Pick any of Ballater, Braemar, Pitlochry and Aviemore and there are enough days rides at each to keep you going for a while.

The hills and scenery are a bit more rugged than the borders, the weather is likely to be drier than the west coast and the towns are big enough to give you good options for places to stay and food.

When I get five minutes over the holidays I'll have a good look through here and start putting images to names. Far more choice than I realised!

Three general points;

Scotland is lot bigger than the weather map would have you believe.

The access laws mean that almost everywhere can be ridden.

The concentration of population in the central belt means there's lots of quiet countryside.

ScotRoutes wrote:Three general points;

Scotland is lot bigger than the weather map would have you believe.

The access laws mean that almost everywhere can be ridden.

The concentration of population in the central belt means there's lots of quiet countryside.

Don't tell everyone!

Important to offset this with:

The are clouds of midges

It rains almost permanently (except when it snows instead)

Most things are convered in tartan and you can always hear bagpipes

Nah - come to Scotland, please! We have room enough to spare and we need the money!

So my buddy has just hit 17 stone and is asking for uplift options... lol

Suddenly I'm thinking this holiday is going to be 60% pushing up hills, 4% going down hills, 6% prepping, 30% eating and drinking.

"17 stone and is asking for uplift options" - "a crane?!" I absolutely can't believe I just said that, my mum would have a fit if she knew I was being so rude for the sake of a poor joke. Happy-to-be-shot-down-as-a-wasting-away-10st-stick-insect.

R

Scotroutes
two decently long days of riding. They might give you some idea of what's in the area.

Scotroutes - do you have gpx files for these two routes. Will be in Aviemore over Mayday wkend and looking for rides.

Sure. I'll have them from the days in question.


Day 1 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CLCZU1 ... sp=sharing

Day 2 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1a6PFJe ... sp=sharing

Let me know if they work OK

RIP wrote:"a crane?!"

Harsh!

Yes it was a play on words that came across all wrong so apologies Rich. Sigh.

I think you're fine, as long as he doesn't read it... lol

He does have the link though.

Thanks Scotroutes. Both files downloaded fine.

Right... I've definitely decided to go South of Edinburgh. Aviemore / Cairngorms sounds amazing, but because there's no direct flight from Shannon to Inverness, it'll be a pig for my friend to get to. Besides, I'm going to do the Caingorms loop at some point so it's not like I'm going to miss out. :D

Now I just need to work out if I drive or not. Costs a little less (vs flying and hiring a car)... but saves me some time, though maybe not that much when you consider prepping the bike for the bag / then for riding again.