March BAM

I keep thinking I should deliberately go out on a day that the weather is rubbish as I need the practice putting up the tarp in wet weather. As it happened, my chosen weekend looked like it was going to be a fine end to winter and start of spring. I had a sudden notion to bag my 'Winter Event' grid references that I had abjectly failed to do on the official weekend of January the 10th and 11th. Monster snow stopped me that weekend so it was a bit disappointing to be stopped this weekend by a minor mechanical. I'd pedaled all the way out to Blair Logie at the west end of the Ochills which is pretty much the furthest point from home and at the bottom of the fearsome climb up to Dumayat. I became aware of a sinking sensation and discovered my dropper post was dropping of its own accord. There was nothing I could do to fix it and worse, I didn't have my light bracket clamp with me that can be used to clamp the post in the upper position. Grinding my teeth I turned around and headed for home.

I didn't even try to see what was wrong, just tore it off and fitted the one off the Krampus. On reflection I couldn't face trailing all the way back out there and it was getting on so trying to get all of the GR's would involve much night riding. But the weather was stunning so I had to do something. I had lunch and contemplated one of many routes in my local area that would take me to a decent spot to spend the night.

I'd just gotten word from Alan Goldsmith that he expects the Highland Trail group start to go off in May as planned. I'm still not convinced but I felt that I had to work on the basis that it would go and step up my training, such as it is. This is premised on as many hard rides in the 4 to 6 hour range that I could be bothered with, allied to lots of pushing and further refining of my tarp erection technique. So no cop out trundle to a local spot and back again, I had to throw in some big climbs and a decent distance. Off I went again, only to meet friends and then spend thirty minutes chatting / moaning about the restrictions. Finally I headed for the hills.

I'd figured a nice hike-a-bike climb was the order of the day but for a change headed up into Glen Quey and along towards the first reservoir. There is a rough grassy track from here which contours up the hill for a bit and then heads straight up to the coll between Whitewisp and Innerdownie hill.

These are my two personal ski slopes. Opposite is the one I used to good effect in 2020 and between me and it the wooded slope down which I'd done several runs in fresh powder last month. Still a few bits left but winter is definitely over for 2021.

Looking east towards the Lomonds and the Fife coast.

I can see my house from here! Or at least I could if I felled the large beech tree on the village green.... Various Forth bridges and the Pentlands in the background.

View East from Innerdownie along the Eastern Ochills and Tay coast

It was past 5pm so I had the place to myself. I figured that 7pm would be dark o'clock so I had a couple of hours to fill. The descent to Glendevon was a hoot as usual and mostly dry. From there I headed up the long climb that is the old right of way to Auchterarder. 

I rode most of this steady grade, pushing a few soggy bits only (this trail had been awash when I descended it last November...). Then down towards the farm, cross the burn and back over into Corb glen, the sun slowly sinking to the horizon behind. After some thought I decided to head for my November spot as it would be sheltered from the stiff breeze and well away from civilisation. There was a van parked in the layby at the start of the next trail but it was occupied - clearly someone having their own cheeky night away from home. Soon after I reached the spot and got the tarp up in jig time as darkness fell. There then followed another pleasant evening eating, drinking and reading, the sound of many owls in the woods around me. I'd nearly gone with just the bivvy bag but I became aware of a light drizzle coming and going over the course of an hour so felt very smug (and snug) under the tarp.

I was awoken at five am by a truly amazing dawn chorus. It was almost like all of the birds knew it was the first day of Spring and so gave it there all in celebration. It settled down after a while and I dozed off, woken at a more civilised hour by the sun. 

Another leisurely breakfast followed (I'm going to really struggle to do fast getaways on the Highland Trail) then I contemplated my onward route. I'd actually scoped out a new link from the woods I resided in east towards Glen Farg. The crux was a moor crossing from the wee road over to Path of Condie, to a loop of core path above Tylrie - a small community above Milnathort. I'd plotted the best route I could off aerial photos with an expectation of a fair bit of tussock hopping. First up was a variation on my run through Dalqueich forest picking up a fine rocky descent back to the road. I passed a couple in a tent at a spot I'd nearly headed the previous evening so it looks like its not just me that is making their own decisions on what they can and can't do, based on common sense. This is a good thing as the last thing society needs is to blindly follow the government. 

Oddly there were still some patches of snow, even at this fairly low altitude. They are almost ice-like thanks to repeated freeze thaws so it will be interesting (to me anyway) to see how long they last.

My objective - the moor beyond the forest.

The first section went well, following a vehicle track until it disappeared into a plantation. I had to step across a wall / fence but beyond it there was evidence of a very vague line across the moor. I traced this, some machine and quad tracks (looked like someone had been doing some major gorse clearance) and occasional bits where it was just me and the tussocks. But overall it was fine. I'd tried to scope out some gates to avoid too much in the way of fence climbing but it looks like there are a few land boundaries as I had to cross another fence and then came up against what was actually a gate, but had been covered over by a new deer fence. I was near to the link with the core path so tracked further east (back on a track again) until I spied a proper deer fence gate just above where I'd plotted the core path loop. Annoyingly it was locked so I had to lift my bike over a 6 foot fence. This used to be a regular feature of the bad old days before land reform. With two or more its easy but on your own, especially with a dodgy back, its hard work. And why the hell is the gate locked anyway? There is nothing up here and no easy access for any illicit vehicle use so why? Landowners just can't help themselves. The lock looked so badly corroded its doubtful it would open in any case. Just ignorance and a refusal to accept that people can walk (or bike) across their precious land. I'm seriously tempted to acquire a set of bolt cutters and just start cutting these chains.

Anyway, I got over eventually and looped round a small reservoir and onto the core path. My relief was short lived as I then came upon yet another locked gate bearing a sign "Construction site, strictly no entry" (why strictly?). There was no sign of a diversion or any explanation of what you were meant to do. I'd have ignored it but the site was in operation, despite it being Sunday, and I couldn't be bothered getting into a confrontation. I had an abortive attempt to go round the area but this lead to yet another deer fence and no clear way back onto the road beyond it. I ground my teeth and ground back up the hill to the res. Now what. Either back track all the way or try to follow the core path on its return loop, which wasn't shown on the map. Salvation came in the form of a couple with a dog so I guessed I'd be able to get out somehow. Off I went following way markers, but for some reason they took me downhill and then all the way back up to within 500m of where I met the couple. It turns out I could have cut across the field at this point back to my original route (post ride research) but in the event I went back up the hill, faffed at another point that looked like a way out to the village, but figured this would be another dead end so stayed on track. Finally I got onto a forest track (still not on the map) and bombed down to the wee village. 

Fair to say I was a bit fed up after all of this and nearly headed home but it was a stunning day so more good riding was the obvious remedy to these frustrations. So I followed an off-used back road route to the lomonds, up Glen Vale and over the Bishop hill.

I sat for some time in the sun eating food and viewing my route from earlier. The place was fairly busy (!) with walkers, mountain bikers and a number of para-gliders above me. Then the ace descent to Loch Leven, round here for a bit and up Benarty hill for a finale of fine and dry singletrack.

Actually one of my GR's, my route in the background. Down a long descent to the country park and home via Blair Adam forest. I'd actually been out for five and a half hours this day (but only 40 miles) so a good training ride if nothing else. I had a look at the duff dropper post only to discover the cable had got trapped behind my bar roll so was under tension, hence the sag... 

Next month will be something similar as the restrictions on travel aren't due to lift until the 26th which is a Monday, annoyingly. I wish they would just get on with it as I'm roundly fed up with the whole thing and adding two weeks onto the restrictions lifting down south smacks of politicking, not common sense. Hey ho, if politicians were sensible and pragmatic, they wouldn't be politicians!