I had managed to wrangle the Monday off as I was supposed to be down in Yorkshire for the Jack Taylor ride but after being away in Germany and then away last week for work I just couldn't get all the way down for the weekend. Not to worry as I had some great rides out on the Dummy and thankfully Brian was back from Glasgow and we were able to plot a run down the national cycle route 7, the section from Kinguissie south to Drumochter Pass, from which we then deviated onto the dirt that ran 90 degree to the A9 and up into the hills.
The cycle route has some really nice cycle paths with the first section to Newtonmore only leaving the cycle path when into Newtonmore itself, then it was local quite road to Ralia, crossing over the Spey several times. We stopped at this piont and had some lunch at the Ralia cafe before rejoining the cycle path that while running close to the A9 was really quiet and peaceful as is sheilded by trees and bushes so you don't notice the traffic at all. Further on before Dalwhinnie we joined a very quiet road that runs on the oppsite side of the glen from the A9, it's a nice open road that seemed to be channeling a pretty steady headwind so not as easy as we thought it should be, but hey, no rush.
We stopped at Dalwhinnie village for a coffee as we knew there wasn't going to be much else south of here unless we kept going to Bruar which was also a bit further than we planned. Just out of the village where the road joins the A9 the cycle path starts again and from here on ran along side the A9, sometimes close, like footpath close and other times deviated away into woods or followed the old road, crossing over little narrow wooden bridges here and there with a surface that was very smooth tarmac in places but for the most part it was gravel, rough in a few spots but I thought it was pretty good considering the alternative was to ride the A9.
We took the usual photos at the Drumochter sign and then headed further south to explore a dirt track we had seen many times running up into the hills before Dalnaspidal. It was a nice peice of dirt road, rough due to the big rocks embedded but rideable. We stopped at a small creek crossing and took a few photos and Brian ventured slightly further up the hill to confirm that it just gets better. So a plan was hatched to head back here to investigate this track some more as we think it would go right over the hills and certainly looked rideable for as far as we could see it snaking it's way up the valley. We couldn't go too much further as time was getting well on by this stage and so we rode back to the cycle path and turned back north and hoped that headwind would now be a tailwind.
Safe to say we made good time back on the cycle path to Dalwhinnie, for quite a few kilometres I was sitting on a steady 30 -35 klmh over the gravel and skimming through the narrow bridges, just one of those little bits of a ride that feel like a steady effort and a steady cadence for mile after mile, great fun and certainly quicker than the run down.
After quick afternoon tea at Ralia around 6pm we hit the road for the final few miles back through Newtonmore and onto the car. On this stretch we could see to the east that it was bucketing down with rain on the Cairngorms and thankfully we made it back dry and only got the rain when driving back past Aviemore. Certainly a late night for me by the time I dropped Brian off and then drove back north it was about 10.30 or so. Well worth it though as it was another great ride out. No rush, just riding our bikes in a nice part of the world, no real destination we had to get to, just out to enjoy the ride and the company.
We have found two good off road rides to head back for so it was successful on that front as well.
Cheers Brian for a great day.
Jamie
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