Morning all, riding has taken a 'back seat' lately so I need to get a ride planned in to work / train towards !!! I've done Cairngorms Loop couple of times in the last couple of years which were great, now Im thinking of doing the Badger Divide, possibly 1st week in January while off work, couple of quick questions though -
1) Am I likely to struggle with weather at that time of year? Appreciate can never guarantee weather...
2)Will probably be doing the ride solo so good places to stop for supplies along the route?
3) Im thinking of planning sleeper train for travel up and back home again (live near Milton Keynes), anyone have experience of this ?

All advice/experience appreciated

Cheers

Not 100% sure of the route but It does the Corrieairyack I believe? Kind of depends on the winter really. If we get a good one then anything above 500m will be a skis job. Early January is traditionally not that snowy mind but if you keep an eye on the weather and the SAIS website, you'll get a good idea of conditions on high, and whether its worth it. Of course it could just be pishing rain and wind....

Three of us tried it during a period of nice weather at the start of this year. It wasn’t nice. Mild snow on the Great Glen Way, sleet up the Corrieyairack, and then bitterly cold for a while after that. We binned it near Ardverikie.

Don’t pack light, don’t expect winter gloves to remain warm when soaked through. I ended up with both of my pairs of waterproof gloves being comically useless, so rode out to Kingussie wearing latex gloves only to keep the wind chill down.