45.4km: 730m assent: 461m highest point: 4hrs 40 ride time
Punctures 0: Stacks 2
The first bit of the ride was in the forest again, a bridge crossing provided the first stack of the ride. Having weight on the bars meant when turning my head to look at things the bike would follow that direction. So as I crossed the narrow bridge, at some speed, I looked across at Matt who had braved the water, in hope of witnessing a wet feet moment. This led to me pin-balling along the bridge and coming to a halt with thanks to my hand and the handle bars getting stuck in the bridge. A realignment of the handle bars then we were good to go again.
Team photo of the day just before leaving the forest with us all stood on a one person seat.
We saw a lot of traffic coming from the Ryvoan bothy, prehaps a good job we didn't opt for the bothy option of doing this route.
The route we had plotted suggested a 6km dog leg over a bridge. With the dry weather the area had leading up to the trip, a short cut entailing a river crossing was taken - prehaps not a great idea if it is/has been wet. Taking the shoes and socks off meant the feet could stay dry, but the looks on the faces says it all about the water temperature.
The next river crossing provided the venue of the second stack of the day. I crossed through, not having eyed up my line well and making some concerned noises. This created a domino effect of Matt wobbling through it and Helen toppling off half way through. It was a full on sideways dismount into the water. So that was a wet side for Helen and worst of all that was the end of her dry feet!
From here the riding took us on variety of single track, river beds and some great downhill on tracks.
We arrived at Tomintoul, too early for the hostel to be open but in time to get supplies from the village shop before it closed. After leaving kit outside the hostel and changing behind the bike shed, we had a wonder round the village. A visit to the museum and the Whiskey Castle was in order.
Not knowing much about whiskey other than it would be nice to have some seeming we are in Scotland, we were educated, some might say caught, by the shop owner. Giving us a taste of an amazing £50 bottle, we learnt that using a pipette to add just one drop of water makes a massive difference to the taste. Realising we were on bike, we were pointed in the direction of the smaller bottles, after trying 2 other types we opted for a £20 bottle of 6 year old Tomintoul whiskey. Armed with our bottle and knowledge of the pipette we were set for the rest of the trip!
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