boxelder wrote:

but the rest of it will be completely new to me

Have you reccied the vertical cow field after Loch Broom?

It's the hardest bit and never gets a mention

At least it should be dry.....

Nah that was one of the easy hike-a-bikes (even with a fat bike) It was the gruesome climb out of coire Granda that was was hard (now no longer in....)

htrider wrote:

boxelder wrote:

but the rest of it will be completely new to me

Have you reccied the vertical cow field after Loch Broom?

It's the hardest bit and never gets a mention

At least it should be dry.....

Nah that was one of the easy hike-a-bikes (even with a fat bike) It was the gruesome climb out of coire Granda that was was hard (now no longer in....)

Talking of which, what (if any) are the changes for 2017?

Very minor as far as I can make out.

A diversion to avoid hydro-electric works on the Pattack
A slight diversion at Corrimony bothy to avoid lekking capercaillie.
A small change at Duchally Lodge in Glen Casseley because of a locked gate
The diversion in Ft William around the soldier's bridge

I don't think there are any others, 2016 veterans might know if there are.

That's as I understand it too Whitestone.

Hopefully this will have finished soon

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-h ... =hootsuite

Had a (rare) thought.

If any of the foreign entrants happen to be reading this thread be aware that the UK has recently, as in this weekend, switched between issues of Five pound notes. As of 6th May the old notes are no longer legal tender. If you get UK money before leaving home then you may be handed some of the old notes but you won't be able to use them. Best to use a cash machine when you arrive in the UK.

Thank you Whitestone. No need to make this trip more expensive then needed.

Does anybody know how in general the conditions on the route are at the moment? 'Normal', or very dry, wet, boggy, etcetera?

Bert wrote:Thank you Whitestone. No need to make this trip more expensive then needed.

Does anybody know how in general the conditions on the route are at the moment? 'Normal', or very dry, wet, boggy, etcetera?

We did the Northern Loop ten days ago on the May Day bank holiday weekend and things were very dry - I started a thread on it - http://bearbonesbikepacking.co.uk/phpBB ... =10&t=9902 . There were still some boggy bits but nothing major. Things have been very dry in the north of Scotland recently but there's nearly three weeks to correct that!

Bert wrote:Thank you Whitestone. No need to make this trip more expensive then needed.

Does anybody know how in general the conditions on the route are at the moment? 'Normal', or very dry, wet, boggy, etcetera?

I rode the "path of 1000 puddles" yesterday. I think we'll need to rename it the "path of 6 or 7 puddles" this year.
There's a couple of the really deep ones that you'd need to be pretty brave to ride through but it's much easier to get around them now as the boggy ground on either side has dried a lot.

Is the path of a 1000 puddles the beauty that goes allong the Hydro bothy, and ends just before Contin?

Well, it looks that if it will rain for the next three weeks, the ground can still absorp most of the water. ;-)

Looks a lot better then two years ago, when around this time the wet conditions were decleared a force to be reckonned with.

Bert wrote:Is the path of a 1000 puddles the beauty that goes allong the Hydro bothy, and ends just before Contin?

Yep.


The road between Ledmore Junction and Oykel bridge is currently closed due to wildfire. It was closed a couple of days ago then reopened but now it's been closed again.

touch wrote:

Bert wrote:Is the path of a 1000 puddles the beauty that goes allong the Hydro bothy, and ends just before Contin?

Yep.


The road between Ledmore Junction and Oykel bridge is currently closed due to wildfire. It was closed a couple of days ago then reopened but now it's been closed again.

Crikey A check on the BBC site gives this http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-h ... s-39843175 The bottom photo would seem to indicate that the fire near Lochinver was to the south of Suilven since it looks like it was taken from the East.

Wow, it is dry then. A little rain wouldn't hurt. Hope this blows over in the coming weeks. Wouldn't want to find myself near a wildfire.

Between now and the 27th its bound to pish down horrendously long enough to dampen any fires and make the trails nice and wet again! Didn't the Tour divide get moved a couple of years ago due to forest fires? be ironic if the Highland Trail sufferes a similar fate....

I'm more than happy to risk ANY amount of wildfire over pishing rain.
The fact I only suffered 3hrs rain in 4 days last year is starting to weigh increasingly heavily on me as the days tick by ....

Presuming the weather stays something like, Tom and I will be heading up again.

We're aiming on being finished in time to watch the start.

Good on yer, if at first etc etc....
I've decided I'm not looking at weather forecasts until the day before when I'll choose layers to wear and make the bivi bag or tent decision....

htrider wrote:Good on yer, if at first etc etc....
I've decided I'm not looking at weather forecasts until the day before when I'll choose layers to wear and make the bivi bag or tent decision....

Either this is going to be a supremely fast completion or you have more faith in long range Scottish Forecasts than I do

If you wait for the right weather in Scotland, you'll wait your whole life.

Hail and fire, boils (well kind of, more like snot) now this https://stv.tv/news/features/1388044-mi ... ting-bugs/

Interesting. Anybody any tips for repellents? Or will a headnet and arm-/legwarmers do?

Bert wrote:Interesting. Anybody any tips for repellents? Or will a headnet and arm-/legwarmers do?

Multi-level defence is the best approach: try not to stop in midge friendly locations (some might say this is defined as Scotland!), so find somewhere with a breeze and away from heavy vegetation that might give shelter, so avoid woods and forests. Then keep fully covered with light coloured clothing: arm and leg warmers plus headnet. Then something like Smidge. DEET based repellents don't play well with nylon.

For some reason midges won't go into buildings, even open sided ones, it's possible that they won't fly more than a certain distance from vegetation or that roofs fool them into thinking it's night.

Thanks! Very useful.

Is anyone following the ITT attempt currently going on now? No movement for over a day, so I'm wondering whether this is SPOT trouble or a scratch?

AlasdairMc wrote:Is anyone following the ITT attempt currently going on now? No movement for over a day, so I'm wondering whether this is SPOT trouble or a scratch?

Looking at this http://trackleaders.com/highland17i.php ... el_Wilcock It might be that he's not turned the unit on this morning.

Edit: things should be very dry now - I was looking at Lars Henning's shots on here http://www.bikepacking.com/routes/highland-trail-550/ and the shot of the steep drop into Glen Golly in particular which was taken in a dry year. Two weeks ago the left hand channel of the river visible in that shot was virtually dry as we walked across it to have a snack on the "island".