Mondays weather promised a continuance of the dry warm days we have been enjoying for quite a while now, so I thought I would take the mountain bike out and make the most of the conditions. Having previously lived in Aberdeenshire for two years, I am already familiar with the myriad of hard trails crisscrossing the North East of Scotland and as I have intimate knowledge of many of them it wasn't difficult for me to select one for the day.
Glen Lee is about an hour south of home in the neighbouring county of Angus and well worth the journey. The route begins in a free car park close to Lochlee Parish Church (not pictured) and almost immediately provides my only real route decision of the day, should I turn north toward Mount Keen or West toward Hunt Hill. I chose the western route because it is truly beautiful and has some interesting photographic opportunities along the way, not least of which is the ruin of the first church in the area, built in the year 600 the Old Glenesk Church was replaced by Lochlee Parish Church in 1803. Its ruins stand on the eastern edge of Loch Lee where the waters lap against the perimeter wall. It was an easy choice for the main image today. Before arriving at the old ruins you pass Invermark Castle, a fine example of a 16th century Tower House which was abandoned in the 18th century and materials from the associated outbuildings were robbed from the site to build Lochlee Parish Church. The route then continues for 2.5km beside Loch Lee before turning north and climbing beside the Water of Lee on the east side of Hunt Hill. Once over the crest of the prolonged ascent, a long downhill brings me to Johnny Gordons Shiel (or Bothy). These basic structures are scattered throughout the mountains of Scotland and are left open for anyone to use. They are usually 4 walls and a roof, a dirt floor, fireplace and occasionally logs (or something similar) for seating. If you're lucky you might also find a raised platform to lift your sleeping bag off the floor but that's it. So, no water, food or toilet facilities, and yet they are invaluable in bad weather, or just to escape the wind or cold while having lunch, or to sleep overnight without having to haul camping gear in with you. I think they are a wonderful resource and a perfect place to take a moment along the trail. Beyond the bothy I ascended again before a short downhill passing the Stables of Lee and getting a soaking by blasting through the Burn of Badrone before climbing again toward the snowline. Soon after this the bridleway became more and more snow covered and less and less manageable until I called it a day and turned back. Only then did I realise just how much ascent I had made, with an almost entirely downhill ride back to the car park I flew along kicking up rocks and getting soaked again at the Burn of Badrone but arriving back at the car in seemingly no time at all, after stopping for one more shot of Invermark Castle. It was only a 25km round trip but packed with interest, beautiful scenery and got my first ride back in Scotland under my belt.
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I was watching the skies outside the house this morning as a red tailed hawk circled around looking for a bite to eat. After seeing him numerous times I got the camera out to try and catch a shot. I made one of him in the air and later when he dropped into the meadow and grabbed a vole I made a couple more just to show that beautiful red fan in all it's glory.
After a few phone calls I got the bike out and made the first ride of spring along our usual 25km circuit. It was great to be out on the bike but hard work in a stiff breeze. I've shared a few shots below for the record. I set out today intending to make a much longer bike ride than I ended up making. I had hoped to ride the 'Elbow Loop' which takes in both the 'big' and 'little elbow' trails for a wonderful 43km (26 miles) circuit through spectacular scenery. The reason I didn't make it was the temperature as I rode the first 15 km, at 30 degrees without a breath of wind it was stifling, so much so that I found myself stopping in shaded areas repeatedly just to cool off a bit. The freezing cold water of the Elbow River did provide cooling too but overall it was just too hot for me, so after 15 km I turned around and returned to the truck. I still got a nice ride of 30 km (18.6 miles) and an ascent of 438 m (1437 feet) which was enough on a day like today. The gallery below shows steps along the way including the new bridge over the Elbow river (at the 5km mark) where previously, paddling was the only course of action.
I made our usual 25km circuit on the bike this afternoon under beautiful blue skies. The strong head wind made the outward journey tough going but the return was as easy going as you would expect. The locals took a great interest in me as I stopped to make a few shots of 'Muskrat Lake' where I stopped for a drink before returning home.
As it's the weekend Sarah was keen to be out biking again and the route from home to Muskrat Lake (not the real name but the one we've given it) is an easy choice. It's a nice steady ride over 25km on rarely used gravel roads straight out of the house, so no need for transport or loading/unloading it's an easy 'get on and go' ride. We saw a host of eagles again, the usual deer and a Canada goose on it's nest, it must have eggs as it didn't move when I went very close. Best of all we sat for a while by the lake and watched the Muskrats paddling out to the middle and diving down to get fresh green weeds and bring them back to their waterside holes. I may return to Muskrat pond with a telephoto lens one day and really catch some shots of these little critters up close, In the meantime you can take a closer look at them in the gallery below, there are no captions as the images are self explanatory.
I made the trek on potholed roads to the north ghost today to enjoy a bit of mountain biking in the empty wilderness of the waiparous creek area. Any given weekend the ghost wilderness comes alive with ATV's enjoying the huge space dedicated to the pursuit, but during the week you rarely see anyone down there. The peddling was gruelling in places but frequent river crossings cooled me off as the temperatures rose to the 20's again, ultimately I made a nice circuit of just over 20km but don't think I'll go back to that particular spot with the bike again as the trails are not really worth the trip, but it was nice check out a potential new biking area even if it turned out to be a non starter.
Sarah was keen to be out on the bike again this weekend and with wonderful blue skies overhead what reason is there not to? So we set out direct from home on the 20km circuit we discovered recently, only this time we added a little more just to keep things interesting so now it's a 25km circuit. There were plenty of deer and eagle sightings (including a huge bald eagle). I don't have shots of the eagles as my little cycling/hiking camera has it's limitations but I did managed to capture a muskrat that we watched working away in a roadside pond. Smaller images below are captioned when opened in the gallery.
With Sarah still 'saddle sore' following yesterdays ride I was a little surprised that she was keen to be out again today for another go, admittedly this was after a visit to the store for some riding gear with butt padding included. We made a 20km 'out and back' ride along gravel roads direct from home so it was a nice easy day helped by the bright sunshine. We ventured out into the ranchlands of Rocky View County stopping a couple of times for photos. We saw several herds of deer and a few eagles along the way as well as a Muskrat paddling across a small pond, what a beautiful Sunday afternoon.
Seven months ago I bought Sarah a nice new mountain bike so we could both rattle around the mountains together. To avoid riding Sarah threw herself down the stairs leaving her on crutches and recuperating right up until winter when the bike was consigned to storage unused (she still claims the fall on the stairs was due to a flip flop issue but we all know the truth).
Today there was no time for excuses, I surprised her with the suggestion that we go riding and there was no way out. We headed down to the Elbow Valley and the gentle gravel road leading to Ings Mine, it's closed to vehicular traffic so makes a perfect 'first time' ride and with only about 12km out and back it's a short effort. We stopped off for a little bite to eat and to mess around riding on a frozen river (just because we could) and all in all it was a lovely afternoon. Sarah remained upright throughout and didn't fall asleep on the way home so I think we're OK for a second round soon. Click small images for larger captioned versions. I've had a couple of local spins on my bike since the start of spring but today I decided to get back to the mountains for my first 'real' bike ride of the year. I picked the Little Elbow Trail because it's close to home, has few people during the week, it's longer than I would need on my first outing and most of all because it's beautiful.
The floods of 2013 have left their mark on the place, not least of which is the bridge that previously spanned the Elbow River at the 6km mark is missing entirely. I actually thought it would be back up by now but as it isn't I enjoyed a couple of freezing paddling sessions, which were more than welcome in the heat of the afternoon. I made a 30km 'out and back' ride with a little over 1000 feet of ascent and really enjoyed myself. Below is a gallery of shots I took along the way including one of my epic paddle which required me to set the camera, paddle across, return for the camera and then return to the bike, with my initial crossing it made 4 lots of splashing about; it was like being a kid again. |
AuthorWe arrived in Calgary, Canada on 29th December 2011 to continue our journey. This blog is intended to keep our family and friends informed whilst we explore Canada.You can use the RSS feed below to stay updated. Categories
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