One for the bikepackers among us.

Looking at heading to Aviemore late Spring and seeing about a route between Aviemore, Tomintoul and Braemar hostels. Going to travel light-ish as a bit of an intro to bikepacking (hence the hostels). Thinking of a Friday-Monday timeframe.

Ideally looking for some epic scenery to enjoy and some quiet spaces. No issues with covering a good few km’s per day so wondering about some loops to extend each leg between the hostels if that is possible? A route thats not overly technical would be good as I have 0 skills (can mangle my way up a climb but gnar descents are not for me!).

Can anyone help with any kind of route?

There’s not much you can add on between Aviemore and Tomintoul. The shortest route is via Loch Morlich and Ryvoan but you could take the Speyside Way to Nethy Bridge (detour via Loch Garten), then Forest Lodge, then pick up the “normal” route from there to Tomintoul. I can suggest some additional wee trails between Aviemore and Boat of Garten and a couple of bits around Lochs Garten and Mallachie.

The most obvious additional loop between Tomintoul and Braemar would be to head up the R Gairn after Loch Builg Lodge, avoiding the climb over Culardoch. That would end up with a detour down Gleann an t-Slugain (then Invercauld House) or Glen Quoich and Mar Lodge.

That’s a pretty common route, and I did exactly those stops over 3 days back in 2012:
[1] [2] [3]

I wouldn’t recommend day 3 from above though (the Lairig Ghru). Glen Feshie is a much better Braemar-Aviemore route.

Of course it’s worth checking people with more recent experiences, but there aren’t that many hill passes so I doubt there are many alternatives to the above.

Yeah – if you are looping back to Aviemore then Geldie-Feshie is the way to go.

Avoid the route from Fords of Avon to Derry Lodge. If I am ever seen there with a fully loaded bike packing set up again I have asked to be shot! Awful day! Otherwise, it’s a great 2-3 days. Took us 48 hours with 2 night wild camp.

Avoid the route from Fords of Avon to Derry Lodge.

Which just shows how opinions differ. A great early bikepack adventure, landing you close to Braemar. You could head Tomintoul way and back to Aviemore.

Avoid the route from Fords of Avon to Derry Lodge

I’ll edit that a bit, that the last few miles to Derry Lodge are pretty sweet, but not when you are mentally and physically broken from pushing your bike along Lairig an Laoigh in 30C. There may have been tears 😂

Funnily, I’ve not bikepacked properly since due to my ACL surgery and I spent all my time in the gym just wanting to get back to it (well not that bit!).

That was on the afternoon of day 1 of my CL300 in September. I knew what to expect there but the combination of terrain and headwind were still frustrating. Mind you, I got across the Fords dryshod so shouldn’t really complain