Torridon – overhyped? (long & pic heavy!)

Not really no. 😛

Had a bloody awesome trip up there the weekend before last – making the most of some fantastic September weather.

Stopped off at the Old Bridge Inn in Aviemore on the way up on Friday night, then Saturday morning headed off and over the Bealach Na Ba to Applecross.

Torridon (1 of 59) by Grum Wynne[/url], on Flickr

Torridon (56 of 59) by Grum Wynne[/url], on Flickr

We got a ride in on Saturday – round the coast to Kenmore, mostly on road but with a lovely bit of singletrack to Sand and cracking views out to sea all along it. Then back over off-road to Applecross – about 15km of excellent flowy singletrack through beautiful scenery with a great descent to finish.

Torridon (2 of 59) by Grum Wynne[/url], on Flickr

Only slightly marred by Paul’s freehub packing in at the top of the last descent, and us being about 2 hours from the nearest bike shop.

Saturday night we camped on the beach in Applecross and spent the evening in the pub. Had a few pints and possibly the best fish and chips I’ve ever had sat on a bench by the beach. Later on we got on the wifi to try and work out a solution to the bike issue – had some very kind offers of help after a post on here but all involved at least a 4 hour round trip in the car.

We had met a local earlier that day on the ride who was supporting some friends doing a duathlon (basically doing our route in reverse but running the off road bit). Saw him in the pub and were telling him of our woes with Paul’s bike and he offered to lend us his (and sorted us out some beers from his house to take back to our tents!).

Torridon (3 of 59) by Grum Wynne[/url], on Flickr

With the new bike collected we set off towards Torridon the next day.

Torridon (4 of 59) by Grum Wynne[/url], on Flickr

Torridon (5 of 59) by Grum Wynne[/url], on Flickr

Torridon (6 of 59) by Grum Wynne[/url], on Flickr

Stopped off for a quick swim in the sea with some seals (!) on the way. Then we had to do an A-Team style transformation on the bike in the Torridon Inn beer garden to get it ready for the ride we had planned for the next day.

Before:

Torridon (8 of 59) by Grum Wynne[/url], on Flickr

After:

Torridon (9 of 59) by Grum Wynne[/url], on Flickr

On the way round to Diabaig in the car:

Torridon (11 of 59) by Grum Wynne[/url], on Flickr

We set off from Diabaig to cycle the 5km or so to the bothy at Craig. It turned out to be fairly techy especially carrying sleeping bags/cooking stuff and it soon got pretty dark. We arrived at the bothy to find one other occupant for the night, who had lit the fire and some candles and got the place feeling nice and cosy!

Torridon (12 of 59) by Grum Wynne[/url], on Flickr

Torridon (19 of 59) by Grum Wynne[/url], on Flickr

Torridon (20 of 59) by Grum Wynne[/url], on Flickr

Torridon (21 of 59) by Grum Wynne[/url], on Flickr

Spent a nice evening chatting to her and making/eating some food. The bothy is well equipped and in an amazing spot. Woke up to a beautiful morning the next day…

Torridon (22 of 59) by Grum Wynne[/url], on Flickr

Torridon (13 of 59) by Grum Wynne[/url], on Flickr

Torridon (15 of 59) by Grum Wynne[/url], on Flickr

Torridon (18 of 59) by Grum Wynne[/url], on Flickr

Torridon (14 of 59) by Grum Wynne[/url], on Flickr

The trail back to Diabaig was more fun in the other direction (and with some daylight).

Torridon (25 of 59) by Grum Wynne[/url], on Flickr

Torridon (26 of 59) by Grum Wynne[/url], on Flickr

Torridon (27 of 59) by Grum Wynne[/url], on Flickr

Torridon (28 of 59) by Grum Wynne[/url], on Flickr

Arrived back at Diabaig then on to to Annat in the car for the main goal of the trip – the Torridon ‘lollipop’.

Torridon (29 of 59) by Grum Wynne[/url], on Flickr

Torridon (30 of 59) by Grum Wynne[/url], on Flickr

Torridon (31 of 59) by Grum Wynne[/url], on Flickr

First climb up from Annat up to Loch an Eoin

Torridon (32 of 59) by Grum Wynne[/url], on Flickr

Torridon (33 of 59) by Grum Wynne[/url], on Flickr

Torridon (35 of 59) by Grum Wynne[/url], on Flickr

Torridon (36 of 59) by Grum Wynne[/url], on Flickr

Heading up from Loch an Eoin towards the Bealach na Lice

Torridon (37 of 59) by Grum Wynne[/url], on Flickr

Near the top of Bealach Ban:

Torridon (39 of 59) by Grum Wynne[/url], on Flickr

Torridon (42 of 59) by Grum Wynne[/url], on Flickr

Torridon (41 of 59) by Grum Wynne[/url], on Flickr

Torridon (43 of 59) by Grum Wynne[/url], on Flickr

Looking back down at the trail after the brutally steep carry up Coire Grannda.

Torridon (44 of 59) by Grum Wynne[/url], on Flickr

Then the payoff…

Torridon (45 of 59) by Grum Wynne[/url], on Flickr

Torridon (46 of 59) by Grum Wynne[/url], on Flickr

I didn’t get too many pictures after this point as a) we were getting pushed for time b) I was having far too much fun to want to stop! 🙂

Suffice to say that the bottom section of the trail down through Coire Lair to Achnashellach station is probably the finest descent I’ve ever ridden, anywhere. Fast, flowy, techy – huge rock slabs to ‘wall ride’ and plenty of drops and twists and turns plus amazing scenery – goes on for ages too. Mind-blowing.

Ate like kings and got fairly drunk at the Torridon Inn that evening, then stayed at the YH. Woke up to another cracking morning.

Torridon (48 of 59) by Grum Wynne[/url], on Flickr

Torridon (49 of 59) by Grum Wynne[/url], on Flickr

Torridon (50 of 59) by Grum Wynne[/url], on Flickr

Torridon (51 of 59) by Grum Wynne[/url], on Flickr

Torridon (53 of 59) by Grum Wynne[/url], on Flickr

Then back round to Applecross to drop off the loaned bike:

Torridon (54 of 59) by Grum Wynne[/url], on Flickr

And back over the Bealach Na Ba to start the long drive home:

Torridon (59 of 59) by Grum Wynne[/url], on Flickr

We had an absolute belter of a trip and I can strongly recommend making the journey up there. The scenery is incredible and the riding even better (as long as you’re happy with pushing/carrying your bike up big hills!). We’ll definitely be back.

Wow some excellent photos – what were you shooting with, and what time of the day were most of these shot at? Lighting is incredibly dynamic for a quick “lets take a snap here” type photos – excellent job.

Cheers! Shot with a Panasonic GF1 – mostly with the 20mm f1.7 lens but a few with the 14-45mm. Quite a few were fairly early morning or late evening but the ones on the main Torridon route were mostly between 1-5pm.

I always shoot in RAW and most of the landscape ones have had some tweaking in LR such as graduated filters on the sky and playing around with the highlights/shadows/blacks sliders to try and get the most dynamic range out of them.

Look crap

*sobs with envy*

Fantastic pictures!

superb shots !

Clickbait!
In the half a second it took me to read the title and click on it, I’d already half written a rebuttal!

Terrific photos. It’s a very special place.
I shall return!

Some of the best photos I’ve ever seen posted on here, really amazing stuff.

You make me sick (with envy).

Thanks everyone! It is a special place – I’ve travelled around the highlands and islands quite a bit and it’s definitely one of the most spectacular bits I’ve seen. Everyone was so friendly too.

Forgot to add this bit in:

When we got down to Achnashellach we were giddy with excitement about the trail we’d just ridden but also bloody knackered. The prospect of climbing back up and over the mountain wasn’t feeling very appealing, but after a bit of a rest we got on with it. We had fairly crap lights with us and didn’t fancy the prospect of getting caught in the complete darkness so we descended back to Annat in double quick time. Luckily the white rocks were gleaming in the dusk and you could see the trail pretty well.

Overtook a guy on a quad bike (with his headlights on!) near the bottom at around 8.30pm in the gloom. Managed to still crack on fairly quickly and got to the bottom without injury – result!

An amazing part of Scotland, I’ve done a fair few of the Munros in the area and along Glen Carron looking over to Torridon.

You always take brilliant pics Grum, I could never take pics that give it any justice.

Wow.

Just wow.

wow indeed…I am sold

Thanks Dobbo! Yeah I really fancy coming back and having a go at Liathach and Beinn Alligin at some point (not on bikes 🙂 ).

Beautiful – maybe one day

I hate you 😥

Makes my ride round the local forest this weekend look boring and uninspiring to say the least

Great writeup! And fantastic pics, proper postcard material.

Beautiful place, Torridon. Very nicely captured in those pics, too

looks awful as usual, no one should go there.

I should carry my lumix and 20mm lens more, such a great little combo for stunning shots. Hats off shooting in raw though, I started off doing that and never processed a single shot…

Excellent work all round. Sitting in my office dreaming of those singletracks.

What they said ^^^ Love Torridon. Paradise when the sun shines.

goosepimples here. thanks for sharing

I’ve travelled around Nz, Australia, south east Asia, but we have some of the most scenic and varied countryside anywhere. Never made it out west or past Fort Bill, but these photos of our British Isles are truely magical. Makes you want to start planning a trip, pack the camper, fix the bike, load the fire pit and go….

Rubbish.

Nothing to see here. Move along please.

Agree. I never want to go there. Your pictures make it look awful.

Your photographs are bloody stunning!

On my to do list!

meh.
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😉

Inspirational, thank you for sharing. 😀

Awesome Grum that looks nearly as good as Lake district riding

Looks shit. I’m off to Withernsea in a few weeks. Wait until you see my thread…

Agree with most of the above, very nice photo’s and a good narrative,looks like the weather was in your favour too 😉 Have put it in my Bucket list, thanx.

It’s an amazing place, lovely phots too Grum, the main thing is the sheer scale of the terrain compared to the rest of the UK for me, made a trip up there a few years ago and gutted won’t have time after WEMBO to get a day or twos riding up there again, pic from the trip:

big ass decent wide angle by Loco Tuning[/url], on Flickr

Stunning scenery and photo’s that wouldn’t look out of place in a magazine. Great review, I thoroughly enjoyed reading.

Post of the year as far as i’m concerned!

Ace grum – Torridon is on my list for next year as we’re headed up that way at Easter 😀

Just gorgeous. Also not long back from a highlands trip & the weather was just stunning. If only I could take an even half decent pic. Thanks Grum, favourite thread in a long while.

There in 3 weeks, even more excited now great post

Superb mate. Brilliant images. Any number of them would look brilliant in the printed magazine.

10 of us are heading up to Torridon next weekend, staying at the YH. First time for me, can’t wait and those photos just wet the appetite even more. Thanks for sharing Grum.

Superb, I miss Torridon.

Saved to faves…