Cairngorms Adventure – 8 Days
Type of tour: Guided
Level: 3
Duration: 7 Nights
Distance: 18 Miles/day average
Dates: May 30, Sept 5, 2015
Tour price: £1095
Start city: Inverness, Scotland
End city: Inverness, Scotland
Tour Description
The Cairngorms National Park boasts everything you could want from a mountain biking holiday in Scotland. Rolling, heather-clad hills; ancient glens; secluded lochs; abundant wildlife; great local food and drink; and fantastic mountain biking trails.
This is the UK’s largest National Park and hides a wealth of diverse ecosystems and landscapes, which we’ll share with you during this week-long mountain biking holiday in one of the most unspoilt and naturally beautiful areas of the Scottish Highlands.
You’ll also have a day’s canoeing on the River Spey, and some guided wildlife walks to spot some of the more elusive animals living in this part of the Scottish Highlands.
Highlights: Guided Daily Program Day 1: Arrival and forest trails in Grantown-on-Spey (11 miles/18 km) Day 2: Speyside Way and Loch Garten (19 miles/30 km) Day 3: Pedal and Paddle (No cycling) Day 4: Singletrack and single malt (16 miles/25 km) Day 5: Wildlife walk (12 miles/20 km) Day 6: Glenfeshie and Southern Cairgorms (15 miles/25 km) Day 7: Loch Ness and Inverness (25 miles/40 km) Day 8: Departure Included Services Bike Rentals: Guided Equipment provided free with rentals: Available upon request for no cost are cycling bags and a bottle cage.
Your guide will meet you at Inverness train station at 12 noon and we’ll head to H&I Adventures HQ to build and tune bikes, and go through our welcome briefing over a cup of coffee and some cake. We’ll start as we mean to go on! Once everyone is happy with their bikes we’ll make our way around one hour south to Grantown-on-Spey for our first ride of the trip, where we’ll warm up travel-weary legs on the network of fabulous natural-feeling trails through the forest.We’ll spend the day enjoying the different trails, checking bikes and practising skills that will come in handy during the rest of your mountain bike adventure tour in the Cairngorms.At the end of the day we’ll have a short drive to your home-from-home for the week: a beautiful country house in Aviemore.
On our day in the Loch Garten area we’ll pedal through Glenmore Forest, over the rocky Ryvoan pass and through Abernethy Forest towards Boat of Garten. On the way, we can stop at the Osprey Centre at Loch Garten to see if we can spot any of the resident birds. There are a couple of climbs ahead of us now, before joining the Speyside Way and heading back into Aviemore to some delicious home baking at the Mountain Café!
Overnight in Aviemore
Today we will have a short pedal to the banks of the river Spey, where we will meet our open canoe guide who will be leading you down a stunning stretch of the famous salmon fishing river. Your guide will be on hand to talk you through all safety aspects and paddling techniques involved with river canoeing. During your trip along the river Spey your guide will find a picturesque spot on the banks for a picnic lunch of local food of outstanding quality. At the end of your fabulous day on the river, you’ll collect your bikes and pedal back to your Highland home for an evening of good food, drink and story-telling!
Overnight in Aviemore
No visit to the Speyside area would be complete without a visit to a distillery and a whisky tasting. Speyside has the largest concentration of distilleries in Scotland, thanks to Cairngorm mountains and the abundance of fresh, clean water.This is not, however, a morning activity, so we start the day by heading out to Glenlivet – not to the distillery but to the fantastic new trail centre, where you’ll enjoy riding the swooping, flowing red trail. When you’ve suitably tired yourselves out we’ll grab a bite of lunch at the Coffee Still café on-site before making our way to your afternoon of whisky tasting!Your whisky experience will start at Aberlour Distillery, where your guide will take you on a tour of the stills, explaining the whisky distillation process and the history of whisky making at Aberlour and in Speyside. This will be followed by a tasting session (the best part!), then rounded off with the opportunity for you to bottle and label your own whisky.The final stop of the day will be at the Whisky Castle in Tomintoul, the highest village on mainland Scotland, where they have a range of more than 500 single malt whiskies available to taste and buy. This is truly a whisky-lover’s paradise!
Overnight in Aviemore
Today you will be guided around the Caledonian forest at the foot of the Cairngorms massif by a local wildlife expert who will endeavour to spot some of the local wildlife for you. In this area, if you are lucky, you could see deer, pine martin, birds of prey, and capercaillie. After your wildlife walk and lunch, we will bike back to our accommodation and settle in for the night.
Overnight in Aviemore
Today we’ll take you to the Southern Cairngorms to ride some of our favourite trails around Glenfeshie and Kincraig.Here, you’ll have the opportunity to put into practise all the tips your guide has given you this week, on the fast flowing singletrack, that weaves tightly through the trees. There are a few climbs to contend with, but nothing you can’t handle, and the rewards are worth every pedal stroke!We can take lunch with us today, or stop for lunch on the way back to Aviemore, and there will, of course, be cake available along the way in a local coffee shop!
Overnight in Aviemore
Today we will travel 45 minutes north to the Highland capital of Inverness, where we will cycle a four-hour route that will see us high above the banks of Loch Ness, before descending to lunch on the banks of the loch, and a spot of Nessie hunting. After our lunch we will cycle back towards Inverness city along the banks of the River Ness and into town for last minute gift buying, before returning to Aviemore for our last supper in a local restaurant to celebrate the end of an unforgettable adventure tour in Scotland!
Overnight in Aviemore
We will spend the morning packing, organizing your luggage and transport you back to your departure airport and say our goodbyes.
Bikes available to be rented (reserved in advance at the time of booking):
