added a few kms but was a bit of fun. Wildlife during the day was simply a small deer hind plus young one wandering past me, and possibly an eagle struggling with the gusty wind. 40 kms travelled.
Stayed at Glenmore Lodge where they do great meals for a weary wet cyclist travelling light. And a small Balvenie was had to celebrate as well.
The Green Loch not looking very green this time....
Friday was much better weather and that just makes being out in these hills a brilliant experience. Target of 36 kms for the day continuing round clockwise. So from the Lodge up past the Green Loch and fork right, the steep long climb towards Bynack Mor, and then fortunately going to its eastern flank rather than the summit. The pass here is still over 800m ASL but its not as barren and rugged as day 1.
Views from the top of the Bynack Mor climb/push
Approaching the Fords of A'an and the Refuge Hut
Continuing southwards and a lunch
stop at the Fords of Avon refuge hut before tackling the two rivers/streams - waded
through the Avon with plastic carrier bags taped over my feet to try and keep my
shoes drier; water was nearly knee deep.
After all this there’s quite a long stretch passing down to Glen Derry. The glen is very pretty and gets back to some decent downwards pointing single track. Finally there’s the easy run from Derry Lodge back to the Linn and to Inverey. Day 2 wildlife was just geese and grouse.
The whole route is about 72 kms and takes in two significant
highland passes, unfortunately at least half of this is pushing your bike – not
because of gradient but because of the boulders strewn everywhere. .
. . 8 hrs on day 1 plus 5½ hrs on day 2.
My learnings from this outing is that (just like on the big
Torridon loop), there is a need to appreciate the exposure in such places if
things go pear-shaped. Any mechanicals
on your bike are a bit more serious if you are wet/tired/stuck out here; being
stationary for long isn’t great. And I
guess there’s no phone coverage. I was
carrying more gear for this trip than previous ones (probably 8 or 9kgs in the
rucksack on my back) just in case but the uncertainty still remains the
highland weather.
Great to do it, a challenging ride, not sure I’ll do it
again soon!.
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