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Writer's pictureelliereynolds

A winter ride of the Badger Divide

Last week I rode the Badger Divide: 328km off-road from Glasgow to Inverness with over 4500m of climbing. Although it wasn’t technically the full official route as we did it backwards and had to swap a bit to the roads due to time constraints, it was an epic adventure that will stick with me for a long time!


“Naïve enough to start and stubborn enough to finish” is the phrase that I think best sums it up… I will admit I was not prepared for how hard it was going to be. My long-time adventure friend Iona had suggested it and I’d said yes without doing any research. She’s about to head off on a round-the-world cycling trip so I couldn’t miss out on her last training trip! The terrain was more challenging than I'm used to - I've only ever ridden a mountain bike once, so it was a 'throw yourself into the deep end' scenario and turns out it's harder than riding on tarmac! It's been a long time since I did back-to-back riding days of that length, and this was my longest trip involving camping (when I’ve done longer ones I have previously stayed in hostels so stuff can dry out). Whilst I did check the weather forecast, I didn’t really believe it would be so cold, and my packing was therefore somewhat inadequate. I was the most ‘passenger princess’ that you can be on a bike; I did none of the navigating, Iona carried a lot of my stuff, and yet she was still waiting for me at the top of every climb 😅!


We had every kind of weather, we waded through icy rivers, we pushed the bikes through knee deep snow up the Corrieyairack pass, we laughed at our endeavours, we got a big dose of the outdoors, and I loved it all. Read on for the full story!



 

Day 1: rivers and rainbows | 97km, 1203m elevation

We rode out of Glasgow in glorious sunshine along the West Highland Way, but the sun didn’t last long; we were soon soaked and very muddy. I manged to fall off within a few hours on the first gnarly descent – I was not yet used to the handling of the mountain bike, and my timid approach holding the brakes hard resulted in the back wheel skidding and me faceplanting the ground. There were some lovely forest sections before descending into Aberfoyle, where the Duke’s Pass climb begins. Part way up we were faced with a river and a closed bridge, meaning the only option was to wade through the freezing cold water! I have since done my reading on the route, and it is advised not to do it in winter, river crossings being one of the reasons. Oops.


I was struggling towards the end of the day; my mental resilience was fading and my body was tired (not helped by the fact I’d barely slept on the overnight bus up to Glasgow the night before!). I was seriously doubting if I’d be capable of making it to Inverness, let alone to our planned camp spot, but some good pals, a bit of delirium and a few sunny spells got me through! We had thought we’d be able to pitch a tent beside Loch Earn, however upon arrival there we couldn’t find anywhere that was discrete, flat, had soft ground and didn’t have signs saying “no camping”. Getting increasingly cold and hungry, we pedalled further on up the trail to scout out somewhere better and came across the most ideal spot overlooking the loch just off the path. We put the tent up – the first outing for the brilliant design from decathlon – and got the orzo on the stove. Dinner disappeared pretty quickly, then we snuggled up for the chilly night.




Day 2: lochs and vast moorland | 81km, 806m elevation

We woke to birdsong and a lovely sunrise over Loch Earn. Red sky in the morning though… shepherd’s warning! Breakfast eaten and the tent packed away, it was a rude awakening for the legs as we rode straight up the hill and onto a gorgeous old railway track. I had a minor mishap crossing a cattle grid where I forgot how wide my handlebars were and hit the side of the fence, falling into the grid and giving myself an impressive bruise in the process. The track went on for several kilometres before joining another forestry track and seeing our first views of the snowy mountains.  


We had a brief pit stop in Killin to refill water bottles and grab some bits for lunch, then we took the road to the bottom of the Ben Lawers Nature Reserve. The 5km climb up to the highest point at the reservoir was steep but stunning – this was a tarmac section on a very quiet open road. It was here that the rain came, and it didn’t really stop all day! Beyond the reservoir was an incredible descent of about 9km at a lovely gradient no more than -3% into the tiny village of Bridge of Balgie. We stopped off at the Glenlyon Tea Room where I had an exquisite dark hot chocolate and a slice of homemade quiche. Very much needed! Warmed and refuelled, we continued to Loch Rannoch, riding down some slightly more challenging (for the not-so-shreddy Ellie) woody trails. Beyond the lake we rode up (admittedly I pushed a fair bit here) onto Rannoch Moor. I've never been to the Highlands before, so I was blown away by the vastness and variety of the changing landscape. Such a very remote, expansive wilderness!


We arrived at the little Loch Ossian absolutely drenched. There was a rainbow over the water, and there was a pot of gold there too: a youth hostel! We pitched the tent then went inside as the door was open, to find a fire heating up the main room. We couldn’t see any signs of the warden so we started making ourselves at home, hanging our wet clothes to dry and boiling a kettle to have a mug of hot water to hold. To our surprise, and I think probably more to her surprise, a lovely lady called Marleen came in to say hello and explained that this YHA is now a private hire only, and that we were in fact gatecrashing her hillwalking society’s weekend! Thankfully she was very kind and took pity on us, welcoming us in with a cup of tea and a chat. The rest of the group were at the pub, and when they returned we were overwhelmed with everyone wanting to talk to us! Thoroughly warmed both outside and in, we went back out to the tent. Overnight the heavy rain started to sound less heavy but more dense – the only thing I could put it down to was snow…




Day 3: icicles on bicycles | 91km, 1339m elevation

Probably the most insane day I've ever spent riding (or pushing) a bike. Holy moly wow. Wilderness. Mega.


Sure enough, we awoke to find snow on the ground and quite substantially on the surrounding hills. Unfortunately the fire hadn’t completely dried everything off, so again we set off with damp gloves and cold hands. The sun was shining and the sky was blue, and I was feeling confident that today would be a spectacular one!


I really can’t express how breath-taking the riding was. The first few hours were on a well-packed gravel surface that made for relatively easy cycling, with rolling hills expanding as far as the eye could see. After winding through more forest, and crossing deer-filled moorland, we began the long climb from Kinloch Laggan over the Corrieyairack pass. This was the single hardest section of the whole route, and this is why they advise not to do it in winter! We met someone coming down on his mountain bike who said he’d been in knee-deep snow at the top and had turned around, but at the time that we spoke to him we were barely at the snow line (although it was falling thick and fast) and thought he’d be exaggerating, so we persevered. It was bleak and felt incredibly remote.


The top of the pass is at 855m, and it was from about the 500m elevation mark that we could no longer ride. Pushing the bikes up the rocky path in what was by now several centimetres of snow was a workout in itself! There was a series of steep hairpins at the upper section before it flattened out and we could see the building marking the highest point. At this point we thought it would get easier, but it turned out the mountain bike man had been right: the snow was literally knee deep, and it remained that deep for a long way. It was so deep you could see the turquoise blue colour characteristic of glacial ice when you put your foot in it! An icy wind was howling in our faces, but we had no choice other than to trudge on over the slightly flat top and down the other side. Eventually it got thin enough to be able to ride again, although it was quite sketchy with me not being able to feel my fingers but trying to grasp the brakes. I had to hold my nerve on a lot of the loose sections, although my confidence in both myself and the bike had grown after three days of riding it.


We arrived in Fort Augustus desperate for some food (it had been far to cold to stop to eat!) and a hot drink. Most of the cafes were closed as it had gone 4pm, so we ended up in The Legion pub, where we caused quite a stir! People were gobsmacked when we told them what we were doing… I get the impression it was locals only and they don’t see many cyclists! After defrosting, we geared ourselves up for another few hours in the rain to find a camp spot near Invermoriston. This was another beautiful undulating forestry track that made for great riding and good progress. We pitched up just off the path and had snacks for dinner because neither of us had the energy to cook. What a big day!




Day 4: big bergs and big views | 56km, 1130m elevation

Our final day was a short one but featuring a lot of elevation. We had 3 big climbs to tackle, giving us more than 1000m of climbing in less than 40km! Lots of this day was on the Great Glen Way, although some slight navigational errors took us on the walking route rather than the riding route, meaning there was a fair bit of hike-a-bike. The first two were long slogs up forestry trails, but there was one section of very flowy single track that was an absolute highlight. Conscious of my train home, we took the road along Loch Ness then up to Abriachan rather than the path. This transpired to be a fantastic decision; the views were spectacular, and the ride was still tough on the tired legs! There was a beautiful bendy descent into the city of Inverness, where I just about had time for a shower and lunch with a friend before hopping on the train back to Glasgow. Considering the state of me at the end of day 1, I was chuffed to have made it to the end! What a wild and wonderful trip. 10/10 would do it again, only maybe next time not in winter 😂




If you’re interested in riding this route, I’ve put my Strava data below (although it features a few Garmin errors) or you can view it on Komoot!  



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