Beinn Dearg, bike/hike
Route: Beinn Dearg from near Blair Atholl
Munros: Beinn Dearg (Blair Atholl)
Date walked: 10/02/2024
Time taken: 4.39 hours
Distance: 30.8km
Ascent: 1103m
Beinn Dearg is one of those Munros not far away from me in the central belt that I had never got around to climbing. The long walk in and out had always put me off, but when a gap in this winter's miserable weather opened up this weekend I decided to give it a go. The walk itself isn't too challenging, but to change an 8-9 hour walk into a 4-5 hour walk, I decided to take my bike as far as the Allt Sheicheachan bothy, then walk the rest. This would make it 10km uphill on bike, 10km up and down to the summit, and 10km largely downhill back to the car at Glen Tilt car park.
I've attached a few photos below so that you can see what the going is like before deciding whether or not to do it this way yourself. I am not a mountain biker. I pootle about in the city on my run of the mill hybrid bike, but managed this with only a couple of points where I had to get off and push my bike for short stretches on the longer inclines. Although it is mostly uphill on the way out there are a couple of bits where the track undulates and you get catch your breathe. The incline is never too steep, but steep enough for your thighs to know all about it after 10km
From the car park, there's a short section on the road, then onto the tracks through the forest. These pictures above show what the different parts of the land rover track that leads to the bothy look like, some well compacted tracks through forestry, more open tracks across the moorland, and some short, lumpy stretches too.
At the Allt Scheicheachan bothy I left my bike, crossed the burn behind the bothy and carried on up the path here. I could see that some people had taken their bikes a bit further, but beyond the bothy the track is rougher, and in February it would have meant trying to get my bike safely across a pretty deep burn, so I'm glad I didn't bother.
As the path veers off to the left away from the Allt Scheicheachan it becomes steeper, but is pretty clear to follow all the way to the summit. On this misty day it was a delight to finally get above the mist and look about at the mountain peaks poking up through the cloud, and onwards to the summit cairn. The ground this weekend was frozen solid all along, with only dusting of snow on the ground higher up.
All that was left was to turn around and re-trace my steps back to the bothy. As I said above, I am no daredevil cyclist, so I had my hand on the brakes all the way down to the car, but even still I was surprised at quite how much time it saved doing it this way. The bothy looked great too, very handsome, and well maintained. Enjoyed that.
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Ascent: 1120m
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Paul4Jags
- Activity: Mountaineer
- Pub: Tennents
- Place: Glasgow
- Munros: 151
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