Wednesday 15 August 2012

Everyday Holiday Cycling - Kids in the Cairngoms

Weans on Wheels Summer Holiday Special!
[OK, end of the summer holidays for those back to school this week...]

A quick diversion for this blog, to the delights of the holiday sort of everyday cycling.  Our roving reporter has been up in the Cairngorms with assorted weans on assorted wheels.  It's amazing how the kids can go when they're motivated.  These are just normal kids, new P2s and a P4, and an under 3 who has been covering miles on her balance bike while the older ones run about on foot.  Not particularly sporty and no special training, but have just been using their bikes to get around since they were able to sit on one and scoot about. 

So was it the everyday local cycling that got them so keen to whizz around the glens and woods up here, or the holiday whizzing that kept them keen to have a bit of holiday all year round by going around on bikes for school and other stuff?  [Quite literally all year round given the mild 2011-12 winter, with a 9 mile cycle acoss Edinburgh and back on 27 December.]

It really makes it a holiday when it's possible to get around on two wheels as the norm for a day out (or three if you count the tag-along).  Favourite routes up here include:
- The Boat of Garten - Aviemore off-road cycle path (Sustrans NCN 7); 6 miles of lovely views and a handy way to pick up life's essentials or start / end a day in Glenmore or Rothiemurchus, given the excellent network of paths from Inverdruie.  Unsurfaced so a bit rough in places but nothing tricky and fine for normal bikes.  Pretty flat too given that it follows the railway line, with periodic sightings of the steam train.  [The nice people who run the Strathspey Steam train will let you put bikes in the guard's van too, for those needing a rest or wanting to avoid thunderstorms!]
- Boat of Garten to Loch Garten, cutting through the woods from the junction at the main road, for blaeberry picking and a nice walk along the Osprey loch and through the woods (5 mile round trip not counting the walk)
- Boat of Garten past Loch Garten and up through the quiet roads to Forest Lodge, then off-road along the track over the Ryvoan Pass and down to Glenmore, then on to Coylumbridge, Inverdruie, Aviemore and back along NCN 7 to Boat of Garten.  Not for the faint-hearted at 27 miles, but an amazing ride.  The P4 did it with encouragement and strategically-timed Haribos, and the P2 sailed along on the tag-along.  You might want to push bikes up some of the steeper rougher sections but only to avoid skids; it's not particularly difficult.  The track down Glenmore is lovely, esp with the blaeberry bushes dripping fruit in late summer.
- Loch Morlich, across to Rothiemurchus via the Cairngorm Footbridge and back round from Inverdruie up the Glenmore bike path (or start at Inverdruie if you don't fancy a climb at the end).  Not sure on distance - 12 miles?

A good end to the summer holidays, and a good start to the new school year with cycling legs ready to go!

Thursday 9 August 2012

Good Routes - to try and to share

Have you discovered any good family-friendly routes this summer?  If you have any you'd recommend to others, please get in touchand we'll get them added to the Routes to Try section of this blog.  Contact: familycycling@spokes.org.uk, or @WeansOnWheels.

[And if anyone could help with online mapping skills that would also be great, to get the routes marked up as maps rather than just descriptions.]

For those not already familiar with the Sustrans website, there is a collection of "Pocket-sized family rides in the UK".
www.sustrans.org.uk/freerangekids/families/cycling-with-kids/where-to-cycle/pocket-sized-family-rides

Worth looking at (especially if you're on holiday elsewhere in the UK), with two so far in Scotland, below (with printable pdf pages too).

1. Dalkeith - Musselburgh Esk Valley route - mainly a shared-use path for walkers and cyclists, with some short on-road sections
www.sustrans.org.uk/assets/files/free%20range%20kids/families/map%20activity%20sheets/frk_esk_web_6.pdf

2. Union Canal - Linlithgow - Falkirk - flat tow path
www.sustrans.org.uk/assets/files/free%20range%20kids/families/map%20activity%20sheets/frk_union_canal_scot_final.pdf