The Other Scottish Road Trip

Day 2: check the forecast; 11 degrees, overcast. Won't bother with the suncream then (big mistake!).

Whilst hunting around for routes to do between the MBR one above and the Glen Tilt loop I had planned for the following day I stumbled on a route in the ride with gps website by a local rider who described it as 'ace'. Yep, someone still uses that word. But it was. A fantastic loop on awesome flowing singletrack, tight techy stuff which saw my one crash of the trip and a bit of comedy 'what do I do now?' decisions.

The ride: true to the forecast it was overcast and a bit chilly to start but not cold so just one layer on. Head south on the road for a mile or 2 before heading in to someones private estate (gotta love Scottish access laws) before going through a gate onto a landrover track and trying to find a deer path on the far side of a marshy bit. Once on this it was great ride out on / parallel to the Badenoch Way along the river and by Loch Insh on some glorious singletrack before arriving at Insh forest (or whatever it's called). This place is awesome. Go. Now. The loop I followed had a mix of open and flowing downhill, techy slow speed stuff, one of the best climbs I've done anywhere, and awesome high speed balls out downhill. I'd done a path or 2 and climbed up the fireroad again to the start of 'The Tunnel' on strava. Had a spot of lunch then started the section. It's tight, twisty and very rooty. Had a 2 wheel slide along one part and rammed my fingers and shoulder on my left side into a tree. Minor cuts and bruises so nothing bad unfortunately. Made it to the bottom without further incident.

There then followed an awesome tiny path back up to the top of the hill. As climbs go, I think it's the best one I've ever found. Even better is it takes you to the top of the hill for 'green dream' which is a hold on and see how fast you can go fun fest all the way back down. A few more fun bits and it's fireroad to a marshy bit with a nice new boardwalk over it. 'beeeeeeppppp!' goes the garmin? WTF, how can I be offcourse? There is no other way to go? After hunting for a minute or 2 I spy the old boardwalk perpendicular to the one I'm on starting about 5m away as they've removed the deck but left the posts in. Hmmm... I don't know where this path I'm on leads... so I think I'll use the bike to balance myself and step from post to post to get on to the route I'm following. Well, that worked but it was the same at the other end only this time I got wet feet when I slipped. Should've just stuck on the new route and worked my way back in hindsight. A bit of road followed then on to double track with a few fallen trees to divert around leading to Feshie forest. Again here I blindly followed the route even though it had been damaged by FC works/the wind. It lead to a lovely spot at the top of a clifffor a breather. Thread my way through some more fallen trees and another short but good downhill followed. If you do this route find an alternative to this bit. Then up a track that would be great to come down and back over on the same paths as the day before to do Lairig Ghru again. This time I rode up it which I would say is the preferred option. Had a breather then came back down with no mincing.

A great route but needs tweaking to avoid the wind damaged area in Feshie.

Strava link

See that slither of track on the left? Go down there.



Find this:






Start of 'the tunnel' section



The climb back to the top:



At the top:



'Green dream'. You hug the trees on the right before going left at the treeline in the distance.





I have got footage of this too but I daftly forgot to recharge it so it went into power save mode about half way around meaning I only got the first 18 seconds of each bit. ARSE. Still, gives me an excuse to go back.

Great pics and write up Andy ...glad you had a great time ..

Day 3: the Glen Tilt loop. Described in one route book I've got as one of the best days you can have on a bike and it seems to have legendary status on the Scottish forums I had a nosey around I was looking forward to this one. Even if hodgy said he was a bit underwhelmed by it and the locals said it was better in reverse.

I did it clockwise as per the route book as my legs were feeling a bit tired so I wanted a gentler uphill to start. The wind had other ideas and I spent 2 hours fighting a 20mph headwind all the way up the glen on a gravel access road. A tiny bit of singletrack over a suspension bridge, a ford crossing, a spot of lunch and it's hike a bike up a steep slope to make your way to the UK's most remote building apparently.

There then follows about 20km of access roads/land rover tracks: some steep ups with a tail wind, a 7km downhill, one ford and you eventually get to the one and only stretch of singletrack through the heather. It's a great bit but it's over far too soon to rejoin an access road and finally some tarmac back to the car park.

The scenery is stunning but apart from one bit I can't recommend this route in either direction.

Strava link

Glen Tilt. Get used to this access road. You're on it for a long time...




Scenery is nice though:




2 hours later... hallelujah! Singletrack!



Leading to this bridge:




The most isolated house in the land. Apparently.



More of this:



Finally! Rejoice!

Were the hounds still in residence at the most isolated house in the land ?
They must have caught our scent from us being miles back when we went and what a bloody racket they made !
Also the worst midge experience ever pushing up from the bridge ..and because it was unrideable you couldn't escape them !
If you have got the bug for these Scottish trips ...join the rest of us next time...?

Nice one Andy. Great review and piccy's