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Getting on the bikes at Linn of Dee I was quite tender, and wondering why we had saved the route with the most cycling until the last day
At white bridge this time we continued straight on in a SW then southerly direction. Then at a fork in the river we went west following the Geldie Burn. The path crossed three rivers, and even though there had been quite a lot of rain earlier in the week they were all easy enough to ford.
At the ruins of Geldie Lodge we stayed on the bikes, although the track became narrower and rough in places, but allowed us to travel another 3 kilometres in the saddle - not that this was anything to rejoice when each stones felt like a hefty kick to the rear end
After passing Scarsoch Bheag we ditched the bikes (we were to find later we had travelled a little too far and had to back track to collect the bikes). We then descended in a SW direction into some very boggy ground at the foot of Carn an Fhidhlier. We followed what looked like a deer track, although we periodically saw some very fresh boot prints. I think the normal route may aim for the northern shoulder a bit earlier and follow the ridge - this is probably less boggy. It would undoubtedly be less steep on the final stretch - although only about 30 metres this was really difficult on day 6 legs. We topped out less than 100 metres from the summit, where we stopped for a quick bite to eat and a photo.
We then set off descending SW to the col at 883 then contour round the next smaller summit before descending further still in an easterly direction to the valley floor.
The next section was a steady climb to the summit of An Sgarsoch, where there was a good shelter at the summit cairn and we paused for a well earned nip of sloe gin.
The return journey required a descent north towards Sgarsoch Bheag, skirting around the west of the summit and then continuing down to the path (then walking back to the bikes).
Whilst the cycle back was beyond uncomfortable at least I had the knowledge that there was no cycling tomorrow. Arriving back at Linn of Dee we calculated that we had cycled about 34 kilometres that day, which is probably the longest cycle journey I have ever made - to Neil as a recent IronMan finisher this was of course just a warm up.
As we had made such good time we decided to try and make some distance towards home that day - to be sure we would be home for Wales-v-Australia on Saturday afternoon, so we changed our SYHA booking from Braemar to Glasgow and hit the road.
All in all it had been another great trip. Fantastic accommodation in Braemer (to ourselves) at only £15 per person per night. We added to our munro total (of the 195 I have bagged 180 have been with Neil). I was introduced to mountain biking (my sit bones will attest to this as too will many other areas of my body from the frequent falls). Looking forward to our next visit, hopefully some winter munros if we can get short notice time off when a high pressure system moves in.
Totals for the week:
Munros: 11
Distance: 200km (of which about half was by bike)
Height: 7502m
Bruises: Too many