Pitlochry to Bridge of Balgie Glen Lyon cycle

Bridge of Balgie post office

It was the day to tick off another of my bucket list outdoor adventures. My plan was to cycle from Milton of Fonab in Pitlochry to the Bridge of Balgie post office/cafe in Glen Lyon. Truly a beautiful part of the country to meander through. 
It was to be a one way cycle, getting on a bit you know, and the first decision to be made was which road to go from Pitlochry to Glen Lyon. There is an up and down back road via Foss but it leads to a long uphill grind that I suspected would be a long trudge and not so much fun. So I opted to go via Logierait & Aberfeldy.
The day I chose was meant to be the best weather day of the week, that's not saying a lot this year, but it was more overcast than I expected when it came the time to start. Fuelled with traditional West Scotland nutrition, a breakfast roll of black pudding and fried egg, very tasty, off I went.

The Logierait road is about to dip again

The opening 4 miles on the back road from Fonab to Logierait is a narrow rolling country road with some fast descents and also some climbs that start getting the lungs going. There are some good views around this stretch but do take care, it is narrow road with many blind corners where meeting a car/tractor at speed is not recommended. Shortly after the start you pass the entrance to the Dunfallandy Stone, a Pictish carving, which you might want to visit.

Attractive garden in Logierait

At Logierait the route follows the main road and the River Tay towards Grandtully. A pleasant scenic flat route but you do have fast traffic around so take care. Also, as I turned onto the main road I was now aware of a westerly headwind which accompanied me for most of the route at various degrees on intensity, so much for the warm day.

Strathtay but n ben

At Pitnacree I opted to get off the main road and followed the suggested cycle route to Strathtay and then the back road towards Aberfeldy. There was very little traffic on this stretch and some mightily impressive properties, no change out of a million for many of these. The downside is that there is a lot of tree cover so views were limited and it felt quite cool in the shade. Still look out for the wildlife, 2 deer standing in the shadows in a forest, only movement was their eyes watching me, a red squirrel runs across the road and rapidly up a tree. There are patches of farmland, plenty of sheep and cattle and regular views of the might Tay.

The footbridge over the Tay at Aberfeldy

The road continues to Weem so you have to slightly double back if you want to visit Aberfeldy about a mile away. Worth it if just to go over the General Wade's impressive bridge construction over the Tay. For the more energetic you can also use this route to include Kenmore before rejoining my route.
Past Weem it is still a flat road but with more faster traffic so still take care. On this road is the village of Dull with the brilliant town twinning names with a place called Boring, priceless. There is also a small safari park located here as well as the location for outdoor activities.

A few miles further on take the turn signposted Fortingall. The views are getting more impressive as higher hills begin to dominate the skyline. There is a famous Yew Tree in this village which is said to be one of the oldest living things in Europe, there you go.

Glen Lyon starts here

Now you take a turn right and the start of Glen Lyon. This is real outdoor cycling for me, taking your time in a stunning location. Stopping often, not through tiredness but to appreciate the surroundings, this is why I am out doing it. The glen is said to be one of the most isolated and lonely in Scotland and it certainly is one of the most scenic. The only cyclists I passed were all going the other way, starts to make you think a bit, and all appeared to be foreign. Some of them were clearly not fit enough to have cycled over the Ben Lawers route so not sure where they started from, maybe a bus dropped them off? A few of the cyclists went speeding past me and they could not have been taking in the scenery as they concentrated on the road at speed, what a shame for them.

Typical view Glen Lyon

If you want to cycle the full glen it is 25 miles from Fortingall to the finish at Loch Lyon but for me the trip was only as far as Bridge of Balgie. As I expected there are a lot of short climbs and descents. The river Lyon is on your left and as a fisherman I love watching the water so I was stopping at any falls just in case a salmon was trying to leap them, but sadly not that I saw today.

Nice stone bridge and waterfall

There is beauty all around you, the occasional but impressive farm or country houses. In the early sections still heavily forested which is restricting the views but as you go on through the glen it opens up to mountain and river scapes that are stunning and spectacular. It is not very warm at all, despite the forecast, in fact it is cool, so I keep on my wind proof jacket for the full cycle.

Glen Lyon but n ben

Finally I reach my destination which has to be one of the most remote post offices. It also has a cafe and outside seating. A cold ginger beer was just the business. 

The vista opens out

As it was Mrs B was meant to be driving to meet me. I did think that she should have driven past by now. I had not had a phone signal since Fortingall so I had no idea where she was, last heard of entering a cafe in Aberfeldy. Had she got lost, I had keyed the destination into the sat nav but could she use it? Had she crashed my car? Worrying times. After half an hour I decided to have lunch, in part because I was hungry but also to fuel up just in case I had to cycle the road back. Just as I ordered she did show up, no problems just took her longer than she thought.

The bike made it

Today my trip journey was just under 35 miles which I travelled at circa 10 miles an hour. As mentioned before it is the journey and the views that interest me not the speed. Again for those wanting longer rides there is the option of going fully into the glen, I am saving that for another day. There is also the option of going up the single track road which goes past Ben Lawers but that is for the fit people.
Highly recommended.

Sow of Atholl

Sow from car park

It felt good to be standing at Dalnaspidal once again. Ok it is just a muddy carpark beside a railway crossing just off the A9 but just look around, wilderness. To our left is the Sow of Atholl the Corbett we are going to climb today. Quite amazingly there are still pockets of snow dotted around these hills, it is only the middle of July after all.
As always a check of the weather app this morning indicated that it would remain dry up until 3pm then the rain would be coming through. Looking down through the glen I am amazed that the water level in Loch Garry has dropped dramatically, in fact it looks like drought conditions which it has most certainly not been. I assume water has been run off by the Hydro board.

Sow reflected on a marsh pool

The Sow is a Corbett standing at 803m and it is one of the easier ones to climb as the height gained is only about half of that due to the high starting point being high up the Drumochter pass, Mrs B was very happy about that. But not so happy that I had forgot the walking poles although luckily I had my wading stick so Mrs B had some support.
The route begins by following a track heading towards the loch then follow the estate road. The Sow has no obvious path that we could find so it is up-to you where you cut in to make your ascent up the grassy slopes. Walking up the ugly estate road there are a number of new grouse butts erected just across the burn, they are very low down so I presume this track is out of bounds during shoots.

The estate track heading towards the Boar

Although the track goes much further up the glen we cut off to the right and started to follow faint off road tracks. Almost immediately the ground was boggy wet and peaty, this could be fun. The first 15-20 minutes was very careful walking to avoid boots plunging into deep muddy holes. 

The grassy slopes, Meall na Leitreach behind

Soon we were springing the red grouse out of the heather. We must have spooked a couple of dozen all told and fair to say some spooked us as they exploded out almost below our feet, fun just the same to see them so close.
I was scanning the hills to our left focusing on one of the snow patches when I realised the dots were actually 8 red deer, heads down taking the snow for water I assume. Over the course of he walk we must have seen 40+ red deer on the summits. I have seen more red deer this year than any other I can recall.
Most of the ascent is just a case of picking the easiest path through the heather and the many hidden small burns ready to catch the unwary foot. Just a bit of a slog really but worth stopping and having a good look around, after all it is the views we are out for.

A pair of hares on the skyline

Nearing the summit the hares started to show themselves, particularly the large ears erect on the skyline, and still with small white patches of their winter coats, these should have disappeared ages ago. They were actually quite timid and allowed us to get fairly close to them, great to see.
Also amongst the wet bogs were frogs and newts, still can't get my head around finding these so high up but delightful all the same.

A hill frog trying to hide

We finally reach the very broad summit where there are some good views but the vastness of the summit plain dilutes the effect slightly. The A9 traffic heading north but no sound reaches us up here. Some of the A9 Munros are showing well. The cairn is surprisingly small but I suppose the stones are limited on this hill. Some twites stood on small rocks chirping away again seemingly unfazed by us.

The plateau summit

It was only just after 1pm but the skies were grey and menacing so we decided to head down. About 10 minutes into the descent we heard the roar of the military jets passing up the A9. If only they had been 10 minutes earlier we would have had a great view of them below us.

The very small summit cairn collection of rocks

About 5 minutes  later we could hear an eagle calling above our heads, it must have been flying close by but we could not spot it.
A slow steady descent, trying to avoid slipping on the wet and boggy grassy slopes, and we successfully got back to the estate road. The walking poles would definitely have helped.

The Boar's ridge behind Mrs B

Overall a nice short walk with good views, what's not too like.
PS: when the heavens opened they did in style and the downpour lasted for hours, high summer in Scotland.

The dry and sandy  Loch Garry below

Drummond Hill Kenmore, well maybe a bit of it.

This has got to be the worst summer for many a year in Scotland, would it be too much to waken up to a blue sky?
Today was typical, according to the BBC app website it was rain from midday for about 5-6 hours. Well at 8am it was belting down so was the forecast rain arriving early and would it be a nice afternoon? Exactly right, this stuff was the bonus. It did dry up for an hour or so mid morning the the forecast got it right, the joys of summertime here.
Our original plan was another Corbett but no point in climbing and not seeing anything so a lower option was agreed much to Mrs B's delight.
At the carpark a very light drizzle arrived just as we started but off we went. According to the sign planner there are 3 recommended walks and we opted for the longest white route, time 2-4 hours.

Nice waymarkers..wild boars never saw any

A short uphill walk through a natural forest full of oak, beech and Scots pine was pleasant enough but soon this turned into the typical forestry plantation, lots of trees, darkness beyond and minimal wildlife, not really my ideal walk.
We decided to walk the white route in an anti clockwise direction and after we crossed over the blue/red routes we climbed again through a slightly deforested area. This was to provide one of the very few views of the day and the non pleasurable bonus was that we gathered a swarm of flies that never left us for another half an hour but seemed a lot longer as they buzzed around our faces. The joys of walking through trees on a damp humid day.

The flies joined us here

We had not brought the leaflet so at a junction we opted to take the fork climbing to the left thinking this would take us around the top and back towards the viewpoint, of course this was the wrong thing to do. A good stiff climb got us some exercise and some sweat which pleased the flies even more. We reached the radar/telephone mast to find the track petered out and returning was the only option. An hour into the walk.
The flies were now multiplying, the rain was getting heavier so we decided to just go back down and then just walk along to the 'Black rock' viewpoint. Another hour or so of tedious forest track with no views, swarmed by flies was not appealing so down we went.
Bird-life was minimal, plenty of wrens and robins and some wood pigeons were all that was to be seen.

A typical track

After we descended past the deforestation the flies disappeared, maybe they don't like natural woodlands. Along another viewless track we came to the Black rock viewpoint which on a nice day would give excellent views of Kenmore and Loch Tay but of course today was not that day and all we got was a grey misty vista with glimpses of what might have been.

Kenmore & Loch Tay just visible

On the last stretch we spotted a song thrush breaking into a snail shell for it's lunch and a female crossbill high in the pines.
There are options to continue the walk but it looked much of the same and we had had enough of this terrain and weather so headed back to the car and comfort of food at the Kenmore resort.
As we left there the heavens opened to bring the heaviest rain of the day, at least we escaped that!!
Anyone for Tenerife?