Saturday 14 July 2018

Thu Jul 06, 2017 - Kinlochewe/Torrindon midweek Randonneur recon ride

Yesterday I seen that the forecast for today was quite good compared to the rest of the week so I told them at work I was 'well', as opposed to 'unwell' and that I wouldn't be in today as I was going riding in the decent weather. They agreed which is unusual and signed off on it :)
I rang Brian and suggested if he was available to ride that we head down to Achnasheen and head out towards Kinlochewe and Torrindon to recce a route and try and find a decent camp spot for a randonneur road ride type camping weekend next month, that I have been trying to get sorted for a few weeks now. We weren't going to do the full Sheildag, Applecross, Torrindon route but more the middle section looking for a suitable campsite. A very hard thing to find now that a lot of this route is now on the north coast 500 route.
I picked Brian up just after lunch and we drove down to Achnasheen and parked at the station, unloaded the bikes and set off into a nice warm afternoon. It was quite cloudy in places but still not much breeze, which was nice for a change.
First bit of fun was the long downhill run into Kinlochewe, while the scenery up in the high ground on the first part is nice, I always like that section where you can start to see that you are about to drop from on high down to Loch Maree unfolding below. We stopped briefly at the lookout and then tucked in for the couple of miles down to Kinlochewe. We were both tucked right in hunched over the bars and I had no gears left very quickly, a big wide road made it a fun ride for sure. I had forgotten my computer so have no idea how fast I was going but with no more gears and spinning like I had no chain, I can only imagine it was pretty fast. We then had a stop for a coffee before heading towards Torrindon. This bit of the singletrack road is part of the NC500 and what an absolute shit fight it was as well, cars everywhere, hardly anybody giving any consideration to anyone let alone two slow bikes. Dangerous is the word for sure. After a while we turned of onto the Culin estate, or Torrindon estates as some signage said. This is the site of the Macretro Torrindon off road ride several years back and it brought back some memories for sure. We went along the footpath for a good distance looking for somewhere we may be able to camp, but I don't think we would be able to, especially on the lower ground as the estate has its own bunkhouses and lodge, that are well out of our price range :shock: But I do think a macretro revisit to do the loop again should happen soon.
Anyway we had a good while there before deciding it was getting on time wise and we headed back to Kinlochewe for a coffee before hitting the climb back up the fabulous descent. Nothing too hard but not that easy either, just a long steady slog. Pick a cadence and work away. Once back at the station we watched a Pine Martin playing under a car before running into someones back yard, while we were packing up.
A great ride out and have several options for the ride. I will stick details up this weekend both her in Retrobike and also on a couple of other groups but it's really a ride on Saturday with a campout Saturday night and then the second half of the loop on Sunday. Distance is not too far so is doable for all and bikes can be modern or old, road, randonneur, bikepack etc. The emphisis is on the ride being social, it's not a race or a gravel grind, it's a ride with a campout, open to any and all. Possibly now looking to start at Achnasheen as you can get the train there from Inverness.
Anyway here is some photos of a fun day and the sort of roads and scenery that will be part of the ride in August.
It sure beat going to work anyway :wink:

Jamie


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