You cant go wrong in Aviemore or Braemar areas. Endless wild mountain biking to do there – including ticking off some summits by bike with rowdy fast descents…dreamy! The cairngorms are peppered with campsites that you could look up. Polite note from a highlander: Make sure to at least shop locally if you are going to be “wild” camping and support local eateries etc, don’t just be a layby hogger with a van full of tesco shopping from down south.
If you do one route around here I would recommend carrying up Beinn a’ Bhuird (you can cycle to the foot of the steep bit no bother) and descending all the way down to Linn of Quioch. It’s pretty technically easy and not steep, but its a sustained flowy downhill all the way down from the top of one of the biggest mountains in the country – so cool. You could also just push straight up the descent path if you don’t fancy the long cycle in for the loop – would be a pretty quick day as you can get down in about 20 minutes.
More scenic, and better riding IMO: head to Torridon. There are less routes there and more midgies, and shops etc are more sparce. But the riding is world class – The Lollipop loop is unmatched despite the huge day out – big mixture of fast and flowy, techfest, slabby but all perfectly rideable. The Beinn Damh loop in dry weather in fantastic. There’s plenty of paths around there that lead to kind of nowhere too so great for exploring. Scenery is basically unmatched especially on a dry sunny day.
Make sure to stop off at Laggan Wolftrax for an hour or two’s smashabout as well if you’re travelling. Small trail centre but great fun with comparably minimal climbing.
