I’ve got the bike maps route for a for day trip round the cairngorms. A friend is interested in trying this compressed into two days. The original four day trip is described as “challenging”. What is your opinion on getting days being feasible and what sort of level of experience is really needed for the original four day trip?

Keen to do it by b&b rather than bikepacking. Does this influence your answer? I.e. Are there no natural spying off points in the event the answer is not two days but three. ..

All feedback appreciated but asking Scotroutes because it’s his back yard.

Ps not expecting a guided trip!
Pps is a garmin GPs necessary

Are you referring to this route?
http://www.scottishmountainbikeguides.com/guided-holidays-scotland/tour-of-the-cairngorms

If it is this route, there’s nothing technically challenging (mostly rough landrover track, with some single track and a few easy river crossings). It mostly follows the glens, so you avoid going over the tops, but there are a few stiff climbs. The main challenge is the distance, and you need to be self sufficient because some of the route is reasonably remote.

I’ve no idea what your friend’s fitness and experience is like, so it is difficult to say if two days would be suitable for him or not. I’ve ridden a 200km route (which is pretty much the one in the link above) over two days, camping overnight, and I’ve also ridden it in one day. I would say the 4 day itinerary is pretty generous, and is aimed at riders who perhaps don’t have experience of doing big days out and are looking for a guided adventure. If you are reasonably fit, used to long days of riding and can look after yourself in the hills, I think two days should be OK.

You can start and finish at various points on the circuit, and there are lots of B and B options in Aviemore, Tomintoul, Braemar, Blair Atholl and other places like Kingussie, depending on exactly what route you take.

N.B. I’m assuming your friend is thinking about doing this in the summer. Trying it in winter or early spring would be a very different kettle of fish!

All of that above really.

You can cross the Cairngorms in a day so one overnight stop should do you. Either Aviemore, Nethy Bridge or Tomintoul would probably be the best stop for a two day journey depending on your start time. There’s only Braemar between Tomintoul and Blair Atholl so your “supply” stops on that day are limited 😉

Three days would be a bit more comfortable, even two and a half, allowing you to get to Blair Atholl in the morning and head off at lunchtime.

Another option would be to take the Lairig an Laoigh route from Glenmore to Braemar. It goes a bit higher but cuts a decent bit of distance off by being more direct.

Although there are places to bail out to, transport back to Blair Atholl could get complicated once you leave Aviemore.

Getting up-to-date weather/ground conditions would be essential once you’ve decided on a date and you’d likely want to be aiming for summer-ish to make the best use of the long days.

If you can read a map and use a compass then a GPS isn’t necessary – we certainly used to manage without.

Thanks to you both – very useful.

Yes, that is the route he had looked as a starting point but was considering doing it unguided. Looking at end of May time to catch the daylight and reduce any bog.

His fitness is very good but I think he’d admit that sometimes not the most technical. That’s probably the big unknown and when things get technical sometimes it can be quite a drain on what was originally a decent level of fitness.

Best suited for a trail bike (which is a lot lighter and full suss) or is it doable for a fat bike? If there is much pushing or hike a bike then I’d err towards the trail bike. Is that what you mean by stiff climb? Sorry, probably another very individual question but appreciate your thoughts.

If time is short, a gps will save you a lot of map faffing/checking etc. When we did the C2C we spent up to 4 hrs a day on mapwork etc!

You’d be fine with either type of bike for that route, as there’s no stretch that would be a big disadvantage to them. The stiff climbs are mainly ups and downs along glens, except for Cullardoch which is very long and very rideable, meaning there’s no spinning out to give an excuse to stop! Nice fast descent the other side though. Any pushing is limited, only the Braes of Abernethy and climbing up to loch an Duin on the Gaick pass spring to mind.

I did a similar route a couple of years ago. We did it over three days with stays in Aviemore and Braemar.

My feeling is that two days would be tough, but doable. I’d prefer three if I was doing it again.

I did this Cairngorm loop over three days last May. Day 1: Blair Atholl to Rothiemurchus (~70km). Day 2: Rothiemurchus to Braemar via Tomintoul (~70km). Day 3 Braemar to Blair Atholl via Glen Tilt (~50km). This was about the right amount of cycling for me (carrying camping kit). Climb up the Cullardoch was hard work, and the top of Glen Tilt is narrow/exposed/challenging. Otherwise mostly estate tracks. I used a 29er hardtail.

Appreciate all the replies – Thanks.

done the inner loop on my fat bike and the whole thing on my regular 29 x 2.4 rigid…..

the fatty does offer slight advantage through the larig au laiogh and through to eidart bridge maybe makes it 20 – 30% more ridable but is a hinderance everywhere else on this route as very little of it is off the fireroad beyond those sections. i reckon the regular bike more than exceeds the speed difference over the rest of the route.

Of the route kcr posted, I’ve done days two and three, and the first half of four. I wouldn’t describe myself as a technical rider, nor much of a climber.