Spring Epic - April 2014, Glen Esk & Glen Clova
- Thread starter gmac123
- Start date
Re:
I'll start with a few pics and a thank you to Clubby for guiding us around some stunning scenery and some technical and exhilarating trails...
In the beginning.... The morning after the night before
Onwards and upwards...
A quick map check...
The only way is up....
Yeah, we were pretty high up... :shock:
Bikes & riders take a well earned break...
From here, the only way is down...
Apparently the Abominable Snowman rides a bike....
It's all downhill from the top...
Clubby heads downhill...
Gmac surveys the finish in the distance...
I'll start with a few pics and a thank you to Clubby for guiding us around some stunning scenery and some technical and exhilarating trails...
In the beginning.... The morning after the night before
Onwards and upwards...
A quick map check...
The only way is up....
Yeah, we were pretty high up... :shock:
Bikes & riders take a well earned break...
From here, the only way is down...
Apparently the Abominable Snowman rides a bike....
It's all downhill from the top...
Clubby heads downhill...
Gmac surveys the finish in the distance...
Re: Spring Epic - April 2013, Glen Esk & Glen Clova
Glen Esk - Day 1 with gmac
Glen Clova - Day 2 Epic Indeed
The climb up from Glen Clova - getting to that point where the bikes are holding up the riders
' How many more false summits are there? '
Not Byre's Road
Happy Days - Rideable and down
Lovely fast stony ridge-line track looking north east to Loch Muick
Looking north west from ridge-line track above Lock Muick - peak on the left is Broad Cairn (I think)
Bottom of Capel Road -the final bastarding climb of the day
Loch Muick Panorama
Spot the Sea King
Glen Esk - Day 1 with gmac
Glen Clova - Day 2 Epic Indeed
The climb up from Glen Clova - getting to that point where the bikes are holding up the riders
' How many more false summits are there? '
Not Byre's Road
Happy Days - Rideable and down
Lovely fast stony ridge-line track looking north east to Loch Muick
Looking north west from ridge-line track above Lock Muick - peak on the left is Broad Cairn (I think)
Bottom of Capel Road -the final bastarding climb of the day
Loch Muick Panorama
Spot the Sea King
gmac123
MacRetro Rider
Re: Spring Epic - April 2013, Glen Esk & Glen Clova
Great pictures Jimo!
So Saturday zigzag and myself travelled past a grimly wet Stirling, through a wet Perth onto a brightening Dundee and ultimately a sunny, but windy Tarfside. In this picturesque hamlet we made the sensible call to go with plan B and ride a loop in the hills above the village. Mt Keen could wait for another day.
Heading out into a stiff wind through a number of gates including the new to us, electrified bungie cords. Funnily enough Zigzags bike makes a good conductor.
DSCN1881[1] by gmac123, on Flickr
We headed in a loop around the hills behind. It wasn’t long before I had wet feet after failing in the crossing of the Water of Tarf. The wet feet were soon forgot as we viewed 3 monstrous uphill tracks immediately in-front of up, and to be honest we fancied none of them.
Naturally ours was probably the worst and we were soon walking, finding our calves been stretched in the process. At the first top we’d achieved about 500m in height and decided it was time for lunch. The climbing continued albeit gradually as we continued along the landy track past the a few tops, Pullar Cuv, Little Cock Cairn turning towards a tail wind at the Hill of Gairney. Here were at 700m and tended to be heading in whichever direction the wind was blowing whether we liked it or not.
DSCN1882[1] by gmac123, on Flickr
At the Hill of Suaghs we paused for a quick tightening of nuts and bolts before we started a grinning decent back to a height of 250m over 2-3 miles. Once back near civilisation zigzag was chased off the first property by a dog (much to my amusement).
A good loop all in, landy track all the way, once you get up high it gets a bit rougher and the crown of the road is covered in heather so it’s actually like a dual carriageway single-track. Once back in the shelter of the car park we paused to enjoy a coffee in the sun before heading over to base camp in Glen Clova.
We soon met the Sunday team, and enjoyed a few beverages and some fine grub before retiring to our suite. After a good sleep we loaded up on porridge and bacon butties and headed to Glen Doll forest and out onto the trail.
The trail starts gently into the glen however the fire road runs out at the bridge at Moulzie after which the track gets progressively tougher with the rocks get bigger as you progress up the steep sided glen. We’d soon be riding shorter efforts until pushing up to the bridges at Backnagairn. By now we’d achieved some good height and naturally sat about breathing out of backsides,
DSCN1885[1] by gmac123, on Flickr
The pushing and carrying continued for another 10-15 mins until we came out on top, or managed to pedal the last part onto the plateau. At the junction we had the peaks of Broad Cairn on our left, Lochnagar to the front and loch Muick on our right we rested up for a time at bothies/stable.
DSCN1887[1] by gmac123, on Flickr
Clubby made a route call to omit the Streak of Lightning decent on account of the snow drifts we’d experienced on route so far. This proved to be a wise call once we got further down the trail and looked back at this mental looking decent down Coire Chash, with the first third still under snow.
Now we were enjoying the fruits of our ascent and enjoy the long gradual descending trail until we hit the zig-zags (not to be confused with zigzag). Here it got a bit serious and the gradients induced grins.
DSCN1891[1] by gmac123, on Flickr
We then stood on the pedals and deployed our backs as sails and were literally blown down loch Muick side.
DSCN1893[1] by gmac123, on Flickr
At the end of the loch we had a quick refuel before facing an epic landy track back up to height along the Capel Road. This eventually led onto a magical grassy then wooded decent back into our starting glen and back to the carpark.
All in, two great rides! As usual great company.
Thanks again to Clubby for getting us up there, everywhere you look there’s more tracks and trails, so much wild riding, I’ll be back!
Great pictures Jimo!
So Saturday zigzag and myself travelled past a grimly wet Stirling, through a wet Perth onto a brightening Dundee and ultimately a sunny, but windy Tarfside. In this picturesque hamlet we made the sensible call to go with plan B and ride a loop in the hills above the village. Mt Keen could wait for another day.
Heading out into a stiff wind through a number of gates including the new to us, electrified bungie cords. Funnily enough Zigzags bike makes a good conductor.
DSCN1881[1] by gmac123, on FlickrWe headed in a loop around the hills behind. It wasn’t long before I had wet feet after failing in the crossing of the Water of Tarf. The wet feet were soon forgot as we viewed 3 monstrous uphill tracks immediately in-front of up, and to be honest we fancied none of them.
Naturally ours was probably the worst and we were soon walking, finding our calves been stretched in the process. At the first top we’d achieved about 500m in height and decided it was time for lunch. The climbing continued albeit gradually as we continued along the landy track past the a few tops, Pullar Cuv, Little Cock Cairn turning towards a tail wind at the Hill of Gairney. Here were at 700m and tended to be heading in whichever direction the wind was blowing whether we liked it or not.
DSCN1882[1] by gmac123, on FlickrAt the Hill of Suaghs we paused for a quick tightening of nuts and bolts before we started a grinning decent back to a height of 250m over 2-3 miles. Once back near civilisation zigzag was chased off the first property by a dog (much to my amusement).
A good loop all in, landy track all the way, once you get up high it gets a bit rougher and the crown of the road is covered in heather so it’s actually like a dual carriageway single-track. Once back in the shelter of the car park we paused to enjoy a coffee in the sun before heading over to base camp in Glen Clova.
We soon met the Sunday team, and enjoyed a few beverages and some fine grub before retiring to our suite. After a good sleep we loaded up on porridge and bacon butties and headed to Glen Doll forest and out onto the trail.
The trail starts gently into the glen however the fire road runs out at the bridge at Moulzie after which the track gets progressively tougher with the rocks get bigger as you progress up the steep sided glen. We’d soon be riding shorter efforts until pushing up to the bridges at Backnagairn. By now we’d achieved some good height and naturally sat about breathing out of backsides,
DSCN1885[1] by gmac123, on FlickrThe pushing and carrying continued for another 10-15 mins until we came out on top, or managed to pedal the last part onto the plateau. At the junction we had the peaks of Broad Cairn on our left, Lochnagar to the front and loch Muick on our right we rested up for a time at bothies/stable.
DSCN1887[1] by gmac123, on FlickrClubby made a route call to omit the Streak of Lightning decent on account of the snow drifts we’d experienced on route so far. This proved to be a wise call once we got further down the trail and looked back at this mental looking decent down Coire Chash, with the first third still under snow.
Now we were enjoying the fruits of our ascent and enjoy the long gradual descending trail until we hit the zig-zags (not to be confused with zigzag). Here it got a bit serious and the gradients induced grins.
DSCN1891[1] by gmac123, on FlickrWe then stood on the pedals and deployed our backs as sails and were literally blown down loch Muick side.
DSCN1893[1] by gmac123, on FlickrAt the end of the loch we had a quick refuel before facing an epic landy track back up to height along the Capel Road. This eventually led onto a magical grassy then wooded decent back into our starting glen and back to the carpark.
All in, two great rides! As usual great company.
Thanks again to Clubby for getting us up there, everywhere you look there’s more tracks and trails, so much wild riding, I’ll be back!
Re:
Great photos guys. Definitely made a good choice avoiding Corrie Chash on this occasion. Read earlier on Trail Scotland that one guy took 45 minutes to walk up and around that big snow bank!
The alternative route down isn't exactly a disappointment though. Just glad I had two good brakes unlike some of the group.
Great photos guys. Definitely made a good choice avoiding Corrie Chash on this occasion. Read earlier on Trail Scotland that one guy took 45 minutes to walk up and around that big snow bank!
The alternative route down isn't exactly a disappointment though. Just glad I had two good brakes unlike some of the group.
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