Anyone else tried / done this and got pissed off with all those gates?

I had a really good day today riding from Nethy Bridge over to Tomintoul via Dorback then the Speyside Way spur to Ballindalloch. I had planned to then follow the next bit of the way south to Nethy Bridge but it was a pain having to get off the bike every few hundred yards to tackle gates. It slowed me so much I realised I was going to run out of daylight! I admitted defeat and hopped onto the A95 about 10k from Granton and followed the road back to Nethy Bridge.

Is it like that for a long section or had I done the worst of it? And are there better options to avoid any gatey bits?

Cheers

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!

Bluddy gates were a nightmare. http://www.blog.scotroutes.com/2011/09/c2c-part-4.html

Grantown to Nethy Bridge is actually OK – as is the section that runs along the old railway line.

Not just me then! It was the bit between 2 fences beside a good track that did for me I think. I hopped onto the track but you’ve got to be careful not to miss any junctions.

What about the bit north of Ballindalloch?

Pretty much clear from there. It’s the old railway so there aren’t the same number of farm tracks cutting across it.

My thoughts at the time were that the Speyside Way seems to have been no more than “tolerated” by some of the landowners, hence some of the funny routing – especially around Cromdale.

My thoughts exactly. When I was 5 hours into my day riding half a k up a hill then half a k down to pop out 200m from where I started was wearing a bit thin. Superb scenery though.

The back road to Grantown is lovely if you’d prefer to avoid gates on the return – you can get to it by crossing the bridge at Balindalloch. Swavis off here and I rode it on Saturday morning and were only passed by 3 cars 🙂

great place to do a biking whisky tour.