Ben Alder Bothy Bikepacking
I had gone up to Fort Augustus sans famille, with the goal of doing some day loops on the MTB, and at least one epic overnight bikepacking trip. I had Ben Alder Bothy in mind, as it is somewhere I’ve always wanted to visit, and find out if the “haunted by ghosts” stories are true.
However – I was suffering with a cold, weather forecast wasn’t great, and my coach really didn’t want me out doing something epic and stupid like this. But have I ever listened to the voice of reason?
Route planning was a bit questionable – I wasn’t sure the best approach to the bothy itself, and before that I had heard that some parts of the Arverikie Estate roads might be closed, for filming the next James Bond movie.
Day 1
Plan was to go out via Corrieyairack Pass and the historic General Wade Road. From there through Ardverikie Estate to the now closed (for asbestos) Culra Bothy, and then up and over to Ben Alder.
I’ve ridden the Corrieyairack countless times, and never once stopped in on Blackburn Bothy – so this time I took a few minutes to stop in and check it out. It’s a shame it is so close to both Melgarve Bothy and Fort Augustus, so there’s no real reason to use it – but it is a lovely little bothy right next to a small burn, and sheltered from the worst of the pass’s weather.
From there, onward via some dodgy weather and even dodgier bridges to Culra Bothy. Along the way I saw the wild ponies of the estate – which supposedly have a habit of eating the wing mirrors off of hill walkers’ cars when parked.
Culra Bothy was – as expected – closed due to asbestos. At this point I had a choice of routes on supposedly well-marked stalkers paths. Option A was the longer but less steep Bealach Dubh and Bealach Cumhahn, or Option B “just get it done” up and over the Bealach Beithe. I had heard that both were OK, although better in the reverse direction from what I was doing, so I opted to just get it done.
Big mistake – it was basically an 8km push up a well-marked but very steep stalker path, then more pushing through and endless bog, then more pushing back down a too-steep-and-wet-to-ride path to the bothy. Really – if anyone is ever thinking of duplicating this route, definitely take the Bealach Cumhahn path. Which as you’ll see in a bit, was part of my route back the next day.
Finally I arrived in a pretty heavy rain at the bothy. No one was there when I arrived, but it was clear there were other bike-packers staying there. Folks with serious kit – trailers! I did the good bothy thing and went out to collect some wood (yet another dodgy bridge to cross), and then came back in to dry off.
Eventually the other bothy folks arrived – Air Force cadets and their guide, who had been out Munro-bagging that day. We chatted a bit, and then another pair of guys arrived so I chatted with them while the Air Force folks did some top-secret planning.
The Air Force folks offered me some of their military food – for some reason they didn’t refer to them as MREs. There was some sort of “cheese product” concoction that was awesome! They wanted me to eat more of their food – as anything they didn’t finish they needed to pack out!
We all talked routes over a nice fire. The Air Force group had ridden/dragged their bikes in on the footpath from Loch Rannoch. This was actually my preferred route out the next day – longer, but avoiding what was definitely going to be more pushing back over Bealach Cumhahn. Their stories of more endless and bottomless bogs dissuaded me, especially as I could see the stalker path up to Bealach Cumhahn at least was good. By all accounts (from the other walkers, and my online research) the push down from there along Uisge Labhair was going to be unpleasant, but it was only a few kilometers.
Off to bed for a restless night sleep. I never did experience in ghosts – maybe they only appear on drier days.
Day 1 distance: 68km
Day 2
The day started off lovely – with an amazing sunrise. Here are some gratuitous sunrise + bothy photos:
The stalker path up to Bealach Cumhahn was lovely – mostly rideable even uphill. Definitely the way to come to Ben Alder.
Unfortunately at the top of the bealach I had to cut cross country down to the river (in spate, of course) and more pushing and slogging down to Corrour Lodge. From here, the rest of the day’s route should have been pretty straightforward – Corrour Station to Creaguineach Lodge, over the Lairig Leacach to Spean Bridge, then the Great Glen Way back to Fort Augustus.
The weather was getting worse – rain and wind, so my planned stop for breakfast was stretched out a bit to include some warming up.
I thought about a bit of a short-cut plan, taking the train from Corrour to Spean Bridge, then riding from there. I decided against that, in the spirit of MTFU. I came here to have an epic ride, so why deny myself that! Oh, the hubris!
From Creaguineach Lodge up to the top of the bealach was one big long push. Not a single point of it was rideable, and much of it was indistinct – it looks like the stalker path has been abandoned for a much larger (and much muddier and uglier) Argocat trail a bit further uphill.
Eventually I made it to the bothy (Lairag Leacach), for a bit of a rest and a snack, before the hugely fun downhill almost all the way to Spean Bridge. I can’t quite bring myself to say it was worth the slogging down Uisge Labhair and up Bealach Leacach, but it was almost so.
The weather had brightened at this point, so a stop at the shops in Spean Bridge before a blast down the Great Glen Way back to Fort Augustus, and well-earned beers. I was so ready to get home for those beers that I even managed a couple of PRs on the GGW!
Day 2 distance: 86km
