UKC

Sister is wanting to do a bike ride and a hill somewhere. She’s in Cambridge, I’m near Edinburgh but she’s willing to cycle to meet me. Any ideas for a ‘nice’ route we might take to do a munro somewhere? I realise we’re in how long is a piece of string territory here, but any ideas appreciated.

In reply to Luci:

Ride up Glen Einich and do Braeriach.

In reply to Luci:

She's willing to cycle up from Cambridge to meet you? And then you're cycling form Edinburgh to the hills? And THEN you're cycling in to do a hill? That's commitment!!!!

Ben Alder area - bike into the bothy/s and stay a couple nights, do some hills, bike back out.

Ben Lui from east at Dalrigh.

Multiple options in the Tolmount area biking in SE along Glen Callater

CMD Arete and Ben Nevis, bike up the path to the CIC hut (one of the best singletrack descents in UK if you ask me!!)

Just a few options!

Cheers,
Gordon

In reply to Luci:

All good suggestions. Heres some more that I've done.

Beinn a' Bhuird & Ben Avon from the Braemar side
Derry Lodge or White Bridge also from the Braemar side. Lots of possibilities here, an area I really enjoy.
Options from Old Blair. Beinn Dearg via Scheicheachan bothy and then cycle round the loop back to Glen Tilt. Or up Glen Tilt and Carn a' Chlamain (can cycle to close to the summit)

In reply to Luci:

Spoiled for choice from Linn of Dee, Linn of Quoich for Beinn a'Bhuird, Keiloch or Gairnshiel for Ben Avon, Glen Tilt for Ben y Ghlo etc, Dalwhinnie for Ben Alder and others, Glen More for Bynack Mor, Glen Feshie for Mullach Clach a Bhlair, Spittal of Glen Shee for Carn an Righ and others, Glen Ey for Beinn Iutharn and others.

In reply to Luci:

You don't say what kind of bikes. There are loads of things you can do with a mountain bike that I wouldn't want to wreck my pride and joy roadie Bradley on. There are also plenty of things you can park a road bike at one end of, walk over, then cycle back to the start.

In reply to Luci:

Or cycle in to Iron Lodge from the West to the end of Loch Mullardoch- plenty hills to go at there and few other people around.

In reply to Luci:

I once parked at Gualachulain in Glencoe, cycled round to Loch Achtriochtan, and walked back over Bidean and Beinn Maol Chaluim to Glen Etive. That was great.

The original plan was to cycle all the way to Furnace on Loch Etive-side, and walk back to the car over Beinn Trilleachean, but the A82 was getting on my nerves a bit, and there was wind, and anyway I fancied Bidean.

In reply to Mike_Watson_99:


Derry Lodge and beyond is good. If you park your bike behind the hut at Derry Lodge though beware the boulder field of human turds.

Wooaf lots of options! Encircled by OS maps as I type.

Peebles - yes, but she's got a really good bike and will take lots of stops, so don't be impressed
Dave - Glen Einich looks great but maybe too tall an order - too tough for us!
Tim - road bikes we can abandon at the start of walking sounds fun. Can maybe take a car/train from Edinburgh to make things simpler.

Thanks all.

In reply to Luci:

Some good options round Loch Tay/Glen Lyon by using the old hydro road from Glen Docharty to Glen Lyon (e.g. Beinn Heasgarnich) or the Lawers road (err - Ben Lawers but also the Tarmachans. Both of these get you quite high on a bike before a walk to a summit or two.

In reply to Luci:



It's good track all the way, no technical riding at all.

In reply to DaveHK:

Some slides here http://bobwightman.co.uk/bike/slideshow.php?s=gleneinich from when we did it a couple of years ago. Mostly estate tracks with just one section early on that's a little harder but basically that's footpath wide rather than vehicle wide and not really any harder to pedal.

In reply to Luci:

A long easy bike ride to an easy munro is up Glen Tanar to do Mount Keen. Lots of tracks around Deeside, Ballater, Braemar Linno f Dee etc as others have suggested.

In reply to ill_bill:

I've mountain-biked to the summit of Mount Keen. I did it as a (very enjoyable) return trip from the top of Glen Esk; from the road-head and back, it took about 2 hours IIRC. It could be done as a through-trip to Deeside, which would be at least as much fun.

In reply to Luci:
If it's mainly cycling, Linn of Dee (Braemar) into Geldie Lodge gives easy cycling for a round trip of 18 miles plus the walk to An Sgarsoch and Carn An Fhidheir of around 4 miles if I remember correctly. Can extend cycling to/from Braemar itself.

In reply to Climbing Pieman:

There's a good round which goes Linn of Dee-Geldie-Tarf-Tilt-Atholl-Pitlochry-Glen Shee-Braemar-Linn of Dee. I recommend it. You need a mountain bike for this, and unless you're quite agile you'll be pushing a bit between Geldie Lodge and the Bedford Memorial Bridge.

In reply to Luci:

Eastern Fannichs from Grudie. Strathfarrar Hills from Inchmore - both these on gated tarmac hydro roads not too steep. If you wanted a cycle / walk adventure you could easily manufacture a pleasant road tour into a mountain area along roads you could otherwise drive along eg Loch Arkaig or Kinlochhourn.

In reply to andrew ogilvie:

But: do NOT attempt to cycle from Kinlochhourn to Barrisdale. I did once. It was hopeless. I was carrying 70m out of every 100m, and falling off pretty well continuously for the other 30m. In the end I just stuck it in the heather and walked; far easier.

In reply to Tim Chappell:
And I'd second that...(this was almost the scene of a comic misadventure for me - I'd forgotten to reattach the brake cables to their levers and almost cycled into the sea on the first corner on the road.)
When suggesting the Kinlochhourn road the walking I had in mind was more around Loch Quoich.

In reply to andrew ogilvie:


You wouldn't cycle to Sourlies from Glendessary at all easily, either.

The map suggests there's plenty of mountain-biking to be had in Knoydart if you start from Inverie. I've never tried that. I'd love to.

In reply to andrew ogilvie:


Absolutely. There's always the monster option I've been fancying for years: park at Kinlochhourn, cycle to Arnisdale, walk back to Kinlochhourn over The Saddle...

In reply to Luci:

Take a train to Corrour with the bikes then cycle the length of Loch Ossian to the E end of the loch. Look at the map; there's loads to go at from there. You can also get in to there from the Laggan road near Moy which also gives access to Beinn a' Clachair etc. Spoiled for choice.

In reply to Tim Chappell:

If you cycle in to the base of Mount Keen from the west, to Shiel of Glentanar, the cycle back out is all downhill (looks flat to the eye but very little pedalling needed) and is a blast. Recommend it.