hmmm is it worth a purchase fella's?

I would say so. If you like bothies then this book will give you more inspiration to go to some, and will help you make more informed decisions about which ones to go to. It may also make you aware of non-MBA bothies you didn't know about.

I just received a copy of this book as a birthday present. It's a nice looking book with some lovely pictures. I'm already inspired to go on a few adventures to bothies I didn't know much about before. Glad to see that it doesn't give away the locations of any secret bothies. Only negative comment -...

it's a shame that Shimano don't buy the quicklinks as well....

They will do (must check embargo date and delete if needed)

Pretty sure an 8 speed chain I bought recently came with quicklinks.

Plus i know that many of them struggle to find the money for the upkeep of them. Not sure this is true for the MBA bothies. In their December 2015 accounts they had more than £200k in the bank. They probably do struggle to find volunteers to carry out some of the work though. I completely agree tha...

Although it does say 10% of sales will go to the MBA. Ah, thanks for pointing that out - hadn't spotted it. Can't see any mention on the Cicerone website of anything similar being done for the Phoebe Smith Book of the Bothy. I see that there is actually a listing of all the bothies in the Geoff All...

Interesting that Geoff Allan's book claims to be "the first complete guide to Scottish bothies". If it really is complete then I think the guys who are fiercely (and imo legitimately) secretive about the locations of some non-MBA bothies they maintain will shortly be heading round to lynch...

Another thought - I think it's possibly slightly immoral to be making money by publishing details of bothies that are only available thanks to the generosity of the landowners and MBA volunteers and donors.

All the grid refs of the MBA bothies are already on the website since a few years ago, so none of those are secret. Saw this book in the shops the other day https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-book-of-the-bothy/phoebe-smith/9781852847562 I don't approve of spoonfeeding bothies to the masses with de...

Great read and lovely photos Howard!

You really captured the excitement of the trail.

<pedant mode>
Caol Ila is not whiskey it's whisky.

Important distinction!
</pedant mode>

What sort of stuff are people writing for their 2017 adventurous pledges? I don't actually have any definite plans for bikepacking races yet and not sure what to write.....

Yorlin wrote:How long did the skyline run take you? Just curious as found a height/heart rate/ time graph a while back!

3:21

I do a wee bit of running, although I find it a bit painful in the legs - I think this is partly because I have too much cycling muscle flapping about when I run. I did the Pentland Skyline hill run the other week and am meant to be doing the Scottish Islands Peaks Race in May next year which involv...

rufus748

Have you tried these emails?

Vic at SP shutter.company@msa.hinet.net

Andy at Ison A.Diss@ison-distribution.com
Lloyd (managing director) Lloyd@ison-distribution.com

Could be out of date as it's a while since I got my last one replaced.

No group start for me next year. The start is the same weekend as the European Singlespeed Championships in Evanton which I am helping to organise.

Might do an ITT at some point.

it was good to spend some time with Tom en route Likewise - great fun riding with you Greg - pity you couldn't stick the pace for long :wink: Much respect for getting yourself back on the trail after that nightmare mechanical! Could have happened to any of us - I was running the same hub as you. It...

I've started writing up my ride - doing it in sections as it could end up being rather a lot of words!

http://newretrotom.blogspot.com/2016/07 ... mmary.html

Ah, so he is out then.
Hope it's nothing too serious and the hospital fixes him quickly.

Connor O'Leary's spot has not updated for 30 hours. The last it shows seems to be him setting off from Heart Six guest ranch, then turning around a few minutes up the trail and coming back. Hope this is just a tracking problem and not the end of his speedy ride.

Does anyone know why he's not riding on single speed? Hi Javi There are some routes where singlespeed is an advantage (arguably the Highland Trail when it's wet), there are some where it's a slight disadvantage and some where it's a massive disadvantage. The Tour Divide comes into the latter catego...

Cheers guys! It was an vaguely exciting experience. Now taking on the challenge of completing the buffet breakfast at the hotel in El Paso.

Great job Ian, must have been a breathtaking way to finish the ride!

The race for 2nd girl is pretty close at the moment - Fiona and Jenny look like they're riding together and Marketa is not far back at all.

In past years didn't people have to go to the crossing point and if they were not happy with the conditions they could cross upstream I thought the rule was if you went and looked at the official crossing point but didn't like the look of it you could go round on the road (which would take much lon...

Also there is the issue that Lee seemed to miss out a wee section of the route.

We will need to await Alan G's wisdom on this point.