Easter biking road trip – Scotland Edition

‘lo folks, I’m taking the Mrs away for an Easter break to ride some sweet, sweet, trails in Scotland and wanted to gain some insight from the ever-helpful and only occasionally-trollful, STW massive.

4 days, not silly amount of driving (as I’ll be the only driver of the van). We are borrowing a camper so we have a little bif of flexibility.

I was going to skip of any of the 7 Stanes as they’re all do-able as a day/weekend trip from the NE anyway.

I had originally planned to get up as far as Torridon, but I think that’s been put on the back burner for another time.

Assuming we get as far as Glasvegas on Thursday we have 4 full days to play with.

Kinlochleven – Ciaran Path, lots of other trails
I’m assuming all the better/longer/DH Ft Bill trails will be under snow?
Laggan

What else is worth throwing in? Priority is for fun, challenging stuff. Steep, rocks, roots = 😀

I’m also keeping an eye on this thread
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/where-are-you-riding-in-scotland-this-summer
but I’m bearing in mind most of my plans for Easter will have to be slightly low-level to avoid being stuck in snow! we’d consider taking ski touring kit, but neither of us have any Scottish backcountry experience.

The Nevis Range website indicates that the lower trails are open but World Cup DH / Red DH are closed as ski season is still on. The snow might not have melted by then but have a look at last years Scottish Enduro Route for Fort William as some of that may be snow free come Easter…… here’s a strava fly by of last years route which happened in a wet ( not snowy ) February.

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The lochan trail network at th mouth of glencoe also looks good……not much about it on the internet but a look on strava reveals a diverse range of trails. They feature in alot of the Dudes of Hazards Edits!

Oooh, thanks for those tidbits, I’ll check them out. 😀

I’ve also picked up on the trail at Glenlivet – I need to see what they’re like; XC, DH or in between!

Ye could do worse than a couple of days in/around Glen Clova. Jocks road, kilbo path, dependant on conditions Lochnagar, 5 munros ride (prob way too early for that though) Loch Muick etc…

Gorgeous area, need to get back there this year.

Definitely worth having plans for east / central / west and follow the good weather accordingly. Off the top of my head I’d say Glen Clova area (and othe angus glens) for East, Aviemore/Newtonmore area central and Glen Coe / Fort William area West.

If it’s nice everywhere, West is more dramatic scenery. If it’s minging everywhere, Aviemore has more sheltered stuff and nicer cafes.

worth having plans for east / central / west and follow the good weather accordingly

true, true, just wouldn’t want to accidentally stray too close to Perth.

Easter weekend (end of this month)?

XC racing on at Laggan on the Sunday.

Family Tyred is heading for Aviemore, will be racing at Laggan but loads of other riding to be done in the area. Loads and loads.

Glenlivet’s OK, good for an afternoon if you’re nearby. More XC than DH.

Quite a bit of snow on higher ground just now. Tops around Kinlochleven under snow.

There is still snow on the Capel Mounth circuit at the head of the Angus Glens at the moment but only at the highest 2 points and just patches. However, that can change literally overnight in March. With the recent very good weather across most of the Highlands, there will be good trails everywhere up to 700m but def no higher. Try not to dismiss Torridon (you can ride trail centres anytime) and remember that there is free camper parking at the village, which also has showers! Kinlochleven has so much more to offer than Laggan.
Going to Aviemore opens up the Cairngorm plateau for ski touring; have a look at Winterhighland for updates on conditions, (especially from ‘Hilly’); also British Backcountry on FB.
Spring ski touring conditions in Scotland are quite simply, some of the best anywhere, with fantastic spring snow available most of the day and very low avalanche risk. A classic is to start at the Cairngorm ski area and tour gently out to Ben MacDhui. Returning via Coire an’t Sneachda or one of many routes down to Loch Avon can add spice if you like.

Totally agree with highlandman , conditions can indeed change very quickly. As for Glenlivet, it is pretty flowy trail centre it has a blue trail and a red, although the red is an extension on the blue. You get to start with a descent, and then get a 30 mins climb before a whopper of a 15min + descent, unless you are a absolute pro which could devour it in about 11. I would clasify it as trail riding , nothing very techy at all. food at the car park is good as well. Only thing that springs to mind is that it is a good bit further east than any of your other locations ( atleast 1h from laggan). As 2tyred said, there is racing on at laggan on the 24th of march, so that might conflict with your plans, and not take you east. If I was you though, I would be A-lining it straight for torridon and not going east.

true, true, just wouldn’t want to accidentally stray too close to Perth.

Don’t worry, there’s a bypass.

Oh, and if the weather’s good in the NW of Scotland just do the driving and go to Torridon.