Lairig Ghru Advice + cheeky GPX

Hope someone can help here, as a follow on to the Torridon Lollipop thread and adding on to the trip with a few days around Aviemore as well. Ive already got a route for Sgor Goaith  to finish the trip before heading for a final run off Dumyat (just to break the trip home up ) .

What im after is a little advice on the Lairig Ghru and  a good route around there . https://www.komoot.com/smarttour/e996017141/glenmore-forest-park-to-lairig-ghru-and-glen-derry-loop-cairngorms-national-park  this looks like a good ride out  but looks like its in reverse from what most of the usual suspects ride (Jamies street and McTrail rider )  Any help or advise  greatly receive :)

Some portions of the Tour may require you to push your bike.

Just glancing at the komoot thumbnail I’d suggest that may be a glass half full perspective. Basically don’t “ride” through. Either end would be fine, north end for a shortish bit of singletrack (which I guess McTrail etc al have shown you) southern end to access from Deeside. Middle is unrideable, not pushable for the most, carry. Don’t know anyone who would recommend to bike through. Plenty of other routes through the Cairngorms if that’s what you want and an out and back of the north end is easy to add onto a wider forest loop.

that looks catagorically the worst way to do all of those trails.

Descent into Fords of Avon is best from the aviemore side – The climb onto an lurg is largely ridable also – From fords of Avon through to The top of descent to derry lodge is a slog no matter which way 2km of push  – The descent into derry lodge is fun also – well it was on friday night just past in the dark

The Lairig ghru is largely best avoided on a bike 8km push/carry Its a very good hill run through.   – do the glen feshie route which has a 5k bog trott at this time of year due to the water table – from about 3k after the red house to about 1km after falls of eidart (i went through it on saturday) then some fun singletrack mixed with landrover track and back and forth till you get back to auchlean and hit the road – you can then flick onto some more singletrack round the back of loch an Eilein at the Gliding club   and then go up to the fork with the Chalamain gap from the aviemore side if you really want to ride the best of the lairg ghru riding. –

Either way bottom line is – be prepared to push and take many spare tubes. one of our party got through 2 tubes and a while patch kit after splitting his tubeless tire at the bead on a water bar.

Don’t take a bike through the Lairig Ghru.

I didn’t listen to that advice and regretted it. FWIW I’ll be running it later this month. That’s a lot more sensible.

I did the section of that route from White Bridge to Corrour bothy as part of the Deeside trail ‘extension’.

We didn’t get as far as the bothy due to a mechanical but what we did ride was pretty terrible – just boggy, rutty, rocky horribleness. Stuff that takes all the enjoyment of having a bike with you.

I’ve walked the Lairig Ghru twice.

Once I followed a slow DofE group – and we overtook two folk pushing bikes.

The first time was in an early winter storm…and I doubted we should have been there, even as ML candidates…

I concur with the the other posters. Looks like a shit route.  You could improve it slightly by going south through Feschie, or do what I’m planning this weekend by going south over Cairngorm and Macdui..

PS, remind me when you’re going? I’m heading up this Wednesday evening hopefully.

and white bridge to corrour would be considered the ridable section – at least until you try to cross fromt he marked path over to corrour its self at which point it turns into a knee deep bog for 2km.

Right thats that sorted then  .. time to look at other stuff.   I have managed to pull a route following what Andrew did with Ben Jones up there.

If you want to do the best of the Lairig Ghru, my advice would be to climb the fire road from the pontoon bridge just South/ West of Loch Morlich up to Rothiemurchus Lodge. Push the half hour horrible path from there to where it intersects the Lairig Ghru and then turn right, have fun and descend like a mad thing down to Picadilly. Forest paths from there back to Aviemore. I rode the Speyside Way up to Boat of Garten, then Nethy Bridge, the  over the Ryvoan Pass down to Loch Morlich and tacked the Lairig Ghru on at the end on Saturday. Twas a fine bimble.

^^^

i did that and it was awesome fun.

The route is a komoot “smart tour” put together by an algorithm. Some of these are absolute nonsense, as ground reality hasn’t been taken into account.

The route is a komoot “smart tour” put together by an algorithm

**** me. Really?  That is reprehensible…

At the bottom it says “planned by komoot” but easier to spot is the bit in the web address.

Found one a while ago, looked up the places on here and OS map, yeah that definitely not a goer. Swampy ground, uncrossable rivers, etc.

I guess they just put crap out there and remove it if they get complaints. Using unsuspecting users as route testers.

Push the half hour horrible path from there to where it intersects the Lairig Ghru

Blimey. I wouldn’t say that was a horrible path, certainly by local standards. Fair enough, my kids didn’t like it, but compared to the upper Ghru it isfab.

Few pictures of it further down this page:

Laggan & Braemar [Family] Route Advice

The route is a komoot “smart tour” put together by an algorithm. Some of these are absolute nonsense, as ground reality hasn’t been taken into account.

its not very smart is it .

Looking at it again – everysingle photo used shows the rider going in the ideal direction for the route – ie the opposite to Komoots ideas….

**** me. Really? That is reprehensible…

Wait until you see the ‘smart tour’ which sends riders up the busy A84 instead of the National Cycle Path on the other side of the valley / Loch Lubnaig / Glen Ogle

And my blood boiled when I emailed them and pointed this out and that cyclists had been killed on that section of road, and was told that the algorithm knew better…

I refuse to use Komoot now, particularly anything ‘automated’.

Komoot once routed me through a locked sewage plant and over an unbridged river

I didn’t try it. The OS map showed the river and the Strava heat map showed nothing had made it through the sewage plant

And my blood boiled when I emailed them and pointed this out and that cyclists had been killed on that section of road, and was told that the algorithm knew better…

Thanks for mentioning. I’ve just reported the river crossing issue I mentioned. Wouldn’t want anyone to get into difficulty there due to poor judgement exacerbated by it being a long way into the tour.

Conflicted though, they should face the wrath (and closed wallets) of angry users and reputational damage. I’ve just helped improve their product.

I never  checked the source on Kamoot . Of all the suggested rides Ive hoovered from the (Lakes Dales and Highlands) they have all been good .

The fact that it says “the start is right next to a parking lot” rather gives the game away to me. At best written by someone whose mother tongue is the other sort of English, at worst written by a ‘puter. Artificial, and not terribly Intelligent.

You could hit Lairig ghru though the gap too? Just done go through the gap, go high.

FWIW Glenmore Visitor Centre cafe is currently closed. FLS are handing it over to a local community trust who will be refurbing it and opening again – probably November. The Pine Marten Bar & Scran is just along the road.

I’ve just reported the river crossing issue I mentioned.

They told me it’s due to OpenStreetMap and I could fix it there.

They weren’t receptive to the ideas of having an easy way to report route issues, or showing warnings based on OSM data for fords.

To hell with them, taking from the work of OSM but not making any effort themselves.

Since the stagecoach website is a piece of shit, I might as well ask here…

Anyone know if there is a bus from Glenmore lodge to the ski carpark?

https://www.stagecoachbus.com/promos-and-offers/north-scotland/aviemoreadventurer

A bus for 4km, tsk tsk tsk.

;-)

That 4km is a warm up :)

That 4km is a warm up flunking orrid :)

FTFY

(Ask me how I know)

That 4km is full of assholes not paying attention to the road. Thankfully it’s not nearly as bad for abandoned/parked cars as it used to be.

I wouldn’t have my young children riding on that road either