[Closed] Aviemore (and surround) riding suggestions

Scotroutes to the forum please!

The nearest trail centre would, I think, be Laggan Wolftrax.

Bothy Bikes for maps and input (as long as they're not *too* busy).
Glenlivet might be slightly closer (but parking charge and no cafe).

To be honest there are loads of low grade (mean that nicely) trails about Aviemore that I'd turn that round and give cycling from town a try - I love Aviemore for the whole bike from the door feeling..

Thanks for the input.

Certainly not adverse to riding from town - I like that bike from the door feeling also. It's just train centres generally give the best bang for the buck in terms of amount of riding with limited time to explore. But, happy to explore locally if recommended.

Also, we have multiple days - so multiple places to try and experience would be great.

If she's confident on trail centre reds and you both fancy something a bit special, why not go up a mountain? Carn Ban Mor is basically a red grade descent, but there's 3000ft of it, with the associated reward of stunning views.

Trailforks gives you loads of trails out the back of the town and up towards the caingorm. Some are a bit steep but there is some good less techy stuff. Lairig Ghru path is good fun as well.

What about the trails around Badaguish ,can ride there from town.

Up to loch einich is worth a ride.

Speyside way to nethy bridge then via ryvoan to loch morlich, back to aviemore is scenic.

I like the Burma road towards carrbridge, return to aviemore via high burnside

I'm not too impressed with glenlivet since they cut all the trees down, especially if it's windy.

Loch Einich is a nice scenery ride. Gravel with some slightly rough bits.

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If you take the high loop on the way back there's better views.

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Edit: the white bike is the vintage gravel/rough stuff bike I built up recently. It's been getting a thorough workout. 🙂

THanks a lot, some great suggestions. Certainly give us somewhere to start.

So much great riding all within a bike ride of town. For me, the best stuff is up above Carrbridge, Boat of Garten woods, creag Dubh (up above Insh) and Burnside. All natural tech riding without being a big expedition. Miles better than Laggan. Mrs Tyred likes them all except Burnside.

Several other more popular spots are either a bit overrated IMO or a bit busy with walkers.

I'll also be up there later this month, feel free to PM me if you want a bit more detail on where to go. Can take a while to get to grips with what's there.

Bothy Bikes for maps and input

IMHO be careful with this one. We bought the map and took his advice and ended up on one of the most tedious rides we've ever (half) done.

In the end we binned it and the kids and wife returned to the campsite. I went off exploring on my own and ended up a few miles up the Lairig grhu, which was beyond amazing.
But the BB route was just fire road hell.

You have picked a great place to base yourself. As others have said there is lots of riding available on the doorstep with no need to drive anywhere. Depending on what you like, the Burnside trails (on the other side of the A9 from Aviemore) are our favourite but many are not for the faint hearted - some pretty steep gradients and chunky rock slabs to challenge you.

The ones to the back of Badaguish are tamer and less extensive but great fun to ride. Further afield but still easily rideable from town is Inshriach forest with various cake-based named trails. Further still and probably better with car support unless you like a long ride in are the ones down in Glenfeshie.

Trailforks is pretty good in the area as a guide but as ever, there are far more trails on the ground than are listed there.

If you fancy a drive instead, Laggan is also great fun and the trails in the woods opposite even more so.

Given the time of year, get yourself some Smidge to keep the beasties off you.

@thegeneralist - that's a shame. I've been in BB a lot to pick up route advice, have been spot on, headed down Glen Feshie direction with all the little diversions; so much so that we repeated the route next time (as navigation took an effort). Also the Badaguish XC trails, little diversions to add interest..

what @greencroft said basically. I'm not big on the Burnside steep tech stuff, the ones listed above do fine for me..

Yep. It was weird. Perhaps the problem was mentioning the 10 year old kid....
I tried to give it context but clearly failed.

Ho hum.

Mostly covered above.

Nearest trail centres are Laggan and Glenlivet. Laggan Red is a (manageable) step up from Glentress Red. Laps are quite small and you can do Upper- and Lower-Red sections independently. Glenlivet is ... OK. Red is mostly GT Blue level with a couple of harder features. I find it frustrating as you do the Red descent then have to pedal up and down the Blue to get back to the trailhead.

However, most folk come to Aviemore for the selection/variety of riding nearby.

Burnside is consistently the most techy and can be tough to navigate.

Badaguish is easier and fine to navigate once you've done a lap.

Lots of fun trails around Boat of Garten Fairy Hill without doing any big climbs. More in the woods above Carrbridge which I can help you find. There are some stonking trails on the other side of the A9 from Carrbridge too.

Two linked trails from above Glenmore Lodge of which the second is "Red" grade(ish).

Allt Mor descent is fun and fast.

Laig Ghru (from the junction withe the Lodge track is a good descent. I prefer to climb the descent rather than take the Lodge track though.

The generalist did a fine route with his family. I'll let him link it for you.

More trails down at the Badan Dubh and Feshie. Other than the Clifftop Trail, all Blue-Red grade.

A couple of videos showing some of the trails mentioned above.

Cheers all.

We picked a somewhat random base as a place to go before a family event down around Dundee. Sounds like it was a good pick. More than enough to choose from.

Although I was hoping the midges wouldn't be a big issue in late July

IMHO be careful with this one. We bought the map and took his advice and ended up on one of the most tedious rides we’ve ever (half) done.

In the end we binned it and the kids and wife returned to the campsite. I went off exploring on my own and ended up a few miles up the Lairig grhu, which was beyond amazing.
But the BB route was just fire road hell.

Was it the Burma road? Lovely, really lovely scenery, but by god it was dull riding. Burnside is awesome, so much amazing riding up there, some phenomenal big mountain stuff too.

See burnside could be some woods behind nationwide anywhere.

I can see why they wouldn't point visitors up there really.

But they are awesome trails.

Driving from Aviemore to Dundee won't be a fun day! Easily 2.5 hours each way this time of year as the A9 will be hoaching.

All covered above, glenlivet is dull, laggan amazing and high burnside possibly my fav natural trails.

See burnside could be some woods behind nationwide anywhere.

Basically my thoughts. Why come to Aviemore to ride in an anonymous commercial pine forest? At least Badaguish has a sense of place.

Glenlivet is … OK

glenlivet is dull,

I'm very firmly in the Glenlivit is shit camp. It's not really shit, but given how new it is and the various nearby examples of utter excellentness like Golspie and Laggan, it really is unbievable what a bad job they have done.

We stopped at various points to double check the sign posts hadn't been turned round as a joke by someone.