Monthly Archives: April 2010

Best decent in the UK

Lara, Scott and I went off over to the West coast with our mountain bikes.  With spring kicking up a gear and midges soon going to rule the skies and bite the hell out of anyEnglishman stupid enough to be in their near vicinity.  Where was I?  Oh yes, off to the west coast with bikes – I havewanted to ride these routes for a few years, but getting the weather or lack of midges is a very short window.

We drove to Torridon on Friday night and had a few pints in the Torridon Inn before crashing in the vans.  Woke up, sorted some breakfast out and head off.  We started off along side Loch Damh, a good start as it was flat and a good place to warm up the legs,

soon though things turned a bit worse…. Uphill.  But not you normal uphill, one of those uphills that goes through bogs, big rocks and streams.  It was quite  a soul destroying  climb as it was not all ride able, you would ride a bit then have to get off and push for a bit, then ride a bit, push a bit, ride a bit etc… you get the picture.  Lara lost her normal calm demeanor and decided she wasn’t in a happy place and made us know it.

Finally we got to the top at Drochaid Coire Roill (who makes these names up), Scott above, and we readied ourselves for why we came here – the descent down to Annat.

The descent was brilliant, big, rocky at the top and then into the woods below.  A brilliant descent, just a shame there was no other way to the top rather than up the boggy shite climb.

We went and had soup in the local cafe, and then drove around to LochCarron further south as this is where the next days ride started.  As per usual, we found a pub, parked near it and went for some food and beer, and exited a little squiffy to retire to the van.

It rained heavy over night so we woke up to a very wet morning, never mind, we got up had breakfast and got going.  The climb up Fionn Abhainn from Coulag was brilliant,  was not to steep and technical to keep the mind focused.  When we got to the Loch in Coire Fionnraich from where it was quite a long carry up to the top of Coire Grannda

as we came over the ridge we were greated with an amazing views over Creag Na h-Airigh Fraoich  (had to copy that one down from a map)

after another hour or so we finally got to the top and happily put our body armour on and lowered the seatposts

This decent had to be the best I have ever done in the UK, 8km of singletrack, varied from fast and loose, to rocky tech and steap. 

Didn’t take many pictures as never do as it was too fun to stop!

Another great weekend biking, all the biking is doing my legs good as I have the Fred Whitton in 2 weeks and I am rather nervous for it!

Applecross

With The fast approaching Fred Whitton (a road sportive in the Lake district which will kill me) and a good forecast on the west coast, we decided it would be a good a time as any to try and get over there and do the Applecross peninsula.  It is a ride that takes in the Bleach Na Ba pass which is the longest road climb in the UK.

We drove over on Friday nigh after work t finding a beautiful spot to sleep in the van just under Ben Eighe, no midges and a shared bottle of wine with a sun set ,we went to sleep in hope the weather forecast was going to be true.

We woke up to a perfect day, we drove to Torridon where we were to leave our van and start the ride from. 

The west coast is a stunning place when the weather is good, and we had one of those rare days when it was superb.  Our route was to take us 100km around the peninsula.  About 30km in we reached the bottom of the pass.

I had really wanted to do this route for a few years and we were so lucky to get it this good.  The climb started of pretty mellow and we could get into a decent pace and were happy being able to admire the place.  That was until it all got a little steeper and it was all we could do to not stop,  it was that gradient that it was not too steep to stop but not gradual enough to be easy.   This resulted in very heavy breathing and legs screaming for a rest.  But oh no,  We were not to be defeated tht easily!

Once at the top we were greated with a fantastic view of the Cuillins Ridge over on the Isle of Skye.  From here there was a long down hill and then a great ride around the coast back to Torridon.  A brilliant ride and one well worth the wait.

Come the evening, we met Matt and Emma back at the top of the pass where we were to sleep that night.  Matt and Emma had been at Emma’s parents and celebrating their recent engagement.  They were given some champagne from relatives, they decided that it was a good time to crack it open

We sat up again and watched the sun set drinking bubbly and was a great evening.

Sunday was another great day and the idea was to go and climb the Cioche Nose, a classic of the area.  The walk in was great, not too long and after a bit of scrambling we got to the bottom of the route.  Lara and I climbed together and Matt and Emma climbed together.  Lara led the first pitch with no issues,

I didn’t.  For me it was just one of those days that I should not be climbing.  Thankfully, Emma was in the same boat as me.  So we decided that Matt and Lara could carry on and we would stick our tails between our legs adn abseil off.  Which we did.

L&M had dificulties on the next pitch and all four of us where back together quicker than I had of thought.

We all walked back to the cars and drove home.  Still a lovely day even though we didn’t manage to finish the route.  West coast was brilliant, no midges, sun and no wind.  Not sure I will be lucky again to catch it like that whilst we are still here.