I'll be doing another tour of Scotland later this year, and once there I'll no doubt be enjoying some superb jaw-dropping scenery in fantastic cycling countryside. There is that well-known quote though - life is about the journey, not the destination - and whilst the enjoyment of the physical cycling is yet to come, I've had a very enjoyable time in researching and planning the rides that I'll do.
First thing up is to decide where to ride. Scotland is a big country, and there are plenty of places to choose from. However, after last year's ride around the Speyside distilleries, I really wanted to go back to the Highlands and Cairngorms area, so that became my choice. Next question, where to base myself. Looking around the region there were a few possibilities, but for the range of options for riding I narrowed the options down to a shortlist of three; Aviemore, Boat of Garten or Grantown-on-Spey. I thought Aviemore may be too commercialised and busy, Boat of Garten probably too small to have a decent choice of accommodation, so in a Three Bears kind of way I plumped for Grantown-on-Spey, which had the distinct advantage that the Dava Way, a 23 mile cycling route along the former Highland Railway line, starts there, so that was one easy option for a good ride. From Grantown-on-Spey it goes north to Forres, and from there I could return via Knockando and the Speyside Way, retracing some of the route I did last year.
Next thing was to look around the area and try to work out some good routes in all directions. The Visit Scotland website was a good source of material here, and there were a number of rides detailed on the site that I could make use of. Using these I came up with four more routes; north west to Culloden, south west to Ruthven Barracks, east to the Glenlivet Estate and a circular Boat of Garten - Carrbridge tour. That done, I started looking at the rides in more detail, looking for interesting things off the planned routes that could be worth a diversion. Google Maps was a very useful tool in facilitating this, and I had a great time digging out some fascinating places to call in on. I also started tweaking routes that overlapped, choosing alternative roads or tracks where these existed to give a more varied itinerary.
With a ride going to Culloden, I will be visiting the Culloden Battlefield itself, and this has given me the opportunity to read about the famous battle (albeit briefly). In addition to this, I noticed there were a lot of roads called Old Military Road in the region, and whilst I'd seen a couple of rides that followed the Old Military Road I thought there was only one, built by General Wade. Turns out there are quite a few covering the area, and as well as roads General Wade built bridges. I noticed there was one at Sluggan, so tweaked the Culloden ride to make sure I rode over it.
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| Sluggan Bridge |
Whilst the Culloden visit will be a good opportunity to find out more about 18th century history, there will be places I visit that pre-date that; Clava Cairns near Culloden is a group of Bronze Age chamber tomb cairns, whilst Sueno's Stone is a gigantic Pictish cross slab in Forres. Carrbridge has an 18th century Old Packhorse Bridge. To the south of Grantown-on-Spey, Castle Roy is a 12th century fortress with it's own Heilan' Coo that can be sponsored!
In addition to the historical aspects of the tour, there are many Lochs that I'll be visiting, a few railway viaducts I'll be passing underneath, a couple of whisky distilleries and the place where the World Porridge Making Championships are held! The latter I found out thanks to one of Michael Portillo's Great Coastal Railway Journey programs, which also showed Cullen viaduct on the Moray Coastal Cycle Trail. That inspired me to look at that particular route, and I subsequently worked out a suitable day ride along it which will probably replace the Glenlivet Estate ride. Sadly, I won't be able to go to the fish shop that appeared on the program to try some of their famous Cullen Skink!
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| Cullen Viaduct |
I'm really looking forward to this trip. There will be plenty to keep me interested along the way, and hopefully as I am planning to go in March or early May, I'll avoid the dreaded midges! I'm sure I'll continue to research the routes up until the date of departure, and will tweak any as appropriate. Planning is certainly an enjoyable part of cycling, and hopefully the work I've done will ensure a very enjoyable trip.
