National Cycle Network Route 7 Scottish Highlands Blair Atholl Drumochter Dalwhinnie Newtonmore

Part of a series covering cycling in the highlands of Scotland - Sustrans National Cycle Network Route 7 Lochs and Glens North (Glasgow - Inverness). Watch for new sections as they get added. The routes are all done as return trips so you can see the conditions and scenery in both directions and are intended to give you a feel for the route, gradient and surface - as well as showcasing the beautiful scenery.

Blair Atholl to Newtonmore over Drumochter summit - about 35 miles each way, 70 miles round trip.

Although it’s the summit of Lochs and Glens North (and the highest point on the UK rail network) – the ascent of 320m from Blair Atholl is only a wee bit more than the climb up from Aberfoyle on the Drymen Callander stage and its nothing like as steep . That stage – Drymen -Callander also has twice as much total climbing. So the gradient on this stage is really no problem.
So the heights - Blair Atholl – 133m, Drumochter Summit – 457m, Newtonmore 246m.

Starting at Blair Atholl, we’re on the old A9 that we joined at Pitlochry. After 5 miles we reach Calvine where that big ’Are you really sure’ warning sign is. That’s where the path starts and from then you are traffic-free for 18 miles on a mixture of wide old A9 complete with cats eyes and narrower cycle track. The route stays close to the Railway and the River Garry on the left and the ‘new’ A9 on the right most of the way up to Drumochter. That new A9 is sometimes uncomfortably close. The cycle track is sometimes nothing more than a pavement at the side of the thunderingly busy A9, sometimes without even a wire rope crash barrier.

At Drumochter the River Garry takes a left into Loch Garry and the River Truim begins as it heads north towards the Spey. The traffic-free part of the path ends at Dalwhinnie and then its one of general Wade’s military roads to Newtonmore. This is a really nice section and although not all traffic-free its very quiet with very good visibility. There’s a surprise uphill a couple of miles along it …. No big deal – it’s just a surprise after all the downhill from Drumochter. There are old milestones on the military road that count you down into Newtonmore – and that’s about the only distance signage I noticed northbound which is a pity given this is such a long and isolated route. There is an additional traffic free section for a couple of miles as you get closer to Newtonmore.

Surface quality – generally good, but some of the tarmac is a bit crumbly and there is some lumpy gravel in places too – Road bike just about OK, but be careful.

Watch out for the wind – it can be pretty windy this high up. Although strong, It was fairly kind to me on the day – a North Easterly combined with the bend in the route meant that I generally had it with me when going uphill and against when going down – a good result. Although, when I set my camera up on a tripod to get a ride-by shot between Newtonmore and Dalwhinnie, the wind blew it over.

Cycled with a Specialized Tricross with 32c Marathon Plus tyres.
GoPro Hero 4 Silver, 1080 wide, protune, gopro colour -0.5 ev to retain the skies using the Grad Filter effect in    • Grad Filter Effect Tutorial Sony Movi...  

Additional material Lumix TZ30 set at -2/3 ev

Edited with Sony Movie Studio Platinum 13. No stabilisation (it cuts the field of view). Some Youtube compression artifacts after upload owing to the lack of stabilisation.

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