Loki wrote: ↑Tue Jun 24, 2025 2:15 pm Great write up, I have been reading through all the back posts on your blog, been loving it and adding places to my bucket list.

I crossed and followed the obvious track for a little while before realised it should have stayed on the other side and climbed up to the boggy plateau. Edit: I think I'm looking at the same broken bridge from another angle or is it just coincidence? NN 71756 78776: https://explore.osmaps.com/pin?l...

RIP wrote: ↑Mon Jun 23, 2025 10:23 pm I hope you put that tasteful bedside table back exactly where you found it .

Nice looking spot that

Rats, I forgot. Will need to head back up there to reinstate it!

Fitted one of those Redshift flex stems to the Stormy. I should have got one for the gravel round round the Trossachs last weekend, which knackered both wrists. 60 miles of local roads and trails, some pretty rough, suggest it's a Good Thing, at least for this old codger. It cost a bloody fortune bu...

Not the most accessible but it allowed me to get a few hours sleep....

Get a motorcycle tubeless repair kit Shaff. Genuine Innovations do one (which predates their cycle kit) it's the same but bigger. Or plenty on ebay for much cheapness. Used loads of times on cars and motorbikes.

Seems to loosely tie in with my experiences of the Cumulus 150. It got rather damp (on the outside) on Friday night and was still plenty warm, plus dried in about 10 minutes of breezy sunshine. It's been damp a few times in the 6 years I've had it and it still lofts well.

June done, at Bynack lodge in the Cairngorms.



https://bearbonesbikepacking.co.uk/phpB ... hp?t=25588

I've done this route with variations more times than I can recall, however in terms of smiles per mile, it scores very highly, particularly if you get the weather right. This came at the start of a fortnights holiday, most of which would be spent astride a motorcycle (or at least sat in a field next...

That looked a mighty fine jaunt, good luck with continuing!

I see you got the frame glued back together again

It's all part of the experience.... One particularly bad night was under my DCF tarp (aka crisp packet). I ended up just stretching it out over the ground and crawling underneath. If you've big panels, they are going to flap, no matter how tightly pitched. I generally find somewhere sheltered if it'...

On my jaunt round the Cairngorms this weekend I saw one Eagle in Strath Avon, and another in the Gaik. Plus a heron and an osprey over the Spey, various deer, bunnies, hares and lots of other birdies. No red squirrels though, which is odd.

Was very cheery as I abandoned the heap at blair athol and peddled up glen tilt which was extremely pleasant. Tarp free bivvy then many miles of great trails today. Now at friends house for barby and beer.

Lazarus wrote: ↑Thu Jun 19, 2025 6:48 pm

Suddenly I had no friends

What makes you think we like you

Optimism and denial?

Comfort though?
Mebbes OK if you are short as the bars will be up by the seat height but if you are tall the bars will be too low. Not really the bike you want to put an ergotec stem on....

Suddenly I had no friends

boxelder wrote: ↑Tue Jun 17, 2025 2:29 pm Why the inner - midge protection?

Midges, mozzies, horse flies, ticks and slugs

I've used my borah bivvy bag sans tarp 5 times and it's kind of similar as it's not really water proof. I got rained on once and had to grab the tarp toot sweet.

So no reason why not but I'd be looking for three independent weather forecasters to show 0% chance of rain all night...

Sounds like a wise choice bailing - I've had a few minor epics where I've ended up having to tackle 'burns' after heavy rain which end up being a major obstacle, the fear being you may end up trapped somewhere. I've never ridden the route as an entity but have 'ridden' most of the tricky bits. The o...

'Grand Old Dukes' grovel ride round the Trossachs. I managed not to sleep very much last night so I was somewhat bleary eyed at the start, not helped by horrific levels of midges. I met Paul AKA Dyffers at the start and envied his Jones loops instead of drops. At the finish I envied them even more! ...

Well they all seem to be crossing the border easily enough.

Robin Gemperle is miles ahead - be interesting to see how long that lasts!

Top boots but you need to be 2 sizes up. So I have a pair size 47 and I normally take 45. The replacement MT 90's I have are 46 and the sole is the exact same as the MT91's.

Great boots, buy them for warm, dry feet!

Big ride in the northern Cheviots today. Sadly no golden eagles straying over the border, but plenty of all the usual summer characters: curlews, skylarks and lapwings on the moors, swifts and swallows lower down. Make the most of it. Also saw an adder, which slithered off the path just in front of...

On a related noted I was looking (yet again) for some summer shoes and came across Vaude ones which look far better than any offerings available in the UK so may have to search out a suitable Euro website. Alpinetrek seem to stock a fair range of Vaude stuff, some of which looks worth a punt. TVL P...