I thought I'd just post up some photo's / blurb after doing the GGW on Friday. Bedmaker was supposed to join in but called off at the last minute with some excuse about a wedding or something.... 😀
Weather: Pishing on and off from Fort B to Fort A but clear after that. Very blustery & windy but well sheltered amongst the tress.
Total time: 8hrs 44mins
Total moving time: 7hr 29mins
Food: 1 x Ham and cheese sandwich, 1/2 bag of wine gums / nuts, 4 x small packs of oat cakes, 2ltr home brew drink & 1 pint milk. I can't believe I ate so little but it worked for me!
Where the 1hr 15min stoppage time went I just don't know. I stopped twice for a sanni and a few times to empty the bladder but other than that it was head down, arse up.
A damp Loch Lochy...
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Spean Bridge - South Laggan easy miles
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Climbing out of Fort Augustus
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Views above Fort Augustus
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Start of the new high route outside Invermorrison
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...with loads of climbing / pushing...blahhhh. Had to have a wee chat with myself at this point... 😳
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...but worth the views...almost!
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The 'big' relentless climb out of Drumnadrochit...keep mashing those pedals...
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Abriachan summit
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...and finally some really nice tight & swoopy singletrack 'mostly' all the way down...
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Great pics. I live in Drumnadrochit, the climb up to Abriachan is much more fun the other way round. A great wee descent!
Murf...now that would be a hoot. I may be up soon again to help a cousin build his new house in Adriachan so I may be tempted to give that a whirl. In saying that, I had serious vision blur with the rigid forks on the way down to Inverness so me thinks some bouncy forks would be required for the Drum plummet!
Overall, it's a really nice route and considerably easier than the WHW in my opinion!
When I see threads like this, I really wish I lived in Scotland 🙂
Me too......
Distance and elevation?
Me too...Oh wait; I do! 😈
In total I cycled 81.7 miles and climbed 7,148ft but that includes cycling beyond Inverness and out to my pals in Munlochy so take 9ish miles off that total and a few hundred feet of climbing.
Nice one!
Was on my to-do list this year, but not had the chance yet. Intended doing it north to south though.
Did some it N to S to FA some years ago Jon. Some nice off piste routes in there too...
There is loads of good natural trails round Drum, give us a yell if your back this way and I'll try and get you a guided tour. Abriachan drains well so I tend to go there in the winter, get the Mrs to drop me off, do a couple of laps then pedal home down the GGW.