... and of Lochnagar in the distance.
We had a food break at the loch and then carried on towards Inchroy lodge which we didn't reach as we took the bridge and were heading West following the river Avon past the corries at the back of Ben Avon and Beinn a Bhuird. A herd of red deer ran over the track, through the Avon and up the flanks of the hill. Here is Paul on that stretch...
At Faindouran lodge, a non girl friend suitable bothy, the landrover track stopped and we had to push the bikes through bogs and over boulders all the ways to the Fords of Avon refuge...
After a short rest we forded the Avon (no stepping today) and mostly pushed the bikes up the Lairigh an Laoigh.
Here is Paul giving a false impression as most was pushing the bike over rocks and boulders
.
Finally the descent into glen derry with its caledonian pines. I got a puncture as the pressure in my rear wheel was not high enough for the rocky descent. We fixed it relatively whiith a view on Creagan a coire etchachan; it is almost in rock climable condition. On the descent once the front wheel got stuck and my rear wheel went high, followed by gravity acting on my body and a rib crunching landing. I broke nothing and tried to follow again Paul, who gracefully rolled down the glen on his full suspension beauty.
Finally the easy track from Derry lodge and then a slog on the road back to the starting point. Couting grids on the Ordnance Survey cairngorm map I estimate that the tour was roughly 60 km which is x miles with x being 60 km divided by 1.6. Needless to say, we didn't boulder. HW
4 comments:
strange mountaineering with you bikes???
Which track did you use coming down Glen Derry? There's the one that goes high up the hillside on the L of the river (looking S) and the one that stays lower on the R (looking S). The one on the L is full of horrible culverts most of which you have to dismount for, though some are crossable at low speeds. The one on the R is full of pine tree roots for the first K or so, then much better after that. And it doesn't waste so much time climbing.
I would keep this bike beta to myself... but anyone who goes up Glen Derry can find it out for themselves, so I don't see the point.
With a bit of persistence (and a willingness to wheel the bike) it would certainly be possible to get up to the Hutchie. I gave up well before that, and regretted it when I walked the path later.
The tracks around Glen Gairn and Glen Avon are pure dead brilliant for wild biking.
Cheers
Tim
PS Sorry, I mean Glen Laoigh, not Glen Derry.
Well we walked a lot through bogs so it was some sort of mountaineering!
Tim, we had to push the bikes for a long way, probably > 6miles. We cycled little in Glen Laoigh and before that. If you could cycle all that it would be one of the best Mountain Bike rides in the UK.
Henning
Post a Comment