I've been looking at the Deeside trail for an upcoming weekend of leisurely bikepacking with a couple of mates.

We only have a couple of days so I'm thinking of just doing the eastern loop, Braemar to Ballater and back - with the extension it's just over 70 miles.

Anyone done this lately? We aren't precious about sticking to a route so was wondering if there were any bits to avoid (bogs etc) or extra bits to include etc.

Cheers

I've done the first part of the route from Banchory to Braemar, camped at spital of glen muick (near the toilets) just off route.
My mate I was with gave up at braemar so we used the Deeside trail to make quick progress back to the car. It runs from Ballater to Aberdeen so is good for a quick bail out avoiding the road. You could use this to quickly do the parts of the route you want?
The first half is really nice riding so I'm keen to get back and finish it soon.

Cheers - one option I've been looking at is starting in Braemar and heading west towards Lin of Dee, then heading north up Glen Derry and following the route up to fords of Avon (this is a chunk of the inner Cairngorms loop). Then heading east down Glen Avon toward Glen Builg and then south toward loch builg. This would be a short section of the Cairngorms outer before picking up the eastbound Deeside route just south of Loch Builg. It would then be following the Deeside trail toward Ballater but jumping on the return loop of it back to Braemar.

Has anyone here done this before? A good chunk of this is from the 'Scotlan Mountain Biking - the wild trails' book but can't say I've ever seen anyone mention this route before (The route in the book is also going anti clockwise but it looks like it might be better clockwise.)

Loch Avon to Faindouran is on my "to do" list. I know it's rough and, in parts, unrideable but I've been told it's better heading East than West so my plan is to follow the CL route over Bynack Mor, then East to Tomintoul and ride back the CL route in reverse from there.

I've done it all but in day rides, including the section up to Corrour Bothy which isn't in the route now. Its a really good route with a real mix of riding but nothing horrible, just good trails. Plenty scope for shortcuts too.

Re your route, from the top of Lairig an Laoigh to the Fords of Avon is the hardest section of that whole Strath on the CL - mostly hike-a-bike. Down the Avon to Faindouran is worse and very boggy to boot. Reckon on walking the lot and any riding will be a bonus. Faindouran to Glen gairn is all good. Alternatively from Braemar go up Glen An-ti-Sluggan and up onto the Ben a bhuird trail then go up and over to the upper Glen gairn trail. This is proper nadgery (and about the hardest bit on the Deeside Trail) and one of my fav trails thereabouts. You do have to cross the Gairn where the big climb over to Braemar on the CL starts as the bridge is gone.

Cheers, that's good info - we will give glen avon a miss then!

I put the Deeside Trail together so happy to answer any questions on it. When I come across write ups/reviews of the ride I put them up on the website so there are a few linked there on the About page.

The first 3/4 of the route is all pretty solid fun mountain biking, a bit technical in places but no real bog until after White Bridge on the long route. It's a few hours of pushing/bog hopping up to by Corrour bothy, but then it gets you right in to the Cairngorms so I think worth it. Some really nice technical riding back to Glen Lui too.

Then very similar going in to Glen Gairn from Glen Quoich. Quite technical in to Glen Gairn and about 2h of bog until you cross the Gairn near Loch Builg. Again I think worth it because it's so remote compared to much of the Cairngorms. You're not far as the crow flies from the A93 but feels a world away.

The last 1/4 of the route from Ballater back to Banchory is a bit more up and down, I would love to find some more interesting trails in that area but it's a bit more agricultural so you have to settle for the views over Deeside and Donside from the Dee/Don watershed.

There are a few interesting bits to add in upper Deeside but most of them take you way off route and will be much more technical. Dotted lines on OS maps will be your best option if you want technical, though most trails are going to be less ridable than more ridable. Doubletrack is a more safe bet but you'll struggle to find any loops because most of the options from upper Deeside are short local loops offering nothing exciting or take you a long way from where you started. I've done Ballater to Ballater on the short route in 10h before so it's an easy two days. If you wanted to stretch it out to three then maybe Ballater, round Loch Muick then Braemar day 1, day 2 up to Ryvoan (and maybe on to Tomintoul) in the reverse of the CL inner loop direction, and day 3 back on the CL outer loop to Ballochbuie and Balmoral back to Ballater?

Thanks for the response Adam - We are going to stick to do the extended cairngorms loop starting in Braemar on Friday afternoon. Plan to grab some food and then head out with a view to camping the first night somewhere on Glen Lui (roughly 20 miles in). Next day we can then have a leisurely ride to Ballater, grab some food and then head on out toward Loch Muick and camp somewhere round there. Day 2 I think we will extend the route by incorporating the Lock Muick>Glen Clova loop (we will assess when we are there as it looks pretty steep from the elevation profile!)- we can then just re-join the Deeside trail and finish at Braemar.

Wee update, we decided to do the Glen Dee extension up to the corrour Bothy (started in Braemar late fri afternoon) This turned out to be a mistake. Not only was it mostly unrideable from white bridge but my mate wrecked his rear mech about 3 miles from the bothy so we had to head back (slowly as single speed doesn’t work too well on a full suss )Managed to get a replacement in Ballater the next day so just ended up doing some local stuff from Ballater.

Hoping to do this on Friday/Saturday. I'll be starting from Ballater as the point in the Trail I can get to quickest on Friday morning (from the north). Should be ready to ride by 0930, heading west loop first.

I've only got the 2 days available. I'm not fast, but capable of grinding out long days and will be travelling light-ish. Thinking my ideal bivvy is probably up the Gairn, with a roll into Ballater for breakfast before the east loop.

My head says keep it standard, but I'm well capable of being carried away once I get to Linn o' Dee. Guess I need to have a cut-off time and I'm thinking I would be around 8 hours for me to go long route from there to my planned bivvy. Don't really want to spoil a good bit of trail by being goosed. I've never ridden the 10km over the watershed from Quoich to Gairn. Is it an enjoyable ride or a bit on-off?

Swayndo wrote: ↑Wed Jul 14, 2021 11:00 am Hoping to do this on Friday/Saturday. I'll be starting from Ballater as the point in the Trail I can get to quickest on Friday morning (from the north). Should be ready to ride by 0930, heading west loop first.

I've only got the 2 days available. I'm not fast, but capable of grinding out long days and will be travelling light-ish. Thinking my ideal bivvy is probably up the Gairn, with a roll into Ballater for breakfast before the east loop.

My head says keep it standard, but I'm well capable of being carried away once I get to Linn o' Dee. Guess I need to have a cut-off time and I'm thinking I would be around 8 hours for me to go long route from there to my planned bivvy. Don't really want to spoil a good bit of trail by being goosed. I've never ridden the 10km over the watershed from Quoich to Gairn. Is it an enjoyable ride or a bit on-off?

Its one of my fav trails. The roughest bit is on the descent to the first crossing of the gairn but the rest of it is good albeit with plenty challenges along the way. Note the foot bridge where you cross to join the double track is no more....