Anyone remember MBR magazine ? Remember the “epic” black rides? For a long time we have had a route map for the Lochnagar loop which starts and ends in Braemar where we are staying this weekend. I have always been put off by the the contour lines for the black tracks on the second half of the ride although fascinated by the amazing pictures of Lochnagar which is a stunning landscape.
It was lovely and sunny this morning and the first day of our holiday so we thought with the weather and fresh legs on our side we should have a go.
We set off through the beautiful forest to the West of Balmoral and hoped we’d wouldn’t get stopped as the Queen is in residence at the moment. This estate is immaculately maintained and always a pleasure to ride through.
As we left the forest the landscape opened up to reveal stunning scenery …. as well as a very long double track climb south towards Lochnagar. It was rideable though and we kept going to the base of the trail up to the summit where the path narrowed to a black track. After a few km on the narrow track it became clear that my fear of the difficulty of the last 15k was well founded. Disappointed but sensible we turned around to go back the way we came.
We had spotted some single track on the way out so we decided to take this diversion back to make up for what we missed. The first half and last quarter was pretty good fun. The middle however was a bit of a trek and we were swarmed by bugs as we were hot and sweaty and probably smelt like the local livestock! Ah well, you can never tell what a black track on the map will be like. All in all a great day out.
Wee Van Tour 