Mountain Biking Ben Alder

We headed for Dalwhinnie railway station before unloading the bikes and embarking on a 53km ride around Ben Alder. The estate road was the first part of the ride heading towards the spectacular Ben Alder Lodge around Loch Ericht.

The route is very popular with walkers who ride to the Culra Bothy, leave their bikes, camp and walk the many munros in the area before riding out. We headed away from the lodge heading towards the Culra Bothy.

Heading for the Culra Bothy

Culra Bothy

The route heads away from the bothy on fantastic singletrack. However it is ruined slightly by the many drainage ditches! Practicing bunny hops was the order of the next couple of k! Unfortunately H mis- timed a ditch and the inevitable happened!

A quick pit stop and we continued up the glen before climbing steeply to the summit of a pass.

The view from the top of the pass was fantastic. We could see right across to Loch Ossian and the Mamores. The singletrack off the top was awesome but concentration was needed all the way.

From the top of the pass we dropped 450m towards the famous Ben Alder Cottage. Yet again awe inspiring views and singletrack was continuous for the next part of the ride. The cottage features in many articles and is rumoured to be haunted! This in itself was a reason to take a de-tour and check it out!

Visiting the ghosts of Ben Alder Cottage! 

After a lunch spot and a nosy around Ben Alder Cottage we headed back up the track to find the path that would test our climbing skills. It was a 2km hike a bike to the summit of Bealach Breabag. 

It was hard work all the way up, however the promise of a 7km descent the other side was motivation to dig in! The view was also amazing over Loch Ericht. The track down was difficult to find at the start but became quite obvious through the Bealach Beithe. Ben Alder became the spectacular back drop.

Ben Alder Looking on

The track rounded the Loch and dropped once again on fantastic singletrack back towards the Culra Bothy. A few drainage ditches and a narrow track was a good test of the skills. We re-traced our steps and headed back along the estate road to the car. 

Heading down towards the Culra Bothy

This was a stunning ride amongst spectacular scenery! It was certainly one of the classics!