Glen Feshie by e-bike

[Moder-dye]

Was on tonight's landward, BBC Scotland

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bp5sv1

Dougie on an e-bike from Linn of Dee through feshie to the bothy this summer and bumping into a group of 4 lady bike packers heading Linn of Dee way. More e-mtb in the cairngorms next week I think.

[ScotRoutes]

I know the ladies in question. In fact, one of them borrowed my kit for the trip.

[In Reverse]

Enjoyed that, fair play to those lasses. They're right too - it might be calmer than the other side of the inner loop but balls to taking an ebike down that stretch.

[whitestone]

I wonder why he elected to ford the upper Feshie rather than stick to the singletrack?

I take it that the bothy is now open?

[Moder-dye]

At least he only appears to have forded it once, but still ended up in the right side for the bothy , we loved it so much we forded it 3 times

We didn't see where the single track was so just carried on along the main track, which was fine on the CX bikes and the fording was refreshing in the heat (but we took shoes and socks off!). I would like to go down the mythical single track though

I assume the yellowish line is the single track route? We followed the red.

resizedfeshie.jpg (66.49 KiB) Viewed 2435 times

[Ray Young]

The time I did it the track through the river looked to be the obvious choice. Only close scrutiny of my GPS showed the in my opinion easily missed single track.

[Moder-dye]

The time I did it the track through the river looked to be the obvious choice. Only close scrutiny of my GPS showed the in my opinion easily missed single track.

Glad it wasn't just us then. We didn't have a gpx with the single track so just took the most obvious route and knew we'd be fording anyway.

[whitestone]

I've only been there the once, and that was late at night on last year's Cairngorms Loop, so the following might be slightly off. I think your screen grab is of the right location.

As you follow the landrover/quad bike track down the glen and after the ford across the side burn Allt na Leuma there's a point where it flattens out for a couple of hundred metres, maybe less, this comes after one of the steep ramps. On your right is an area of heather and the path cuts off through this. The heather is quite tall so you only "see" the path when you are on it. Within a hundred metres or so you come to the "gully" that's suffered the landslip. I think this is the point - http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=286233 ... &A=Y&Z=115

Probably one of those that's worth following from the opposite end to find out where it joins the vehicle track

Edit: Looking at the screen grab a better way of finding it might be to get to the first ford crossing of the Feshie then go back about 50m and look very carefully in the heather. The path is more like a deer or sheep track at this point than the metre wide version that heads across the watershed which is why it's easy to miss.

[Moder-dye]

Cheers Whitestone, yeh that's the point I'd waymarked on the screen grab. We weren't looking for it as we'd already plotted the main track way, but certainly wouldn't have noticed it from that end. Next time!

[ScotRoutes]

FWIW, the ladies meeting with DV really was unplanned/unscheduled. Many of these things are a complete setup. Helen (in pink) had a long discussion with him about (my) bike packing kit but that was all cut from the broadcast.

That line on the Feshie crossing bypass is correct. The path is much more obvious (though still narrow) when approaching from the north. I reckon most folk are failing to find it as it's becoming increasingly overgrown. A summer project might be heading down there to cut back some of the whin etc. I spent a few hours trying to improve the landslips once but that really needs regular (at least annual) sorting out.

Between there and "Colins Howff" there is also a choice of path. The more obvious quad bike track can be a bit of a muddy truckle but (certainly heading to Feshie) the wee, older footpath/singletrack is much more pleasant.

[Moder-dye]

Cheers

[whitestone]

Colin, might be as easy to erect a small cairn at the junction. Generally I'm against them but this is one instance where one would make sense.

Alternatively the estate might be willing to put a sign post there. They seem amenable to such things. Might depend on the National Park rules though.

[ScotRoutes]

Hmmm. It's actually a RoW, so is the sort of thing that Scotways would take an interest in. I'll approach my contacts.

(However, that would take away my regular amusement at watching folk - and photos of folk - getting themselves wet for no reason... )

[AlasdairMc]

There was an arrow of stones to mark the singletrack when I rode up the glen a few weeks back. The singletrack was pretty overgrown, a lot of bushwhacking, and the river has swept away a fair bit of the existing path in places.

Was it two people from here that I met that day? I was on a fat bike having ridden the Lairig Ghru, and one of the guys on a Genesis Longitude or similar heading to the bothy.

[oldstrath]

'Twas my wife who made the comment about an ebike being too heavy. She's ridden one off-road a fair bit, so knows whereof she speaks. The women are all Petal Power members, a very good local women's club.