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Weather: Cloudy, one morning shower, otherwise no rain. Cold head wind.
Stats: 59.8 miles; ave speed moving 10.0 mph
Counties: Perth and Kinross; Aberdeenshire; Moray
GPS track map: Link here
This is the big one, 1518 metres of ascent, including the Glenshee and Lecht ski stations. Peter and Les slightly heightened my sense of apprehension by telling us that the van would stay close to the group all day, with the implication that experience showed some rescue operations may be necessary. The weather forecast was not good, with a strong headwind and rain forecast for the afternoon. We all layered up accordingly.
The day started with the run out on the A93 to the Spittal of Glenshee, an undulating road which was not too bad, making a steady net gain in altitude. I peeled off my layers to reduce overheating, only to put them back on again as a rainshower moved through. Then the climb to the Glenshee ski station began, steadily up to the Devil's Elbow hairpin, then rising more sharply to the final 12% section. I struggled up this, but finally made it, gasping, to the van in the ski station car park. "Piece of cake" I said. Les said he thought it was quite tough. I said, "No, I want a piece of cake".
The descent to Braemar was not quite as rapid as hoped: the difference in altitude compared to the climb from Bridge of Cally is not that great, and after an initial sharp descent, the road undulates somewhat. Further there was a strong headwind. After refreshments in the Bothie café in Braemar, we progressed down Deeside to Balmoral. I don't think anyone had the inclination to go to the castle gates, rather we pressed on. There followed two quite tough climbs, but the first, the B976 over to Gairnshiel Lodge, rewarded us with very good views South to Lochnagar and West to Cairngorm. Les was waiting at Gairnshiel with the van for tea and cakes, to sustain us for the next, rather more demanding, climb on the A939 over to Corgarff, where we stopped in the tea room for yet more refuelling.
Setting off again, I rounded the corner after crossing the Cock Bridge to be confronted with the start of the climb to the Lecht. I got about half way up before grinding to a halt, and conceding defeat. I got off and walked the steeper sections. It reaches 25% in parts, and it was just too much after an already long day. Anyway, it's not too long, and I soon reached the ski station, and made the blessed long descent to Tomintoul.
It was a great relief and satisfaction to get that lot out of the way: surely there can be nothing as severe to come. And apart from a short shower in the morning, there was no rain, and even a little sunshine.
Next day
Weather: Cloudy, one morning shower, otherwise no rain. Cold head wind.
Stats: 59.8 miles; ave speed moving 10.0 mph
Counties: Perth and Kinross; Aberdeenshire; Moray
GPS track map: Link here
This is the big one, 1518 metres of ascent, including the Glenshee and Lecht ski stations. Peter and Les slightly heightened my sense of apprehension by telling us that the van would stay close to the group all day, with the implication that experience showed some rescue operations may be necessary. The weather forecast was not good, with a strong headwind and rain forecast for the afternoon. We all layered up accordingly.
The day started with the run out on the A93 to the Spittal of Glenshee, an undulating road which was not too bad, making a steady net gain in altitude. I peeled off my layers to reduce overheating, only to put them back on again as a rainshower moved through. Then the climb to the Glenshee ski station began, steadily up to the Devil's Elbow hairpin, then rising more sharply to the final 12% section. I struggled up this, but finally made it, gasping, to the van in the ski station car park. "Piece of cake" I said. Les said he thought it was quite tough. I said, "No, I want a piece of cake".
The descent to Braemar was not quite as rapid as hoped: the difference in altitude compared to the climb from Bridge of Cally is not that great, and after an initial sharp descent, the road undulates somewhat. Further there was a strong headwind. After refreshments in the Bothie café in Braemar, we progressed down Deeside to Balmoral. I don't think anyone had the inclination to go to the castle gates, rather we pressed on. There followed two quite tough climbs, but the first, the B976 over to Gairnshiel Lodge, rewarded us with very good views South to Lochnagar and West to Cairngorm. Les was waiting at Gairnshiel with the van for tea and cakes, to sustain us for the next, rather more demanding, climb on the A939 over to Corgarff, where we stopped in the tea room for yet more refuelling.
Setting off again, I rounded the corner after crossing the Cock Bridge to be confronted with the start of the climb to the Lecht. I got about half way up before grinding to a halt, and conceding defeat. I got off and walked the steeper sections. It reaches 25% in parts, and it was just too much after an already long day. Anyway, it's not too long, and I soon reached the ski station, and made the blessed long descent to Tomintoul.
It was a great relief and satisfaction to get that lot out of the way: surely there can be nothing as severe to come. And apart from a short shower in the morning, there was no rain, and even a little sunshine.
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| Getting suited and booted |
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| On the way to the Spittal of Glenshee |
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| At the Devil's Elbow |
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| At Glenshee ski station. The red leggings were an impulse buy in Peebles. Still they were better than nothing, it was cold up there. |
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| Peter the Guide, Lochnagar in background |
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| Twixt Balmoral and Cock Bridge |
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| The remorseless Lecht road |
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| Evening sunshine on the way to Tomintoul |
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| My Tomintoul B&B room had all the essentials: washing machine, ironing board, vacuum, piano.... |
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