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Mark Hagger is lucky enough to live in the tranquil and rarely-travelled north-eastern corner of Scotland on the banks of Aberdeenshire’s River Dee, with the magnificent Cairngorm range – a biker’s paradise – as a backdrop. Here, the 75 year old solo rider describes three of his favourite rides around this rich land of castles and crags, royalty… and red squirrels
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THESE DAYS I’m increasingly reluctant to travel far for Audax rides. And living in incomparable Cairngorm scenery, I don’t have to. I’d like to describe three of my favourite local routes, which I use several times a year. This summer these routes formed my last three RRTY rides. I decided after the last winter season that I’d stop my RRTY activity, since I was finding it increasingly hard to face up to the winter rides. ISLA-DEE LOOP 200K
On 15 August, 2020, I took my first long
ride since before the March lockdown. The forecast was good, though the night before the Beeb announced a light mist covering much of Scotland. It was warm enough though, with negligible wind. This route is exceptionally tranquil, with long stages on which scarcely one vehicle will be seen. It entails two classic hill climbs, both of which feature in Simon Warren’s “100 Best Hill Climbs” – the Cairn O’Mounth and the Cairnwell at Glenshee ski resort. It is the reverse of a route known to Audaxers from Angus as the Isla Loop, but it makes more sense for me to ride it
clockwise and to hit one of the two challenging hills with fresh legs rather than at the end of the day. That also means that on the final Deeside leg, the route is downhill, fast, and the overall average goes up and up. Glen Isla offers outstanding scenery, complete with a classic tower house castle and delightful vistas of river and hill. It is quite remote country with little traffic, so for me it is a summer ride. Distance 200km, climb 2,172, moving time nine hours and 23minutes. Departing at 7.45am, I headed through
