I spent a full day in Pitlochry. The Backpackers Hostel was very nice. I did my laundry and had time to visit the dam and to see the fish ladder. I also tasted my first scotch whisky ice cream.

I left the Backpackers on Friday, May 24th. I was planning to be in Inverness a few days later and there happened to be a Backpackers Hostel there, too. So the very friendly and welcoming owner of the hostels booked a bed in the Inverness hostel for me. However tonight I was heading for Braemar after crossing the Grampian Mountains and over Glenshee ski area.

I started the day chatting to a guy named Jason from Sheffield who was doing a solo bike ride for a few days. I then headed out under grey skies.

The path took me across some surprising terrain for a bicycle and it was only later that I realized I had selected ‘hiking’ as the activity when planning today’s route in the Gaia app that I use for route planning 😩. At one point I had to take off my panniers to cross a rickety foot bridge.

After passing through a farmyard and a few fields with extremely long grass, I arrived back on a road that continued my climb out of Pitlochry. A few minutes after joining the road, along came Jason who told me he had also an interesting experience getting out of town and ended up pushing his bike as I had done.

The sky was darkening and we realized we were in for some bad weather. After cycling together for a couple of miles, Jason left me and the climb continued in the drizzle. I passed through the pretty town of Kirkmichael where I stopped for a coffee and sausage roll. I still had a lot of climbing ahead!

Shortly after leaving Kirkmichael, I turned left on the A93 otherwise known as the Old Military Road. As I climbed towards Glenshee, the landscape became increasingly spectacular but I also was joined by lots of very noisy motorbikes. 👎

When leaving Pitlochry I had two choices: go through Aviemore and follow the A9 into Inverness or take the route I chose and go through the Cairngorms passing Glenshee and Lecht Ski Center. I chose what I thought would be the more picturesque but challenging route. I had already seen Aviemore and wanted to do the epic Lecht. Had I taken the A9 route I found out I would have been cycling mostly bike paths avoiding the weekend traffic. I’ll go that way next time, but in the end I did not regret my choice 😀

From Glenshee it was a fabulous and fast downhill ride into Braemar.

I arrived in Braemar around 5pm having cycled 40 miles and 3,200 feet of climbing. I planned to stay at the only campground in the town. I had forgotten this was a holiday weekend so when I arrived, there was a queue of caravans waiting to check in. I was told I was very lucky to get a pitch because they had to keep a certain distance between the tents. I was, therefore, expecting a lot of other tents to arrive but it ended up I was one of three on a big field, so I’m not sure what all that was about, but I decided to call ahead and make a reservation the next night.

I pitched my tent and cycled into the grocery shop in Braemar to pick up some food for dinner.

The facilities at this campground were amazing. There was a massive drying room and a heated lounge area. I also had a pretty spot with a great view.