Bike worked really well, covered the ground flawlessly in both cases. The Marathons were surprisingly good too.
Still a small patch of snow in the corrie, just out of site. Hoping it will be getting some company soon!
Bridge and gate into the Corrour estate, 11 miles of lovely estate road with great views.
Track drops into the glen and around Loch Ossian, first night in the hostel there, courtesy of Jan. Not sure what the issue was but my Mountain House meal was completely inedible, smelt really odd, tasted even worse once I added water. Second one I have had like this! Bit disconcerting. Fortunately someone had left some noodles in the hostel so I managed to bodge a meal together...
One stop on the train. Last time I was out this way the road to the isles was in really poor condition, as such I opted to catch the train rather than ride it. It has been re-graded due to the work being done on some Hydro schemes on the estate, next time I will close the loop by riding it all.
Very few photos from day 2, wet and windy all day. One of the reasons I fancied this route is revisiting Kinloch Rannoch, I went to a wedding there in 1984-85ish and have a very strong mental image if the procession over the bridge as we were staying in the hotel on one side, the church being on the other. Apart from the obvious development of 30 years one would expect, the village was pretty much as I remembered it. Bit worrying mind, as they do say that as you get older your long term memory becomes better than you r short term. Mmmm, where was I ?
Oh yeh, I spent the night at the hostel in Pitlochry. Great fish and chips in the town and an early night after some local brew, can't remember the name
NCR7 follows the old A9, and is a very pleasant run virtually parallel until just before Dalwhinnie. I had planned to have breakfast in Pitlochry, but as it was raining when I set off I figured I would head to Blair Atholl rather than get undressed again almost immediatly once in town. The cafe I planned to stop at didn't open until 11.00(!) so on I pedalled, until I got to House of Bruar. "Bugger it I an going to try getting breakfast in here" thought I. Given that I was in lycra and windstopper, and somewhat soaked; I expected a few raised eyebrows, maybe even some resistance. The staff never batted an eyelid, despite me being the most underdressed sole in the restaurant by a huge margin
The coach parties were another matter. Everytime a coach party arrived they would walk by and pretty much just stare at me as they passed, given that they spent most of their time in the queue "whispering" about the prices to each other, then ordered a pot of tea for one and 2 mugs, I thought it was quite a satisfying case of inverted snobbery
Not many pictures again due to the weather. Though it did improve somewhat once I had crossed the Drummochter pass and got into the rain shadow to the north, it was still pretty shocking.
All in all another good trip. For those interested the Praxis cassette worked really well, it shifted up really well. The only issue was that it is a little slow on the down shift 1-4, as it drops it kind of misses a tooth/link before engaging. In fairness I got used to it pretty quickly and just ease off briefly as I shift down. Certainly not enough of an issue not to buy one IMO.
