I’ve put the following event into the calendar: http://www.gmbc.org.uk/event/cairngorm-loop-weekend-provisional/
As some of you know, impending fatherhood means I have a lot of long rides to get out of my system before my riding is reduced to an hour or two early morning blast, commuting, CX racing and stolen minutes on the turbo (joy). So far this has mainly consisted of riding around in small circles with number board attached and endlessly long road rides.
So I thought it might be time for something different and something big. Might be the last chance I get for some time. So hows about this:
300km over two days, around the Cairngorms. B&B/bunkhouse at Aviemore or Braemar. Route based on this event: http://www.cairngormsloop.net/ Here’s a tread on Singletrack with some nice pictures: http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/a-cairngorm-loop
C’mon, you know you want to. It will be epic.
How far is the start / finnish from us & much would the night cost if you know?
I’ve had a look at the 300km Cairngorms loop on the link that Robin posted. I can’t quite get my head round where it starts and finishes, it seems to be split into segments and have a smaller loop inside a larger loop. In total, yes, it’s around 300km. Either way, getting up to that area is 2.5-3hours.
Oh, meant to say that the link to the route in the Singletrack world write up is shorter, approx 90km.
Ah, ok. I was mostly looking at the pictures…
*edit* I’ve found a Strava trace: http://app.strava.com/activities/8037735
It is inner loop first. Aviemore is 164km (101 miles) in – leaving a shorter 2nd day.
The start of the ‘race’ is Blair Atholl, and seeing as that’s the furthest south, that’s good enough for me. I think the orange loop is ‘officially’ the first loop, followed by the red loop on day two. That would mean a stop in Aviemore. However, I see no reason why the inner orange route couldn’t be done on day two after stopping in Braemar.
Accommodation: bunkhouse is £20 a night – Aviemore SYHA has availability at present.
B&B Would be more like £35
Petrol: £40ish return perhaps per car, but we can try and share lifts.
Other: Friday night camping if you want a site, free if wild camping. I reckon it’s a camp there job, as I’d like to be going by 6am in order to maximise daylight in the event of drama. We need to budget at least 14 hours total ride time.