CC -Day 4 – Wed 19th May – Aviemore to Glenlivet

Wet wet wet. The longest, hardest and slowest day. The stats for my last day:

36.5 miles, of which about 28 were off road ( bog in large part) at a measly 5.2 mph.

Ascent : 3513 ft.

So what fueled my damp experience ?

The Rowan Tree breakfast, winner of the mtb Cairngorm tour prize.

An excellent omelette, good coffee, homemade marmalade, yoghurt, granola and fruit. Toast too. Maybe eating all that was why I was so slow…

It had rained overnight and was still pouring down as I breakfasted. Eventually it eased so off I cycled off to pick up The Old Logging Trail to Glenmore:

Very pleasant and easy cycling but not a log in sight. Apart from those growing obvs.

At Glenmore Lodge I left the trail and headed north east on a rocky but good track with a fair few walkers and a couple of cyclists.

This track continued the climbing up to:

An Lochan Uaine

Namely the Green Loch. The water is green as folklore says the pixies washed their clothes in it. If I washed mine, it would be a shade of mucky brown. But what is the point in washing clothes when they and you are wet ?

Next the well known Ryvoan Bothy at the start of the eponymous track :

Temporary cessation of the rain too.

From here onwards for several hours I saw no one apart from a land rover which at one point came up behind me at this ford:

I sort of fell in here.

The track was good to cycle on – it goes through the ancient Caledonian pine forest which many years ago before the clearances covered most of these hills for thousands of acres.

Below: lunch spot in the dripping forest. By this time all was very wet and it was hard to keep out of the mud and puddles.

This is a superb forest with so much bird song. On to see the views of the snow covered Northern Cairngorms beyond Loch a’Chnuic :

No chance. Cloud base too low.

Then across a narrow but deep ford and onto what the map/guide described as a rough narrow track that “can be a bit boggy.” Just a bit :

I called this the (almost) impenetrable forest .

It went on for ages. I thought I needed a machete often but I stumbled and pushed my bike through in my sandals as I thought there may be another ford. However eventually it opened out:

Still pushing tho’

I did check my maps a couple of times as I feared I was on the wrong trail; surely this narrow walkers path can’t be right? But after a small panic attack when the maps didn’t update I saw I was heading in the right direction for the Eag Mhor pass:

No bog ! No narrow tree lined path ! Just stoned !

I’ve never cycled anywhere like this before (OK this was more taking my bike for a walk than cycling) but it is a great change from road touring.

As a walker I found a lot of these hill tracks a bit boring in getting to the interesting paths so I convinced myself I now had the best of both worlds.

Before I got persuaded myself how lucky I was I got to the Dorback Burn which was the widest and deepest crossing of the whole trip:

But a pussy cat if you have red sandals…best on feet rather than the bike…

And on, ever upwards, through the mud and the bog. A short bit of tarmac then finally:

My cottage is on the side of the Cromdales, the line of hills in the far distance.

Great to be on the home stretch – only 10 or so miles to go and I know the tracks from here. Past another doer-upper :

Letteraitten

And then the descent to the Burn of Brown where there are many abandoned farmhouses.

OK this was a different bike and last July but it looks much better when it’s dry and sunny and the heather is stunning in purple bloom.

I’ve walked around here for many years and always wonder what happened ? Was it mechanisation? Or was the hill farming uneconomic? Has the climate or soil changed or is hunting, shooting and fishing for these estates (as they are farms held on estate leases) more profitable? Combination of all I guess.

Linda and I many years ago went into a couple of these silent, somewhat ghostly houses, found and read old newspaper lining cupboard drawers and thought what happened here? Where did the people go?

Then the fords of the Burn of Brown. Sandals on for the last time. But there were 4 last times as I had to do 4 crossings. By now the heavy rain meant it was in spate.

Then a gate in a wide grassy bog marked the route out:

Thanks Scottish Rights of Way Society (again).

Up out of the bog, onto a sandy estate track and a fast (for me) descent to the road that I followed along the river A’an which took me to the track up to my cottage which, as ever, never fails to enchant.

I heard loud and different birdsong as the track climbed up the side of the Cromdale hills. A young deer ran across my path. So good to be back in this sodden, grey green landscape with the constant sound of the A’an in the valley below me.

Home.

It’s been a great trip; would have been brilliant with better weather but this is Scotland and we had snow just two weeks before. So remote for biking, both stark and beautiful; light like nowhere else , solitude and stillness.

I’m very glad I’ve given off road touring a go again. It’s been quite hard at times but worthwhile; I am fitter and in a minor way I’ve tested myself; this tour requires some fitness/resilience/optimism and a sense of humour. An ability to wield a spanner helps too.

The only mtb tour I’ve done before was 3 days along the South Downs Way, with Roger and Phil over 20 years ago. That was very wet too, albeit in winter.

Phil was an inspirational cyclist (amongst many other things), who I knew for over 40 years. He died far too young of cancer almost two years ago. I thought of him often on this trip; he posted quite a few comments on for example my LEJOG blog. I hope you’ve got internet access to see this Phil. RIP.

Next trip…An Turas Mor I hope.

Next and final post for this trip will be the Epilogue in which I’ll try and set out the techy aspects of what worked with my bike and the kit and what didn’t…