2016 Highland Trail route.

[ScotRoutes]

Ton - just do it in reverse. That way you should get to see every rider once


Alan - you'll have to come up with an acronym for "wrong-way-rounders" as NOBO isn't going to work

[GregMay]

Do you have to do group starts to or could i do one of them as an ITT to qualify ?

You could ITT them.

LL200 and CL are certainly two and probably the easiest to tick off.

Well the CL is certainly easy to tick off....not so certain on the LL200 :)

[Alpinum]

Brilliant.

[AlanG]

I'm not sure I'd call the Cairngorms Loop easy, especially at this time of year.

[Trail-rat]

Snow hasnt really hit yet , was up there 2 weeks ago trails were riding well , midges still out in force . heading up again this weekend - not to do the CL mind , Me n the Mrs are going on holiday to aviemore , but only driving as far as braemar - doing the geldie/feshie link folowed by feshie singletrack , Then loch einach and larig ghru northern section the following day and then back over the ryvoan gap and loch bulig to the car on saturday. I did try and convince her we should do the CL but she wasnt convinced.





snow will be here soon which makes the Capital trail a more likely suspect for the weekend of the 22nd - and for someone who lives practically in the cairngorms is a damn sight easier to get to than blair atholl would you believe !

[GregMay]

I'm not sure I'd call the Cairngorms Loop easy, especially at this time of year.

Easier then...but yeah, weather dependent.

[Taylor]

I'm not sure I'd call the Cairngorms Loop easy, especially at this time of year.

I'm starting in Blair on Thursday.

Then a week in Aviemore with the family and the Barrington's.

I'll give you a wave Trail-rat.

By the way, Jase is coming. Shall we have a sweep on arrival time?
1pm is departure time.

[Zippy]

By the way, Jase is coming. Shall we have a sweep on arrival time?
1pm is departure time.

Sunset 4 days later.

[Bearbonesnorm]

By the way, Jase is coming. Shall we have a sweep on arrival time?
1pm is departure time.

I estimate you not getting further than the off licence by 5pm.

[Scattamah]

Based on previous experience, my call is between 11pm and 1am :)

Greetz

S.

[Wotsits]

Did someone mention whiskey??

[Alpinum]

Did someone mention whiskey??

Oi!

W-H-I-S-K-Y

Talking about uisge, when will we see a HT route that does justice to all the good spirits in Scotland?

[fatbikephil]

Did someone mention whiskey??

Oi!

W-H-I-S-K-Y

Talking about uisge, when will we see a HT route that does justice to all the good spirits in Scotland?

Funny you should say that, I've done a fair few trails in the Speyside / Eastern Mounth area over the last fe years, passing many distilleries in the process, and I've been giving a lot of thought to a route around them. You could develop a point scoring sytem based on your time round the route but including (and heavily biased towards) the number and age of drams consumed.... hmmm

[Wotsits]

Did someone mention whiskey??

Oi!

W-H-I-S-K-Y

Oopps, sorry my bad!

[Alpinum]

Did someone mention whiskey??

Oi!

W-H-I-S-K-Y

Talking about uisge, when will we see a HT route that does justice to all the good spirits in Scotland?

Funny you should say that, I've done a fair few trails in the Speyside / Eastern Mounth area over the last fe years, passing many distilleries in the process, and I've been giving a lot of thought to a route around them. You could develop a point scoring sytem based on your time round the route but including (and heavily biased towards) the number and age of drams consumed.... hmmm

Exactly! I think that's a great idea. A friend and I are planing a longish day ride that includes visits in one pub per village on the way .
He was the one that was very much pleased to see, that my Spot tracker mostly got stuck, when drinks where available.

I remember Ben Riach Septendecim - very complex and highly enjoyed (although I'm not too big a Riach fan), and An Cnoc (still have some drams left) - extremely characteristic with citrus fruits.

But then, I prefer Islays, Highlands and Orkney drams... That'd ask for a rather big loop...

[Alpinum]

Did someone mention whiskey??

Oi!

W-H-I-S-K-Y

Oopps, sorry my bad!

[Purty]

Does finishing the Wales C2C epic designed by Ian B count towards getting a place, I remember that being properly hard......

[ianfitz]

I remember that being properly hard......

I'm sure if you email Alan directly with details...

[Ian]

I remember that being properly hard......

I'm sure if you email Alan directly with details...

Alan was with him when he did it :)

[ianfitz]

I remember that being properly hard......

I'm sure if you email Alan directly with details...

Alan was with him when he did it :)

Haha. Didn't know that!

Was also trying to discourage public discussion of certain things

[Ian]

That was way too subtle for me then

The publication of the full route is on my list of things to do. One of these days I'll get round to it

[mountainbaker]

Alan,
I emailed about getting a copy of the route...

EDIT, don't worry, sorted.

[Zippy]

A seed has been planted.... I wonder if it will grow into something

[AlanG]

Mountainbaker, I've sent you the new route...again.
Purty, the Welsh C2C will definitely count as a "qualifier". It was indeed properly hard and even had a day of proper Highlands weather.

[parkysouthlondon]

I’ll be taking entries for next year’s Highland Trail in six weeks so I’d like to make public a few changes I’m making to the route.

The last change is the Torridon crossing. I have decided to avoid the carry over the Coire Lair and go an easier and more rideable route via Loch Coulin and the Easan Dorcha to rejoin the current route at the top of the slabby descent to Achnashellach. I made this change as the Coire Lair track is getting badly eroded now Torridon has become the must do big mountain venue. To be truthful I was also worried that someone might come to serious harm up there with the grim weather we had this year.

The crossing over Coire Lair was the most testing few hours of this years event for me with the cold and sleet. If things had gone wrong up there I might have been in real trouble. Luckily things were OK. There's still plenty of the route to test yourself.

HT550 day 6 (10) by parkysouthlondon, on Flickr