Forecast was good so we decided to do a loop out to Altnabreac from Loch More then head south and loop back north past the abandoned Dalnawhinie estate house. Some rain and storms were forecast for later in the afternoon, hence why we cancelled the planned ride from Forsinard to Kinbrace and over to Syre on the Betty hill road. So it was the Altnabreac loop for today and seen as how we have been doing it comfortably lately we decided to mash it up a bit, as the yoofs say ;) With this in mind Brian was riding his near on 70 year old Rudge roadster and myself decided on the equally appropriate Big Dummy.
We started in great sunshine and while it was warm all day, the clouds slowly started building up and growing ever more threatening. We did get a few drops about halfway through the loop and we really thought we were about to get poured on but thankfully the rain held off until we had just packed up and then it was pouring for as far as you could see, virtually all the way back to Thurso where it was bone dry.
The route was a mixture of rough stoney gravel on the first bit to the station then we detoured towards Forsinard for a good few miles to see over the hills to the west. This road is always nice as it's a sandy track that is generally quite smooth so very nice rolling. After admiring the views at the top and finding another track to the west to explore we returned to Altnabreac and turned south for the southern part of the loop. The stones on the next couple of miles to the 'Big' house were big, deep and all covering. Even with the big tyres they were a pain and thankfully they ended abruptly at the big houses driveway. So they had their driveway gravelled, all about 17 miles or so of it. After this is was back to proper gravel, rough with bits missing in places but always a line to pick. Some big puddles too :)
Not far along here we came to the old estate house which lies in ruins, shame, but not much for it to do here these days. From here it heads back north on a relatively good dirt track as the estate keeper lives in a cottage here and so the road is used regularly and so kept in decent order. It eventually runs up the western edge of Loch More. This was when we realised that everything behind us to the south was looking like it was getting very wet so we better put a bit of effort in getting back. We still stopped and swapped bikes and took a few photographs before crossing the estate gates on the bridge and heading east to the car. As I said earlier we just got packed up and down it came. Lucky for once.
Thanks Brian for coming all this way, next time up here I think a two dayer is needed. Campout time.
The Rudge and the Big Dummy bot performed perfectly and handled the conditions with ease. There were a few waterholes we went round a you could see they were very deep but there was the one where Brian suggested I stop and check the inside of the bags were dry as they had been in the water. All good.
Hope everyone else has had the good weather and time to enjoy it.
Jamie
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