Looking at doing Torridon again in April. Last time we did from Coulags up to Bealach Na Lice & down to Annat, what’s it like going through the Coire Lair from Coulin, & what’s the track like from Achnashellach to Coire Lair? Is it worth staying high?
Ta.

I’ve done loch coulin south, past the bothy by the waterfalls then up through Coire Lair round down to Loch an Eion.

Epic, do it.

The turn off the SW track from the bothy to the WNW track through Coire Lair is a bit hard to get right – we started down the wrong track then noticed it was the wrong one. So take some care with that junction.

The climb up to the top of the pass is fine, a few short stretches you might need to get off. The trickiest bit is the start of the descent down from the pass – steep rocky switchbacks. We ended up walking the first few. Might have been a gooer if not on XC bikes and if there was more of a breeze to keep the midges down! Then you could take your time to pick a careful line.

Sounds good, might give that a go! Any other words of wizdom?

I’d echo exactly what IA said, it’s a fantastic loop. Got lost at the same turn off and walked first couple of switchbacks. One of the best days riding I’ve ever had.

Any recommendations on where to stay for 3 nights? (but not camping, not with my bad back/knees/need of home comfort/not being on that much of a budget)

Did this (clockwise) last year with Rickmeister – it was the best mountain biking I’ve ever done without question:

And all on venison burgers for breakfast…

Twas a great day and I would do exactly the same again. Can’t beat 2 7k descents on the same route..

Nice one Househusband, looks like an epic! I’m assuming you did the loopy bit clockwise?
Anyone know the weather forecast for 5 & 6th April? (apart from, ‘sunny, rainy, windy but calm, snow showers & frost, temperatures between -4 & + 16)
Yes, I know how the Scottish weather works!

And all on venison burgers for breakfast..

Hell, yeah… I think that horse was the only meat we didn’t savour that weekend..! 8)

househusband, thanks for posting that map, i was planning a trip up there and was looking for a reccommended route because it all looks overwhelmingly good. this looks perfect for me distance and tech-wise, im really looking fwd to following your route now!! just to re-iterate the o.ps last question though, did you do the loopy bit clockwise or anti-clockwise? i was trying to guage the answer by checking your altitude graph against the map and it looks like clockwise but itd be good if you could confirm that please. thanks again for this!

It says clockwise right above the map…

Loopy bit clockwise! Started from the midge-infested campsite just outside Torridon.

Do the look that hh suggests, not the unusual guidebook one. Awesome ride, truly awesome.

There must be some kind of telepathy thing going on here, Torridon was definitely my destination for April/may.
What are the midges like at that time of year? I have been to other W. coast areas where they weren’t too bad about then which was one of my reasons for choosing that time.

It’s not the midges I’m worried about at that time of year, just the weather!
Will be there on April 4th all being well.

Will hopefully get up there the end of the month. Cheers.

Some pics of our Torrid Affair here

In the best tradition of Kenny Wilson and his “Walks With My Mountain Bike” there is a ickle bit of walking…

Its a proper Scottish MTB day oot.

How long does it take(the average joe)to complete the above circuit?
I’m fat and unfit. Can i do it?

Hoping to do this in August but have decided bunkhouse instead of camping due to the midges. Also doing a Jeycore road ride from Torridon over the Beleach Na ba in a months time . You coming in August Househusband . ?

Esselgruntfuttock, FOG et al – we’ll be riding all these routes mentioned and more on our Torridon All Mountain package at the end of April / beginning May. Epic place to ride check out our review in ST issue 74, singletrackworld.com/magarchive/issue-74/ . Superb House in Torridon, all food, guiding etc. Places left for the week or by the day by arrangement. Usually a good time of year for weather and before midges. Take a look at detail on http://www.wildbike.co.uk

For folk looking for somewhere to stay, the YHA is a really good one. And no midges in there!

There’s another good (anti-clockwise) loop west of the one posted above, comes out by the hotel (should be able to work it out from that).

Personally I’d do the loop you originally suggest over the one above, avoid repeating the same bit of trail twice (and do the road at the start to warm up, rather than halfway round). But I’m sure it’s good too, seems like every trail we rode there was epic!

Just registering my interest, nothing to see here. 🙂

The merits of the various routes are discussed here:

http://www.mtbtrails.info/

On the map above, the section of trail around Maol Chean Dearg isn’t really worth it, it is a hard climb for very little extra descent, better to keep going straight to Bealach na Lice.

My tuppence worth. I’ve been up there twice now. The first time we did the Kenny Wilson loop, option two on mtbtrails I think. It was great weather and we had a fantastic day. If you decide to do that option you won’t shouldn’t be disappointed and it has two fantastic descents. Last year we did a similar ride to HH and Rick but went straight up to BnL like enmac said. If we’d had any ideas of doing that extra bit we would probably have skipped on the day. It was tipping it down when we set off from Coulags and my rear mech was held together with a zip tie. The climb up from Annat is an epic one which I think took us about two and a half hours. It was more rideable than I thought it’d be but it still has a fair bit of hike a bike. We took a wrong turn near the BnL which delayed us a bit. I was a bit underwhelmed by the start of the Coire Lair descent, liking riding on tennis balls the way I remember it. Interestingly I didn’t like the Annat descent as much second time round, it seemed a bit washed out in places. But my enjoyment of it could have been affected by the weather and being more tired second time round. Still two great days out.

Pics and description of route.