So as described the plan was to meet at duinish bothy at the watershed of Loch Garry near to Drumochter on the A9. I'd scoped out a route starting from the Garry bridge just north of Pitlochry heading west through the woods above Loch tummel, a bit of road riding to Loch Rannoch and then up the ROW to Glen Garry. Simple..... There was no fixed plan for a meet up as we were all heading up under own steam at various times. For my part I was limited by alchohol consumption the night before thanks to my works xmas night out. I eventually got up there for just before 3.....
The machine ready for the off. Depsite only going out for one night it was jammed with stuff.
The temp was around 0 and there was a dusting of snow around. I ws concerned that a lot of the tracks we would be riding would be melted / frozen snow and lethal. The first section was exactly that so it was a case of slithering around or using the still snowy middle bit. Several sets of tyre tracks indicated that Ray et al was in front. Entering the woods got us off the ice and into around 2-3" of powder snow. Vehicle tracks made for easy going and at the high point of 450m there wasn't much more. As this was the same height as the bothy it looked like we would have a straightforward climb up to it
I caught up Ray, Blair, Blair's mate and Jamie not long before the woods section finished. They seemed to be making good progress in the snow so all was well.
Looking back to Ben Vrackie.
Looking up Strath Rannoch. We just missed the sunset.
Heading along the road to Kinnloch Rannoch seemed to take ages. The temps dropped alarmingly and I was getting chilly so with Rays blessing pushed on. Blairs Mate was on his first trip and was a bit under dressed so departed back along the road at this point. Given what was to come he made a wise choice....
The further west we went the more the snow cover increased. Past Kinnloch Rannoch the road was pretty snowy and off to the side it was solid white away from tree cover. At the start of the ROW you were straight into it. Climbing up from the farm there was 5-6", way more than had been in the woods previously. I stopped to drop tyre pressures to 3 / 5psi and got stuck in.
This looks horrendous but was actually straightforward - just aim along the rut and pedal. A quad bike had been up so no need to break trail!
I was following another bike track and up ahead I started to get glimpses of a light. Some tread spotting suggested this was Alastair on his half fat Jones. I eventually caught him just before the track met the main estate road up the glen. He was riding and walking so I kept going with my steady pace. On the main track the quad tracks were replaced by an argo cat track. This is pefect fatbike riding as it leaves a nice level surface on which you can ride pretty easily (Alasdair, Ray, Jamie and Blair will probably want to repeatedly punch me for saying that
) The only spoiler was loads of foot prints. They all seemed to be heading downhill so hopefully there would be no-one in the bothy but Colin. It was now seriously cold - frost was building up on my bags and I had a proper Iditarod icicle under my nose! The climb was steady but seemed to go on way longer than the map suggested. Its always hard to guage your pace in the dark as all you can see is a small pool of light in front of you and no idea of how quickly the landscape is passing. A flurry of snow came in but otherwise the sky was crystal clear. I turned my lights off and stopped to check out the stars. No Northern Lights tho..... 
At one point all the footprints turned off in the direction of, presumably, the local munroe / corbett. So it was just me ringing across a pristine argo track. It was still climbing but good going. I've no idea as to snow depth but 8-10" I'd guess. There was barely any wind but I started seeing snow drifts of increasing size as I made my way along to the bothy. Fortunately the argo had ridden across it all and it hadn't drifted back in. Finally I got a glimpse of the bothy windows reflecting my light back to me. It still seemed ages before I at last got to the turn off. The bothy was dark and cold. No sign of Colin which was slightly alarming as he'd said he would be aiming to get there before dark o'clock. Oh well hopefully he'll be here soon.
Made it at last, 42k and 4 hours after seting off.
The bothy was occupied after all - two wee sparrow hawks were curled up in the entrance and seemed mightily p*ssed off when I clomped in.
The only way to avoid the rest of the party form lynching me for riding up so easily was to get a fire going. Ray had stashed some coal two weeks previously but I'd no idea where it was. A big bag of kindling, fire lighters and a couple of spadefuls of coal from someone elses visit saved the day. Alastair turned up not long after and Ray, Blair and Jamie arrived about another half hour after that, cursing the bloke on the fat bike that had ridden everything they had spent 2 hours walking up
Ray went in search of the coal, the stashing of which should earn him a BB hero of the year award. Sadly it wasn't to be found - either buried under a snow drift or found by someone else the previous weekend. Instead he produced two fire logs that he'd humped all the way up with him, earning him the BB hero of the year award. We managed to chop up some bits of wood that were lying in the back room and got a good blaze going in the grate. Not only that but he'd also brought tunes! So there then followed a very convivial evening chewing the fat listening to good music and having the odd nip of whisky finally turning in at 1 am. I'd guess at about -7 to -10 outside but a balmy 2 or 3 inside so everyone seemed to have a decent nights kip (judging by the snores anyway....)
The next morning dawned grey and damp as forecasted. It was a case of eat breakfast, pack up and get going. The temps had gone up to above freezing so with the heavy rain the snow cover was rapidly heading for porridge-hood. The fat bike can be a liability here as it floats across the snow / slush rather than digging in. I left the narrow tyres pushing and slithered my way back down to Loch Rannoch. Overall the going was OK but much harder than the previous evening - I even had to push at one point! The downhill seemed ludicrously short given how long it had taken to grind up it so I was onto the road after less than an hour.
Loch Rannoch looking west.
After a stop to pump the tyres up it was a case of pedalling steadily east. Santa greeted me at the FC place at Queens View but all I wanted for xmas was a flushing toilet so I quickly side stepped him. Xmas music blared out of the speakers whilst I was doing what had to be done, further driving my humbug like spirit away from this nonsense that we put up with every year....
Back to the car at 1 and straight of home for heat and hot water!
Mucho cheers for organising this Ray, it's been memorable.
.
