Loch Rannoch Holiday

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

At @Ianrauk's request... (I shall copy the other day's over at a later time)...

Today was a pleasant day by all accounts. Firstly we got up to find this. Now Loch Rannoch is rarely still; usually resembles the seaside and to be honest, the idea of it being calm enough for sheet ice to form had not occurred to me.

So having already arranged to meet up with a CC'er (@Dave Crampton) in Pitlochry we were well aware that time was going to be an issue (in case you have not worked things out, my photography hobby occasionally gets in the way of my cycling hobby and today was showing all the signs & symptoms of being one of those days... ).
I didn't get far before a choice had to be made, photography or strava segment QOM - well I already had the QOM, just wanted to improve on it, but then was presented with a really nice view of Schiehallion and ....

the photography won the contest (I will however point out that despite spending something like 5 mins with the camera at the side of the road, when we looked at Strava later on, I had still improved on my QOM, so win:win ).

From there we knew we had a really nasty little climb with a set of hairpin bends and more climbing afterwards. We should have been far enough into the ride and fit enough by now to have managed it... we did but it was a close run thing - I did make it up without having to stop (road bikes, its a doddle of a climb on the mtb's) but I was so very grateful for that hairpin bend. Neither of us said a word at the top, I knew I had to start moving again otherwise I was either going to pass out or throw up (I had tried too hard). Not a great start... the only good news was it was down hill from there ....

The journey out to Pitlochry was more eventful than it should have been - we took the road on the south side of Loch Tummel. A very definite single track road and very few passing places and perhaps we were enjoying the downhill a touch too much and not quite paying enough attention around a long fast right hand bend... mind you neither was the oncoming driver... six of one and half a dozen of the other. Nothing came of it, we were passed her before she had even had chance to register our presence, but it was a reminder that 'tourists' have now arrived on the exceptionally quiet roads and we might have to pay just that little more attention...

At the far end of Loch Tummel, at Clunie Dam, there are 2 nasty climbs that bikehike has the gradient at 20% for. We both knew they were going to be very tough and to be honest, I never expected to make it up either of them on my road bike. I surprised both of us and did make it up them, though I understand some of my groans could have been mistaken for an activity other than cycling ...
Then it was a fast descent into Pitlochry - that side of the hill is 25% and something I don't currently have an thoughts on trying in that direction. We met up with the CC'er we had planned to meet up with (thank you every so much, sorry we had already moved on when the option for coffee & cakes came up) and lunch followed soon after having found somewhere quiet - that was actually quite an achievement, we had found people and Pitlochry was teaming - one or two choice words had to be yelled at one person to prevent him pushing his child into my path as I cycled up the road through the middle of Pitlochry - his child had seen me, he had not!

Onwards and north, up the B road all the way to Calvine where we headed into them there hills and met a few other cyclists. Back in them there hills, the light cleared up and we started a climb I had expected to be more difficult than it was in reality. A really nice view at the top of a climb presented itself, so having had no vehicles for well over half an hour pass up, we stopped and pulled slightly off the road. As I walked away, a motorhome met a car right at the point where I had left my OH holding my bike.... I decided to ignore the issues and take the photo and pretend nothing had happened...

The day was only marred by an attempt at killing me - I have no idea what that tourist was doing when he overtook my OH who has 1 cycle length in front of me, we both had rear lights on, flashing at different intervals, but the next thing I knew was a car coming at me from the side in a lunatic swerving manoeuvre that was only going to have one outcome. Luckily I had already made a decision to go to the left of a nasty grid (and off the road) rather than the right which I normally do for that grid, and both of us know it is the only reason I was not hit. I can't repeat the words I yelled at the driver, he did somehow end up back on the other side of the road - I don't know if the passenger had intervened or what but it was damned close.

From there we were at 80km, and knew that our planned route would take us to 93km but it was only 2:30pm and we were both feeling strong (adrenalin?) and decided to extend the ride, down and round the loch... yeh I know, we have been round this loch so many times this holiday, but we still enjoy it. We also had enough water in the flask left for coffee and another break, so on the opposite shore to the holiday home, we stopped for a rest.

Outcome 111.1km (69.3miles), our single longest ride since the canine incident ended our world tour and it felt great to be out and to be honest, I feel like I could have done more but common sense suggested I didn't!

And to top it off. 2 QOM's 2 * 2nd place, 3 * 3rd place for the ride.... http://app.strava.com/activities/46488998 1397m (4,583 feet) of climbing and a 20.3kph (12.6mph) average that I am more than happy with. Utterly shattered, and I have caught the sun!

I hope I sleep tonight!

 

[tribanjules]

As ever yr pics are STUNNING !!

 

[Mo1959]

Wow, epic ride and wonderful photographs. Sometimes, I don't actually think I appreciate living up here and it takes beautiful photos just to remind me.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

Beautiful pictures, thanks for sharing!

 

[DRHysted]

I am soooo Jealous right now.
Can not wait until September, words simply do not do the area justice.
Oh I am jealous.

 

[Brandane]

Having seen these photos, I am now even more determined to do what I wanted to do last year (but the nice weather I was waiting for never arrived); and that is to take my bike and explore more of the amazing places which are not so far away from home.
The "must do" list includes: Western Isles; Cairngorms; coast to coast across Scotland; Galloway; and maybe a foreign venture into the lake district and Yorkshire. Please can we have some dry weather this summer then?

 

[andy the claret]

Awesome pic's

 

[summerdays]

We were staying (without bikes), near Loch Tay last week and went up to Loch Tummel one day. We saw a number of cyclists on quite a few of the days .... it was lovely if a little cold at times. I'd like to go back to the area in the summer perhaps. Beautiful photos.

One of mine of Loch Tummel:

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

OK - first instalment. 17th March and the weather was not as friendly...

The 17th March was my first ride since a minor disagreement with gravity 7 days previously, in which gravity won btw ( ), so it was a case of taking it easy, woolly hat instead of a cycle helmet (forehead is still too badly bruised & I had a stunningly good black eye), nursing a cracked rib (or three) and a very sore right thumb, so just basically quietly looking after myself... so painkillers needed, mountain bike with soft tyres & suspension rather than road bike, 25c tyres & 110psi.

The day started with a cup of coffee in bed - my OH knows the routine very well when we are on holiday (this was largely due to an 8 hr drive up in horrendous weather the day before: a drive that for the most part he slept through and I did all the driving and I have to confess that in the 'new' car (2 wheel drive with 4 bikes on the back!) there were one or two moments where I was seriously considering finding a motel and staying the night there - the M74 motorway south of Hamilton disappeared completely under snow for one very long section where tarmac was no longer visible and the motorway was only open because the traffic was still moving, but only just... luckily we drove through the worst of it, and things got easier again until Perth). So 2 cups of coffee later and a look at the weather and it was decided - warm weather kit and as much of it as you can.... only my ski-gloves & my mountaineering gloves are missing "**&^%$%^&^". Luckily I still have my winter cycling gloves with me & the merino wool glove liners... It was rather cold out.

We usually start the holiday off with a circuit of the loch and this holiday was no exception, our usual 37km route (24 miles) around Loch Rannoch. We only saw a handful of local cars but we had several cheery hellos from locals.

There should have been plenty Munro's & other mountains visible, but the snow storm that hit us a while later had them totally hidden for most of the ride and I was less than inclined to get the camera out to show the mobile snowmen we had become!
We did stop close to the hydro electric dam to get some photos, these were the best we had during the ride - looking east....

Looking West (notice the patch of blue sky. It kindly hid for the rest of the ride and only reappeared after we returned to our friends' holiday home....)

It was a slow but pleasant 23-24 miles taking over 2 hours, but it was great to be back out on the bikes after a week of no cycling.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Monday 18th March - http://app.strava.com/activities/44939650

We weren't able to get out this morning, snow, ice & some shopping got in the way. My OH has managed to come on holiday without his winter/waterproof cycling gloves (but did strangely bring 4 pairs of fingerless gloves on a cycling holiday to Scotland in March....) so we had to raid the local bike shop some 40-60 minutes drives away. Unfortunately, others had already raided them over the weekend as well, so stock was limited, but we were able to get the hi-viz version of my old winter gloves, so I know he will have warm hands with those.

So today's ride, this afternoon, was the 'round the loch' option again (there are not that many roads, OK there is 1 road, so choice is a little limited unless we use the car!). Today was slightly colder than yesterday (!) but with just as much snow thrown in for good measure, a few patches of sunshine as well and no rain/sleet (just snow) unlike yesterday!. My OH is now a happy cyclist again with warm hands. There was little worth taking in the way of pictures and life was cold enough not to want to really stop too often anyway.

On the final stretch ('homeward bound'), a walker summed up the ride, after 12 miles of nasty headwinds cycling the south shore of the loch, we met this walker when we had the tailwind "Happiness is cycling that way" he said as we passed him pointing the direction we were going in. I think we must have been smiling from head to toe at that point! I know we were sailing along with ease with a good tailwind at that point.

The view of Loch Rannoch from Kinloch Rannoch and a rare patch of light.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Tuesday 19th March http://app.strava.com/activities/45065598

We got up to a frost and a light coating of snow with more & frequent snowy storms in the air. We knew we had a choice today. It was either 25miles of tailwind first & fight the headwind on the way home... or do the sensible option and fight the headwind first... we chose the latter option and it made us pay from the word go.

So heading out in below freezing condition, not wrapped up enough and cursing the only sport I know of where I spend the first 20 mins freezing my ass of for enjoying said sport, it did not take long for my OH to make the usual call. He needed to scent mark another tree... We had not even gone 5km and had to stop! Tomorrow morning he will not be allowed anywhere near the number of cups of coffee he plied me with this morning.

Lunch happened much earlier in the ride than originally planned, but we could have set out way too late in the day to be considering a 85km ride with 1188m of climbing (old school - 53miles & 3898 feet) on mountain bikes with full nobbly tyres on (my cracked rib is still too sore to handle the road bikes). The route has a couple of minor climbs in it to warm you up, then some hairpin bends, before heading off up the Schiehallion road before turning off down a single track lane that is missing its passing places - otherwise known as the south side of Loch Tummel. We should have had a nice easy section after the Schiehallion road climb, but it seems that the headwind had other ideas and having to cycle hard downhill to even hold 10mph on a 10-15% descent is not considered fair play in our book.

A chance glance right as we cycled across a bridge had us stopped for a while to view a waterfall - the great thing about the middle of nowhere in Scotland is you can just abandon your bikes and go exploring without worrying about having to lock them up which is useful because we didn't have locks with us!

From there it was a case of hard work for a short period - we knew what was coming and we had a couple of +20% climbs and a 25% descent before dropping down into Pitlochry. (This is a lot steeper than it looks!)

Just before the A9, we cut across a pedestrian/cyclist bridge and into the Forestry Commission park at Loch Drunmore to shorten the ride a touch (and saved us needing the A9 or cycling through Pitlochry itself). Snacks and the last of the coffee was at the half way mark - a quiet spot, notice the blue sky in the reflection; moments later the wind picked up and both the reflection and the blue skies were gone.

Going home with a tailwind should be easier shouldn't it? Well, it was easier but we had some interesting climbs ahead, got gritted, met a roadie who totally ignored our friendly hello (who would say hello to 2 mtb'ers with woolly hats instead of cycle helmets, dressed in lycra and hi-viz with panniers on anyhow?) and finally made it 'home' about 60 seconds before a total white out happened. Visibility dropped to less than a few meters as we walked through the door. Timing was probably spot on.

So now we have snow and will see what happens for tomorrows ride - we have some mad ideas about putting the Schwalbe Marathon Winters back on the bikes and cycling to Loch Rannoch Station.... but all of that depends on how much of that forecasted snow actually turns up.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Wednesday 20th March - well cycling didn't happen because I wasn't too good this morning. Some of you know I am a moderately severe asthmatic and unfortunately my asthma meds affect my adrenal glands as well - I have something called Addison's disease and don't produce enough natural steroids in my body, sometimes day's just don't happen and today was one of them.

However, I have included today, because there was a nice sunset and some beautiful light.

It had started off with some really nice light and within half an hour changed to a really nice sunset - nothing spectacular, just nice. I don't often get my big camera out, in fact since coming back to the UK after our aborted round the world tour, it has not been out at all, but I did get it out for these shots off the holiday home balcony.

(On the little camera)

A quick stroll to loch level for some fresh air - again the little camera which is a shame, I should have taken the big camera but...

Back in the holiday home on the big camera...

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Thursday 21st March - http://app.strava.com/activities/45295623

Today I was feeling better, but not 100% (combination of factors from coming off steroids, cracked rib, sore thumb, black eye, bruises everywhere still & painkillers amongst other things ) so we settled for a ride around the loch again. It is one of those routes which we love, is always varied simply because of the light and tends to only happen in 1 direction only. (We had been planning to ride up the Schiehallion road, up to the Lime Kilns and back, but the weather is not 'favourable' at the moment, so we baled - think freezing conditions, high winds and a bitterly cold wind chill even by our standards.)

We knew it was going to be slow, you only had to look at the weather conditions today. One minute you can see across the loch and see some wonderful light on the mountains, the next you can't see your hand in front of your face for snow flurries and it is as black as night behind you. So we decided against 'going light' given the conditions - it would not have been sensible and packed the flask, waterproofs and plenty of spare layers. Wind chill has temps down below -10C here at the moment, on the summit of Schiehallion they are saying -21C wind chill factor, so sensible & common sense has had to come out to play and 'cold weather cycling precautions' need to be taken!

One thing we do love about 'adverse weather conditions' is that you see wildlife you would not normally see and today was no exception. Within the 1st km we nearly ran into a mountain hare! We got to watch it for a few moments before it disappeared and a wren nearly flew into me. Initially we thought it was a leaf, caught on the wind, but it then turned around after landing next to me and flew in front of me for a few moments before aimlessly wandering back into some trees. Before long a buzzard did something similar and to be honest, if it had not have taken a crap on the power lines between the trees about 3m from us, we would not have actually seen it! After that, it was back to watching white throated dippers on the rocks of the loch, oyster catchers and hundreds of geese - the fields around the loch are full of them at the moment.
A nice patch of light on one of the local Munro's.

One of the hydro electric power stations on the northern shores of Loch Rannoch in a nice patch of light.

My OH enjoying a patch of sunshine.

The weather was hit and miss, but when we had sunshine, it was glorious and way too warm, seeing me stripping off layers almost as quickly as I had to put them back on! . The snow flurries, dark threatening clouds and freezing conditions were never far away though, but made for some wonderful light on the snow capped mountains around us.

A patch of light over the hills at Kinloch Rannoch.

A case of spring is around the corner, honest, but winter is still putting up a good fight.

A nice, if somewhat slower ride due to a rather brisk headwind.

I have also found a new "P fairy" but this one delivers nice surprises... Every time I stopped for a photo, I would come back to my bike and find a fairy visit on my Garmin edge....

A really enjoyable ride.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

After a few days of "sanity" in the face of adverse weather conditions, where our road bikes were picked up by the wind and tossed around like leaves, we finally ventured outside again. Our friends have finally decided we are totally mad btw.

We decided against cycling in this wind and I made some scones instead - it was the only way to get warm.

Gone...

How to get warm when the heating is not enough - cook scones

Sunday 24th March - http://app.strava.com/activities/45652443
We had planned to cycle up to the local railway station (24 miles round trip without a loch diversion) but it was too windy and exposed to make much sense, so at the critical point (aka the only place you can actually turn off) we stuck with the more sensible option. The fight against increasing headwinds with no hope of any shelter (up onto Rannoch Moor eastern side) on the way back would not have been good.

However, along sections that had a tailwind, we have knocked big margins off our previous times, like 5 mins and added several kph to our average. An entire circuit of the loch was 10 minutes faster today despite having the ice tyres on the bikes!

So the ride report - dry, cold, windy and snowy on the way out... We almost ran over a red squirrel which my OH did get to see for once (he has a history of failing to see them!). Said red squirrel clearly did not perceive us as a threat because it totally ignored us on the bikes so we had a good long & close look at it, but knew stopping and getting the camera out would have been pushing our luck so I am afraid there are no pictures of it.

As we went down the loch, evidence of fallen trees and the subsequent clean up operation was everywhere. Also evident was the effect of the high winds we have had over the last few days - they have turned a normally flat, calm loch into something that resembles a wild Atlantic. OK slight exaggeration but where the ice is in the trees is 4 foot high from wave action on what is normally a flat loch...

Stopping to take photos was the only thing we stopped for today and it was soon clear that the camera battery and I needed words... the cold got to it... so there are few photos, but then there really was very little to see today (despite me carrying a 2nd battery just in case). We still can't see across the loch from the holiday home due to the snow in the air - snow that is not landing/sticking just flying around and annoying you!

One minute the loch is calmer, the next it is not something to be too close to.

Further on, we came across a heron standing at the side of the road, fishing... it also failed to perceive us as a threat and again we did not stop or disturb it. We have however disturbed hundreds of sheep which seem to think 2 cyclist should be chased/run at and baa'ed at in the hope we might just feed them... not quite sure they have the concept correct. We also gave boxer a good run for its money. We know that it chases cyclists and usually its owner catches it beforehand however, due to the wind/ice, they were walking in a field today (it is a local dog we have known for years and years) and today its owner was more than happy to let it chase us with a fence between us and it... (he is completely friendly, he just likes running). We also had one or two 'moments' crossing snow/slush on the road near to Kinloch Rannoch - I can honestly say my balance skills have improved considerably through preferring to be wearing a woolly helmet rather than a cycle helmet at the moment (forehead still too bruised) but there was one particularly moment that I found myself reconsidering helmet/hat options as I approached what was the only curb in the area with thoughts of "......." can't print that...


We had considered going out this afternoon as well, but that infectious disease known as "Sanity" prevailed after lunch of pancakes!

As it was we only just made it back in time before the winds picked up too much again to be able to cycle. It started to get just ever so marginally warmer on the way back and I came home sweaty and slightly chilled because the snow on the road had started to melt spraying itself back up onto my legs and getting them wet! In the last 6 miles home, my front derailleur froze onto the middle chain ring and I could not change gear... that is the first time I have had that happen (I toured on a Rohloff hub in much colder conditions). My rear derailleur was also showing signs of a build up of ice as well, but I was too grateful to be home to photo it!

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Monday 25th March - http://app.strava.com/activities/45809635

Another day on holiday in Scotland dawned bright & cold with sunshine. A fresh 'layer' of snow (nothing major) left us wanting to get out this morning, so we packed lunch after various 'talks' about what route to cycle and headed off for Rannoch Station. It did not take long for us to find wildlife out on the roads and today was red deer on the northern shore of Loch Rannoch - this is actually quite uncommon. Usually they stay much higher up the mountains and rarely come down to loch level. Next followed the geese & oyster catchers in the fields and then much to our amazement at the first photo stop, we spotted 2 really rare sights. 2 road bikers out for a morning (?) ride. As usual I was in the process of stripping and trying to take photos when this rare occurrence occurred, but I have to say I am not sure who was more surprised!

We had been under the misguided assumption uphill was harder work than downhill and that generally it was slower but with a friendly tailwind we sailed up the climb not even noticing it was there, on a mountain bikes with winter studded tyres & panniers on... To give an idea on the tailwind/headwind fun, our average speed up the climb to Rannoch Station was higher (by 1.5mph) than our average speed back down off Rannoch Moor to Loch Rannoch.

Arriving at Rannoch Station we were hot, sweaty and seriously considering loosing our leg warmers and had already removed hats, cycling gloves and buffs. It was not to last long. The best of the weather had been and gone and lunch was taken seeking out shelter from a lunch length snow storm. Strangely lunch and it lasted exactly the same length of time .

Coming back from lunch downhill off Rannoch Moor is usually something we look forward to with nice tailwinds and good views. Today it was a bitterly cold headwind that had us with a slower average downhill than uphill, and we had had to cycle downhill as well. That in our books is not playing fair. At the bottom of the descent you drop into a sheltered area and on a corner is the Frog Rock.

When it came to turn off to extend our ride, neither of us needed second thoughts. We did, despite the fact it meant at least 18 miles of nasty headwinds. We were enjoying the ride too much - when the sun was out, it was great and when it was another snow storm it was simply a case of returning to day dreaming and waiting for the next patch of sunshine/sun light to warm things up again.

We stopped off at the icicles of yesterday to have another look. they have improved overnight quite a lot, and the polo fairy also paid me a visit in a sheltered corner....

From there it was a case of nice patches of light and day dreaming some more when the weather turned nasty. Thankfully the nasty periods were often accompanied by really great patches of light just before and afterwards and when the sun was out, it was actually too warm. We also spotted a herd of red deer close to Kinloch Rannoch and a blue pheasant which has a very healthy survival instinct, so no photos... (My OH cycling back towards me... hence why he is not looking very happy!)

Then after a little shopping and some more patches of excellent light which my little camera struggled to handle (not helped by the fact I had left the polarising filter back in the holiday cottage) we decided against stopping at the holiday cottage and carried on to start a 2nd lap of the loch - I kid not.

We were cycling at exactly the same speed (tailwind again) as this wonderful patch of light down the entire length of the loch and I did not want to miss it...

Sanity was saved some time later when we started to consider what we were actually doing - it wasn't that we couldn't do it, we had more than enough clothes and food/water/hot drinks with us. It was just that in the bitterly cold wind, my front light died (I had forgotten to recharge it overnight ) and we would need it to get back in the dark in... so after a couple more photographic shots, a couple more encounters with deer and a buzzard which landed less than 10 foot away from us on a fence post, we called it a day and headed back...

Somehow we have covered 65.6km today and I have 3 QOM's and 1 PR from Strava and yet we wanted to do more. Instead we came home and have given the bikes the tlc they need for a good ride tomorrow. A good day for a great ride and very enjoyable at that.