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Im taking the gf upto aviemore for 4 days on saturday. Anyone been and got any tips? except leave the gf at home!
laggan is just down the road. get her one of the kicked in kona hire bikes and drag her round the black run!
Plenty of good ST. Someone was asking for Aviemore routes in past couple of weeks, do a search you'll get plenty of ideas from that.
Visit Bothy Bikes for hire bikes and trail info. Lots of riding from Coylumbridge and Glenmore. There is a nice non-tech circuit of Loch Morlich, heading up from Coylumbridge towards the Lairig Gruh (spelling), over the footbridge and then around the loch back to Glen more.
Bothy Bikes http://www.bothybikes.co.uk/
Cafe Mambo in Aviemore is OK for drinks and snacks.
Ask at Bothy Bikes for the map for the SSUK course at Badaguish.
If she's not ridden much a tour of Rothiemurcus will be wonderful- Laggan can be a bit intense for a first go (I know this from experience with my GF...).
If she's not bad then Laggan's great, and you can do a burn of the black in 30 minutes so she could wait for you in the excellent cafe.
If you're both dab hands then laggan black or Carn Ban Mor (?) are wonderful.
If you are travelling this weekend you may not make it. Keep an eye on the forecasts and trafficscotland.org for road conditions. A search here will provide heaps of routes but you may be better off with skis.
[b]wife/bike widow of joemetcalfm[/b]
take her for breakfast at the mountain cafe on the main strip, book her into the spa at the macdonald complex - with plenty of magazines and money - and follow up with romantic [b]walk[/b] and picnic round loch an eilien. leave bike at home x
enjoy your weekend
Echo the loops round rothiemurchis
avoid the cafe at glenmore forrest park at all costs
Mountain Cafe in town is nice ( oppp the police station )
top floor of CGM sports
enjoy
Try this cafe, cute red squirrels for the gf.
http://www.sledges.co.uk/Home/tabid/94/Default.aspx
Then go for a walk to the loch which has huge sandy beach.
Further up the road is the cairngorms funicular
http://www.cairngormmountain.co.uk/
Have a great time.
As Devs says, this weekend you might have to take whatever you can get low down, unless you were thinking of taking axes/crampons/skis. Tonnes of good stuff around the lower lochans and forests to keep you going though and out of the worst (best?) of the weather. [url= http://www.mwis.org.uk ]MWIS[/url] should see you right for forecasts.
It's gonna snow...
[url= http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/loutdoor/mountainsafety/easthighland/easthighland_latest_pressure.html ]Met Office East Highlands forecast[/url]
The guys in Bothy will point you in the best direction, but probably best to bike around Rothiemurchas, Inshriach and Badaguish. Anything higher will be character building at the very least if the forecast goes to plan.
We were there in February attempting a week of work based out of Aviemore. Some of the most amazing 'travels-with-bike' I've ever done but the actual 'turning pedals for forward motion' bit of the riding was distinctly limited by the snow. If the paths are clear then the trail round Loch an Eilean is fun and technically undemanding - Mountain Cafe for warming afters.
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Just dawns on me that jennh is jenn of bike magazine writing fame...
<slaps ample forehead>
who?
Some lovely gentle riding in the woods around boat of garten, I believe their is a bike hire place there now. Then lunch in the boat hotel, proper fire and a good malt ...brilliant! www.boatofgarten.com
If you get the chance, try and include the path from Inshriac Bothy back to the west edge of Loch Gamhna.
It's only a mile or so long but mainly downhill, rocky, narrow and twisty. A wee peach.
The whole area is so scenic and the guys at Bothy Bikes are very helpful. I'm sure making a purchase would do no harm either !
That was me who was asking for routes the other day, and I was there over the weekend. It was cold. Very cold! I actually had an issue with my Shimano freehub freezing solid, but fortunately I was at the edge of Rothiemurchus so almost back in Aviemore when I lost all drive altogether.
And our rides turned out shorter than planned as we burned a lot of time playing on frozen ice!
There is plenty of great singletrack around Loch an Eilean and Loch Gamhna in Rothiemurchus which should be fairly easy in any weather, and close by to Aviemore and car parking too. The path out to Inshriach bothy is good fun also, and there is more nice singletrack if you head further through the forest to Feshiebridge.
[i]Edge of Loch an Eilean:[/i]
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I echo the comments about Badaguish, you should definitely head there if the girlfriend is prepared for anything slightly technical. And the cafe mentioned before is great too, I recommend the breakfast with the black pudding 😉
[i]Badaguish:[/i]
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Loch Einich is a good simple route in some great scenery. Only issue is a few river crossings which weren't deep, but deep enough to wet the feet which was particularly uncomfortable in the very cold weather.
[i]Route out to Loch Einich:[/i]
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I also headed out to Inshriach forest partly to try out the route in Kenny Wilson's book, but mostly as it would allow a stop at the Inshriach Cake shop on the way home! I came across some great singletrack there, but went through a lot of effort on forest roads to get to it. I'd recommend speaking to Bothy Bikes to get the most.
Cheers guys, great info.
Really looking forward to it!!
If you're going to Badaguish, here's a map I found online before I went for the first time
[url= http://www.box.net/shared/8jm7qcmjd7 ]http://www.box.net/shared/8jm7qcmjd7[/url]
I haven't been there this weekend...no...I don't do time travel...