As I've had to go down south to visit Mum and Dad a few times this year, a certain amount of cramming has been necessary when it comes to bike rides. This weekend was typical...
Firstly I threw in a bivvy on the Friday night. Having failed to do any multi day trips this year I'm trying to get a few extra nights out to make up my annual bivvy tally. As with my July bonus bivvy, the weather for the Saturday afternoon looked somewhat damp so this would be a way of getting some saddle time in before it got too wet.
So as usual for a Friday bivvy, I finished work, threw stuff on bike, left. My spot was one I'd scoped last year, above Glen quey, reached via various local trails. Things were a little soggy but I got to the general vicinity of my bivvy site just as dusk was falling, after a short but quality tussock based death march, and as usual it didn't look quite as good as when I was here last. A bit of nosing around found a good enough space for tarp and bivvy bag. I knew of a better one not far away but it's close to a regular dog walking route so this would do. A fine evening followed and a good nights kip.
I woke at dawn, as usual, and lay for some time listening to various birds and the wind in the trees. It's one of the many benefits of sleeping out, being able to listen to natural things with nothing between you and them but a bit of nylon. Then humanity intervened with cracks and bangs from the wind turbines across the glen, the first traffic on the road and the first flight out of Edinburgh. I fell asleep soon after and woke at a decadent 9.30!
Breakfast was tea and pork pies then it was off up the hill (Innerdounie) to see what's, what - in the event a nice view and nice weather, contrary to the forecast.
BB200 training followed using a fairly marginal trail down the 'burn of sorrow.' I've walked this a few times and ridden it once up and down. It's a fine place, well off the usual beaten tracks and the trail is nicely technical in places.
And a bit hairy in others... Part of the problem is it's quietness - the trail is a bit overgrown and not that well worn. You also really need to cross the burn three times to make the best of the riding. The first crossing was fine then I got distracted by a higher level sheep trail which led me into a sea of bracken and a dead end. I got back across after a deal of faffing then stuck to the west bank from then on which involves a fair bit scrambling past various landslips.
I fought my way down eventually and of course, called into the Stevens bakers in Dollar for a pie based lunch ahead of a leisurely trundle home.
The forecast for Sunday, first day of Autumn, was for cool and breezy sunshine across Fife and Perthshire so I figured on a decent ride. I've been meaning to do a couple of track passes crossing the hills between Glen Almond and Strath Braan for a while now, so today was the day. Getting to them would involve a fair bit of road riding but that was alright.
Apart from the Glen Devon road which got quite busy as the masses departed for their Sunday escape to the country (or at least Crieff.) Anyway, many back roads followed and the climb out of the Earn Valley was a fine warm up for what was to come.
New track 1 was a route that started at the local big posh estate house (stone gate posts, tarmac road and fake antique lighting columns) but signed as a P&K core path. It would go via a pass to join the A822 near Amulree and would hopefully be a fine alternative to A road drudgery. It's shown on the Heritage Paths website but annoyingly, the link takes you to the Glenfiddich Road (which I've also ridden) so intel was minimal, other than it looked to be well defined. I diverted off the official route to check out a large disused quarry shown on the map, and spied on a sunny day in the Ochills last year. It's quite a scar as it stands out very clearly on the otherwise natural hillside so I was curious to see what the score was.
A sizeable ex-slate quarry. I passed several more on the days ride although all much smaller than this. Large piles of excavated spoil have been left and clearly abandoned for many years. Slates would have been much in demand for the large houses and castles that abound this area so this would have been a nice little earner for Glen Almond estate. In those days there would have been little in the way of planning restrictions or conditions, hence the massive scar on the hillside and no sign of any restoration.
A steep push followed then a rough descent to the main track.
The track up the hill opposite is new. My route heads up the glen to the pass.
Beyond the pass the track became less used - in fact fairly overgrown and it's descent was a fab grassy line finishing at a seemingly abandoned farm house. So a good one and a route I'll use again.
Road riding to new track number 2 followed accompanied by the usual sunny Sunday stream of day trippers and motorbikes. This heads south west from the A822 over a low moor into little Glenshee. The bridge across the river looked far too elaborate for the couple of farms it served so I figure this will have been a public road at one point. This was confirmed by long sections with well built dry stone wall boundaries and a steady line across the hillside, instead of the usual estate track that just heads straight up any hill it encounters. A squint at some historic mapping confirmed this although intel on it's route history is lacking. Anyway it made for another good trail, with only a herd of cows (and a large bull) tromping the rough surface to mud in a few places making it one to avoid in wet weather.
Speaking of which, the 0% chance of rain forecast was once again wrong as large clouds were moving in from the north.
On the nicest bit of the route (no cows). It's actually raining a bit here but it soon passed over. The track joins the road just past a farm which is an odd out and back again from Glen Almond - further evidence that it must once have been public right across the pass. From here I started on new track 3.
This skirts the hills east to above Bankfoot, my destination for food and drink. It doesn't feature on any historic mapping but is also a core path, which is a bit odd, as after passing another couple of abandoned slate quarries it's quite clearly a grouse and duck shooting access track. Such things are usually jealously guarded by the estates so it must have taken some negotiating to make it so public. The heather on the hills around it are criss-crossed with mown strips to enable grouse to be more easily ID'd (and shot.)
That said, there were literally thousands of them flying around me so any tactics to actually hunt them seem a bit unnecessary. I'm not against hunting but fail to see the sport in blasting what must be a strong contender for the worlds stupidest bird. They make a huge racket when flying and seem singularly unable to fly away from a suspected predator (i.e. me,) instead just fluttering up the track aways then landing right in front of me, making stalking them and any form of aiming skill somewhat redundant. Still it keeps the toffs happy and leads to tracks such as this one. Which eventually took me onto another dead end back road and the fine shop at Bankfoot.
It was now quite warm in the sun as I sat out drinking coffee and eating cake, however on departing the village for my usual route home a very large cloud appeared from the north west and rapidly overtook me. To be fair I only caught light sprinkles for the most part, the sodden roads suggesting I narrowly missed much worse. It persisted to near Dunning and then the sun shone once more on the climb, done many times this year after a long bike ride. The last time it had been after a 30 plus degree suffer fest, so riding up it on a cool afternoon with a stiff tailwind was most pleasant.
So all in all a great weekend - about 120 miles total, 13 hours out (plus 13 hours in my bivvy site!) and some great trails. More sun next weekend by the looks so I need to cash in on it whilst I can, ahead of a doubtless very wet BB200.
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