HT550 Grand Depart - May 2022

[Lazarus]

Carl Hopps

Much appreciated

[boxelder]

I head straight for the bar at the river mouth since it’s reliable, if a little deeper. The water comes up to my neck, but the weight of the bike above my head keeps me planted on the gravel even as waves lap my chin.

Blimey. Following Alan’s line was mid thigh deep after a very wet night in early May. Just wet socks and shoes. It’s a bath of sorts I s’pose.

[fatbikephil]

I head straight for the bar at the river mouth since it’s reliable, if a little deeper. The water comes up to my neck, but the weight of the bike above my head keeps me planted on the gravel even as waves lap my chin.

Blimey. Following Alan’s line was mid thigh deep after a very wet night in early May. Just wet socks and shoes. It’s a bath of sorts I s’pose.

I did wonder about that bit - I think a few folk went that way in '13 or '14 and suggested it was shallower.... On the line (or slightly downstream of it) has worked for me....

[TrepidExplorer]

I It’s a bath of sorts I s’pose.

I couldn't possibly comment.

[Alexinthepeaks]

I followed the line, and managed to not get my shorts wet once i rolled them right up. It was very close though with the waves!

[fatbikephil]

https://angus-young.co.uk/journal/legs- ... -the-ht550
Worth a read

[Dakkar]

Cheers Phil

[fatbikephil]

https://bikepacking.com/news/gemma-baird-ht550-record/
Friend of a friend - I knew she was hoping to ITT it but no dot appeared on trackleaders so I thought she'd jacked it. Turns out she got the SS record as well!

[boxelder]

Great effort, given some of the weather/conditions.

So this gate in Glen Ling that she struggled with..........
Prior to the first time I went through there (2015), I'd read accounts of nightmare clambers and removing luggage bits from bikes. In the event, I found no problem gates there at all. Going back this May, I did hit a problem (narrow) gate and had to remove my front wheel to get through, then 30-40metres further on there was another gate through the same fence which would have given easy passage.
Are the problems just a result of using the first gate, not the second?
Looking at my track from May, I followed the official GPX closely. To get through the first gate into the enclosure I had to have the bike vertically on it's back wheel, but with the front wheel removed. Looking at the map, I can't really work out where the other gate is - maybe the combination of hunger and trench foot had addled my mind. Or I've got the location entirely wrong......

[fatbikephil]

The one that was catching people out was further down - a gate in a deer fence on track but if you missed this (or your gps had croaked) the obvious path line took you to a ladder style some 50m down from the gate. That enclosure in your pic didn't have gates last year so maybe it's all new....

[whitestone]

The gate that you need to use to avoid "the tricky one" is about here http://streetmap.co.uk/map?X=194132&Y=831948&A=Y&Z=115, the deer fence isn't marked on this map. If you notice further north the track that follows the river splits (this happens around a very rocky section and might not be obvious) and there's a track leading to the upper track (which is sort of quad bike width/quality).

Looking on Google Earth/Maps there doesn't appear to be any new fencing around Poul an tarie but then the shots could be out of date. Cath and I rode that section last September and there was nothing awkward other than the chest high bracken in places.

[boxelder]

I'm pretty sure I've got the right spot, as remember almost immediately crossing a burn and into the rocky valley section with the lovely river views (to take your mind off the stumbling unrideableness).
I remember the gate in your map I think Bob - isn't it one of those ladder stiles where the ladder lifts on a hinged top and you can duck through? Probably not - my memory........

[fatbikephil]

Bob the stile / gate combo is on the fence line just above the word 'ford's on that map - you can see the two alternate path lines. The HT route follows the lower path line then cuts up to the upper one just before the gate.

Voila!


Stile

Gate

So what you encountered just after the bridge Andy sounds like a new fence....
We'll have to do the route again to check

In other route minutiae news, I noted that a new FB has gone in on the boggy path approaching Ben Alder cottage, bypassing the somewhat dubious telegraph pole bridge about a k along...

[whitestone]

Yep, that's the chappie!

Wasn't sure just how far along the upper track it was to the fence. This shot shows the upper track:

[Dean]

In other route minutiae news, I noted that a new FB has gone in on the boggy path approaching Ben Alder cottage, bypassing the somewhat dubious telegraph pole bridge about a k along...

A telegraph pole bridge? Cannot remember this, is it the one immediately before turning right to follow the fence?

I rode through Tyndrum in early May, I decided to be quiet about the new gate under the railway bridge to keep it a welcome surprise for those riding the group start.

[fatbikephil]

Red blob roughly where bridge is - you can see it on aerial photos

[whitestone]

In other route minutiae news, I noted that a new FB has gone in on the boggy path approaching Ben Alder cottage, bypassing the somewhat dubious telegraph pole bridge about a k along...

A telegraph pole bridge? Cannot remember this, is it the one immediately before turning right to follow the fence?

We rode the boggy bit in reverse earlier this year on our circuit of Ben Alder and Corrour, from memory the "new" bridge is almost at the northern end of the fence that parallels the loch side in the next bay north of where Phil has marked it. Could be wrong but the one he's marked is the quad bike one just before the fence that you mention and that was the one that's been there for a good few years.

[fatbikephil]

Hmm - there was definitely a new (like it still had sawdust around it) bridge just upstream of my blob when I went through last month. The bridge just to the north of this is still in tact

It's good that someone is doing something to this route. Who knows they might even extend the track a bit further at some point

[Dean]

It's good that someone is doing something to this route. Who knows they might even extend the track a bit further at some point

Where would be the fun in that? Alan would need to find a suitable replacement

Sounds like a good excuse to go for a ride to check our collective memories.

[Alexinthepeaks]

There is a HT550 article in the new Cranked Magazine, mines in the post so not read it yet...