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Good effort for getting stuck in.
The first part until you’re past the Corrieyairack is 100% the hardest and most technical.
hollow__legs-
I had read that and it did make the decision to be a wuss a bit harder to make, especially as the 60km from Melgarve Bothy to Corrour was fun and smooth sailing (slow up the hills mind), but I was kinda at the point in self-doubt and motivation where if I was to discover that bikepacking.com or some such blog was stretching the definition of ‘rideable’, then I thought I wouldn’t have enough in the tank to finish - as in, if I had to do the first day three times over I’d be minced meat haha.
Also - the midges! A slight inconvenience more than a massive world ending pest, but fk me, stop for two seconds and they’re everywhere. I think my elbow saw about 15 seconds of exposure to open air the whole trip and got destroyed with about 15 bites, my forehead nicely peppered with roughly the same amount from riding through clouds early in the morning. They don’t fk around haha.
ojwithbits
Successfully bailed at Corrour…
I rode from Inverness to the bottom of the corrieyairack pass in the one day - hoping to get further to Loch Laggan but I was toast. Granny gear of 40/42, 45mm tyres, and short/steep gravel bike did not imbue me with the skill or strength needed to make it up and down lots of that first day with any real ease or speed. Key note here to save someone else a valuable learning experience - going up the climbs of this first day, you’re filled with hope that the descent will be worth the the effort, that you’ll fly down easy peasy. More often than not, steep switchbacks, big loose chunky rock sections, water bars, and stream crossings mean that your speed isn’t as free as you’d like.
Was definitely undergeared and underskilled (we’ll call it underbiked for my ego) for more of the route than expected. I knew the corrieyairack pass would be a hike-a-bike job before turning up in Inverness, but I naively didn’t expect so much of the ride before the pass to also warrant some bike-pushing.
The second day (well, just the morning) was really nice. Loch Laggan to Corrour is some premium gravel riding - good hills, enough chunky bits to be interesting amongst the swathes of premium gravel, ridiculous views. Really good.
I’d just spent most of my beans on the first day and didn’t have the motivation to continue in a way that would be enjoyable so I sacked it off… possibly will regret this. ButI I guess I’ll have to come back next year with some better legs and do the whole shabang. It was my first time in Scotland, learnt a lot, found some micro adventure, had fun (i think).