Firstly, thanks to those who recommended this to me as a must do scottish ride a while back. I completed it today in so so weather but am really glad I set out to ride the route which is pretty flippin epic.
I followed the route clockwise and started out up Glen Tilt. I planned it from the Scotland Mountain Biking Guide written by Phil Mckane. The route is illustrated with a picture of a rider in some nice woodland singletrack, but I did not see this at all on the route? I am guessing it is in the woods at the start? Does anyone know?
Anyway, it was a toughie. I seem to have climbed non-stop all day long and the promised singletrack near the end was ever so slightly shitty due to recent rain. I'm not convinced that clockwise was the right decision as the ride ended on a bloody great road descent. But at the end of the day, who cares? I'm am nicely shattered and have had a day's biking almost completely and utterly alone, apart from the brave group of DOE kids heading into the cloud as I emerged from it.

