Ben Alder bothy adventure

Continuing on from the western isles cycling tour... Jo got the train back to Edinburgh, and I got off at Newtonmore, found a campground nearby & pitched the tent! I was meeting Heather in Dalwhinnie early afternoon so I biked up to Shepherd's Bush intending to climb a nearby munro (A'Chailleach), or maybe two (+ Carn Sgulain) if there was time (or maybe three if I ran (+ Carn Dearg)... so I did). It took longer to get back to my bike than anticipated because it was really boggy, so I had to race to Dalwhinnie (a wee bit late to meet Heather)...





We set off along the west side of Loch Ericht & up to Culra Bothy via Loch Pattack. It was a really nice bike ride in - the rocky terrain & dodgy footbridge were a bit of a challenge with the panniers but sometimes I quite like challenges so it was okay. The bothy was really big (3 rooms with a fireplace in 2!) - we dumped our gear & set off up the NE ridge to Ben Alder, then round via the saddle to climb Beinn Bheoil. It was a great hike but by the time we got back to the bothy (8:30pm) I was pretty shattered!

Sunday was forecast to be miserable weather - that turned out to be an optimistic forecast, especially on the tops. We climbed straight up behind Culra bothy to the top of Carn Dearg (a different one!) - there are 4 munros in a circuit from here but we couldn't see anything & the wind was really strong, so we just dropped down the North side into another valley and took the 'lower option' back, which meant we could actually see something, picked up the bikes & set off back to Dalwhinnie. That's where the adventure began - we'd tried to reserve our bikes on the train without any luck, so had no choice but to 'wing it' and try getting on anyway...


The thought of being stuck in Dalwhinnie was making us slightly nervous until we saw this sign :) With 3 mins to go we realised we were on the wrong platform (signs were very unclear) so we had to carry our bikes up & over the step - my front wheel hit the railing & the handlebars rebounded to clock me perfectly in the forehead - OUCH!! The train was now in and the conductor telling Heather we couldn't get on because the bike spaces were already fully booked (although the bike racks appeared to be empty, very annoying). However, I looked suitably pathetic - massive egghead, watery eyes and totally spaced out - so the lady took pity on us & said we could get on until Perth...RESULT!

I've thoroughly enjoyed all the adventures in the last few weeks, but it was extremely nice to get home, have a shower and sleep in my own bed!