Thanks chaps - think I must have forgotten loads of stuff that happened along the way with the time I took, but at least I've got something to remind me now! Mark, think I caught you that night during one of my "up" moments, was sad to hear you'd been scuppered by a mechanical - good excus...

Ironically, it takes much longer to write about the HT550 than to actually do it - at least it did for me! All written up here for anyone still interested:

http://highlanddrifter.com/highland-trail-550-2018

6/6 for me. I'd been relying on the HT550 to tick off May and June for me, but I finished too quick! Ended up leaving it late and couldn't stray too far since I was on call, so I went up the coast and followed tracks leading through the golf courses to get me to a dune bivvy. https://s22.postimg.cc/...

Looks grand, has also reminded me I haven't done my June bivy yet!

I think it's a valid point - in proper winter conditions, the minute your feet touch the ground you acquire two icy snowballs on the bottom of your shoes, which can be quite tenacious! This is just on my cross/gravel/tourer/road bike, no SPDs at all for my mountain bikes for other reasons.I think sa...

There's a chap selling one in the classifieds, just saying...

Thought I'd finish off this thread with a picture of my finished Commando:



This was the week before it went round the HT550!

Really enjoyed that again, thanks for sharing!

Good luck Mart and thanks for sharing your story - I can't even imagine how hard that must be. You're going to have a lot of people cheering you on, so let them give you a virtual push when the going gets tough...

Well done everyone who finished and also those who didn't. I think getting into the group start is an achievement in itself and the boners have provided an entertaining list of different ways to scratch at least! Personally, all I wanted was to get round in under 8 days and I had no idea if my knees...

Cheers, he's got a bit of a marble obsession at the moment, so they were coming regardless! Plus any interesting rocks he found on the way... Trailer is fine and I've found a replacement tow skewer on SJS that looks like it will do the trick for our next trip. I loved seeing all your trips - very in...

Really enjoyed both of those, thanks. Good job on the gentle coaching along too - has to be the hardest part! Gives me a lot to look forward to when my 5 year old gets a bit bigger - I'm keeping it short and fun at the moment:

http://highlanddrifter.com/kerrs-first-bikepack

Cairngorms looking lovely up there! I was stuck mainly at home this weekend due to being on call, but managed to get my May bivvy in nice and early last weekend, with the bonus of taking mini-me along too for the ride. About three hours later than I had planned, we headed out from the Linn of Quoich...

Not so much today as last Monday, but I managed to fit in a long ride on the bank holiday and experimented with a different route between Abernethy and Glan Avon that I've been wanting to try for ages. Lengthy rambling write up on my new blog: http://highlanddrifter.com/aviemore-to-aberdeen Ca Du Fo...

Definitely need to see a picture of that, I reckon. There's plenty of clearance, considering the Ritchey site only states it is for 26x3.8" tyres!

Cheers Bob, the bike is much better looking than the frame on its own would suggest, weirdly! The Flows are 29mm internal, so hoping to get a bit more size from that. Main worry would be doing serious miles without suspension and the overall fatigue that might add. Opposite ends of the scale really ...

Thought I'd post a progress update on mine and see how others are getting on! After a few weeks of the usual bargain hunting, I managed to pull together enough bits to start building the bike: https://s18.postimg.cc/f3rtki92h/IMG_0552.jpg Wheels got built during the week and taped up. Went for Novat...

Weather today was too good to miss, so I went out after work to see if the local mountains had thawed out enough for a proper ride up high. Headed up Glen Dye past Charr bothy. https://s17.postimg.cc/7pnq0jqv3/IMG_0496.jpg A loooong climb got me to the summit of Mount Battock at 778m. https://s17.po...

The first bit would be great on the Amazon, but would get less fun from about halfway along Loch Choire onwards. On an MTB you can get almost to the top of the pass.

Cheers Colin, was a grand day out! I ended up on the lower level to keep out the wind better, but the upper would be ideal with a bit of breeze in the summer. I imagine midge levels are quite spectacular there at times! That sounds like a good ride, there are so many extra tracks up that way that al...

After cutting it fine last month, I thought I'd get April's bivvy in early and mix it up with an attempt at a 200 mile ride the following day. After my lovely wife took the kids down to Glasgow for the weekend, leaving me free and easy, I sneaked out of work an hour early on Friday and jumped a trai...

Some brilliant pictures above - just more morning/evening commute ones from me:

Morning


Evening


Morning

Good effort to the man above! I just scraped in my 3/3 on Saturday night with a very late start after feeding guests and getting food and prezzies ready for a very excited 5 year old's birthday the next day. Headed out after 11pm and rode about 20k to a nearby wood I thought would do the trick in an...

Yup just stick it on and keep it narrower than the bars. VN Amazon is optional.