August BAM

I've been thinking of doing an ITT round the Cairngorms Loop, Deeside Trail or LLTL. This weekend was looking promising but when the forecasted temps were looking nearer 30 degrees than 20 I figured such ardor would be a bit much. There is always September. 

But I was up for a reasonable ride and a bit of mountain viewing so I high-tailed it to Blair Atholl amongst a large volume of end of school holiday traffic. This meant it was 1:15pm before I finally got going into the heat of the day.  Once again I was out under clear blue skies and blazing sunshine. Fair to say there has been an awful lot of this kind of thing this year! I was heading up the Gaik pass as I've not been up for a while and whilst fairly straightforward actually one of my favourites due to the scenery and lots of nice low key landrover track.

This old bothy is actually open but the sheep have been in so of little use as shelter other than in desperate straights. It would make a good one so I hope the MBA will take it on before the estate flatten it. Oddly, Sronphadruig lodge has now been broken into, even though the old bothy is still firmly locked up. I was tempted to have a nosy but I had visions of the owner appearing. A mate once met him a good few years ago. He was nouveau riche rather than landed gentry so quite friendly with grand plans for the lodge, none of which have come to fruition. Someone is interested in the area as the river crossing was fixed in time for the Cairngorms Loop group start in 2020. Long may it last! 

The singletrack was completely dry and great fun as usual. I languished on the shore at the north end taking in the views and calculating that I'd been through here 13 times now. Apparently when they were upgrading the A9 in the '80's they seriously considered using the Gaik route as its about 5 miles shorter than the current route. Fortunately it was deemed to be too unstable due to the steep slopes of adjacent hills, as well as having a high avalanche risk. So it remains a haven of piece and tranquility, even though quite popular with walkers and cyclists.

Eventually I left cruising down the fine rough track which has so far escaped the usual estate upgrades. 

Perfect cycling as I had a nice cool breeze blowing into my face.

After the long roll out down Glen Tromie I diverted to Kingussie for fish and chips. All of the park benches in the shade were full so I retired to the station concourse and sat under the canopy out of the sun but in a nice breeze. An oldish bloke turned up and started wandering round. I kept my eyes firmly fixed on my fish tea as he looked the kind to engage in random and obscure conversation. To prove my point, he started stamping his feet, clapping his hands and shooing the pigeons who were innocently and harmlessly roosting on the canopy roof beams. People at work say I'm weird for wanting to ride my bike long distances and sleep under a sheet of nylon. But if I'm weird that doesn't leave a word for the people I meet...

After a lengthy stay I departed back to near Ruthven barracks and another traverse of wades road to phones lodge, as per my May trip. In the now cool breeze it was fab, upper Speyside scenery all around.

Climbing away from phones lodge, quite a pull. A less TLS load out for this as I had my stove with me as well as the Deschutes rather than the flat tarp. This proved to be a very good move. I topped out eventually and noted the distinctive table top of Cairn Toul to the north.

Much as I love the main part of the Cairngorms, the wide lands on their periphery are also immensely appealing and unique in the UK. I paused for some time taking it all in before trundling off down the descent and a pleasant cruise alongside the loch and aqueduct.

Dalwhinnie was shut and I couldn't find a tap at the garage so proceeded down Loch Ericht feeling a bit dry. Fortunately there are quite a few burns running off the hillside across the track. Whilst everything is incredibly dry and any drinking water res low, I was surprised that pretty much every burn I encountered was still running. I grabbed a bottle of incredibly clear water, drank it, filled up again and headed off into the cool evening. 

The wind was dropping but Loch Pattack showed signs of a breeze. After negotiating the now very rickety suspension bridge over the Allt a Chaoil Reide I headed across the grass to the end of a small peninsular which looked like it might be breezy. It was but the instant it dropped the midges appeared. I actually got the tarp up OK but as I faffed around grabbing stuff and filtering water out of the loch for the evening the wind dropped completely and midges appeared in force.

First time I've seen ponies here. They won't be wild as such, probably managed by the estate.

Thanks goodness for head net and smidge. Eventually I was ready so wandered around to get away from them for a bit and then made a dash for the tent. I got in largely midge free only to realise I'd forgotten to grab my phone. Cursing inwardly (and outwardly) I dived out, grabbed the phone, ran off to lose the cloud of midges that had latched onto me and then dived back into the tent. This time a fair few were in with me so I spent some considerable time flailing at them until most were dead. My mat was covered in dead ones that had attached themselves to my arms and legs, only to expire in the coating of smidge....

A massive cloud of midges lurked outside the door, the sound of them pattering against the tarp sounding like rain. I was happy though as apart form an odd one I was midge free. I lay back to snack, read and drink some whisky as the sun set and night fell. Better yet I dropped off to sleep straight away and slept well until first light. One more snooze until the sun shining on the tarp woke me. Earlier the midges were absent but as the sun warmed things up and I started moving, back they came. I managed to finesse three stove boils for porridge and coffee by sticking a hand out of the door with the zips tight against my arm. My bladder was calling so my (1l) water bottle made the ultimate sacrifice...

Finally I had to get moving. Pack up as much as possible, slather on the smidge and go. A breeze was building but not enough. Probably my fastest pack up to date and it was with some considerable relief that I hared off on the track to Culra Lodge. 

So next up was the trail round the side of Ben Alder, but North to South. It's actually pretty good this way and nice to see a different perspective of the pass and views.

Soft focus on the single track climb - thanks to the heat of the day and condensation on the camera lens!

The descent was the usual blast and I spied a line across the big burn crossing for future reference! I stopped briefly to chat to a Dutch cyclist at the bothy who looked like they were on a touring bike - good going given the terrain hereabouts. I hope they don't try the shore path!

  

The bog hop seems to go easier this direction although the fact that it was largely dry helped and the swamp and massed wheel ruts from the Highland Trail group start were no more. Near the end the estate has installed a new footbridge further upstream from the highly dodgy telegraph pole and sleeper bridge that felt like it would collapse at any moment in May 2021. They had also mowed a strip of grass to the new bridge so it's nice to see them giving this route a bit of attention. I wish they would strim a strip round the shore on the section just before the bothy as this would be far drier than the swamp it traverses just now. In fact I wish someone would do this whole section up to a nice stony path!

Usually the worst bit although easy today. I've no idea why this route was waymarked when the OS shows the path nearer the shore on a much stonier and drier line.

The boat house at the loch end provided a suitable second breakfast venue then after climbing up to the top of the second pass it was off down the fast descent to Loch Rannoch. 

More views and oft photo'd

I'd vague plans to do some of the trails round Rannoch and Tummel forest but I had a sudden desire for some easy pedaling and an early finish so twiddled along the lochside road, over into Glen Errochty and back the way I'd come.

Total distance was 175k in just over 24 hours so I was happy with that as a summer season finisher. I suspect that's the last of the summer looking at the weather forecast but I'm pretty happy I've cashed in on it this year. September next and hopefully a bit cooler and with less bugs!