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  • Banchory/Aboyne area rides for 2-3hrs
  • Chipbutty
    Free Member

    Hi folks,
    Heading to Banchory this Friday with the wife for a weekend away with the bikes. Looking for a 2-3 hour ride to do on the Friday when we get there about lunchtime. I know there’s some good stuff on Scolty hill, but not sure if it’ll be a bit too techy for the wife. Will also be looking for a 4-5hr ride on the Saturday. I’ve heard the Fungal road trail near Aboyne is supposed to OK? Anything else?
    Cheers

    enmac
    Free Member

    Scolty is good but is not easy to find your away around if you are doing anything other than the fireroads and some of the singletrack is quite technical. The Neep Route in the link below would probably be OK though.

    http://www.mtbtrails.info/Default.aspx is a good resource, one ride that is quite scenic and not too hard is the Forest Trail at Cambus O’May about 5 miles west of Aboyne. You can add to it by riding around Loch Kinord – when you cross the road from the Burn O’Vat car park, turn right rather than left and that will take you round the Loch.

    For a longer ride on the Saturday, to be honest there are better rides than the Fungle especially if it has been wet. If you are fit, Mount Keen is doable in 5 hours but for most would be longer. The Loch Muick to Glen Clova is a classic and easily doable in that time but doe involve some hike a bike. Clachnaben, south of Banchory is good but the descent does involve drainage channels.

    Chipbutty
    Free Member

    Thanks Enmac, the Scolty Neep route looks good. Will take a closer look tonight.

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    ultimateweevil
    Free Member

    Scolty is good and you could spend hours up there, but as enmac said its not great for finding trails. If your on the neeps site I’d highly recommend the Loch Muick route which takes you down the Capel Mounth into Glen Clova then back up to the back end of the loch, nothing mega technical but there is some hike-a-bike stuff and it’s got that out in the wilds feel about it. If you do fancy this take change for the car park as it’s about £3 for the day. It’ll probably be busy on the descent to the loch with walkers at the weekend though.

    The other option up there is the Lochnagar loop which starts in the same place as the Loch Muick one, not done it yet myself as I blew my rear shock last time I was up Loch Muick and I’ve only just got my frame back after it being away for a warranty job. Think you can do a total of 5 munros as part of this loop too.

    Clachnaben is pretty crap, tons of fire road and the descent from the top down the main walkers path isn’t great plus at the weekend will be full of walkers a lot of whom don’t get out of the way. The only good bit is the last 1/4 through the forest at the bottom but isn’t worth the rest of the ride.

    bruneep
    Full Member

    If youre doing the lock muick route, its much better starting from Glen Doll side gets the hike out of the way at the start

    Route as done in Oct http://my.viewranger.com/route/details/NzcxOTU=

    ultimateweevil
    Free Member

    Good shout as you still get the awesome descent down the Capel Mounth 😀

    metalheart
    Free Member

    That Loch Muick one I used to love BITD. If you’re coming from Banchory/Aboyne surely the £3 for parking would be cheaper than the round trip to Glen Doll, no? The hikeabike section is up to the Bothy from Glen Doll, you still have the ridge to cycle along. I’d rather spend less time travelling in the car.

    That Coyles of Muick/Green Mile run for the recent #Jennride I thought was pretty decent (and about 3 hours too). Mind you it’ll probably still be pretty wet when you pop out on the moorland at the top of the climb….

    floki
    Free Member

    Scolty has got lots of great stuff, with a fair amount of steep / techy stuff. As noted above, problem will be putting together a decent loop without some local knowledge.

    Hill o’ Fare? But same problem as above of finding the best bits.

    You could loop Kerloch into Scolty – got an out in the hills feel to it, with never being that far from anywhere.

    Green Mile would get my vote as short decent ride. Easy drag up the fire road, great cruisy singletrack along the top, with great views.

    Loch Muick / Glen Clova is a good option, the hike a bike out of Bachnagairn is a bit of a pain.

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