Just to let people know there's a run this Sunday. I'll publish a more detailed route when I've got one worked out.

Here's a rough guide for now - Leaving Kingswells P&R at 9.00 am - planned destination is to the Aonach Mor Gondola (via the Lecht - stop at Tomintoul Fire Station cafe on the way?) - fuel stop at Newtonmore - Return via south side of Loch Ness to avoid the motorists and Cabrach to home.

Rough distance calculation is 300 miles.

Weather forecast is a bit uncertain at the moment but hopefully it'll be a fine day for the last Sunday run of the season. Chance of a high pressure front moving in as the week progresses so that's always a good indicator. This is Michael Fish signing off!

I've just realised I lead the first Sunday run this year and the weather was brilliant. Maybe we'll drop lucky again for the last one

Title Edited to Show correct date - thanks Dave

OK Here's what I see as the route.

Aonack Mor

If we leave Kingswells at 9.00 am we should be arriving at Aonach Mor around midday = about 150 miles. If the weather is good we can do the trip up the gondola and have lunch at the top. 15 mins each way plus about an hour for lunch means we would leave around 1.30 pm. Return ticket for the gondola is £9.50. Return trip to Alford is about 140 miles so should get us back by 5 pm depending on when we leave Aonach Mor. Petrol and coffee at Grantown.

Sounds good to me Phil , weather good on sunday I think .
I will be there bright and early , see you there .

Cheers
Steve f

See you 9am on Sunday 13th not 20th??

Dave

A big thank you to all those who braved the miserable weather at Kingswells today for the run to Aonach Mor. Despite having no forward or rearward vision over the Lecht we made it to Aonach Mor gondola station in good time and I must say I'm so glad I opted to lead this one. What an amazing lunch it was. The food was fine but the view was awesome and we got to see the MTB riders on the last day of the season tackling the ride down the mountain - I am so impressed with these guys. Awesome Videos

The ride back was on route as far as Grantown - we had some great roads up the east side of Loch Ness - despite some of them being single track they were almost brand new surfaces in places! Weather turned a bit pants on the last leg so I'm glad I made the call to head straight home. I hope those that made it out today enjoyed the run, pace and company - I know I did.

Thanks

Phil

Glad the run went well Phil. I was thinking of you at 0900 while having breakfast just north of Turnberry in Ayrshire as the weather there was absolutely beautiful, seems not to have been the case at the P&R. How many were on the run?

One to be repeated next year?

Ian.

Phil,

It was a great run with some great roads.
The road around south of Loch Ness was a pleasant surprise and the weather although a bit variable at times did not spoil things. I bailed at Granton and took the more direct route home over the Lecht with the sun coming out at the end. Thanks Stuart

Thanks Phil for a great run today.
No traffic at all for the first 50 miles then fantastic roads round Loch Laggan.
Stunning views from gondola and mountain restaurant. Very enjoyable section up the east side of Loch Ness to Daviot.
Had a wee slide just after our return to "Aberdeenshire" - Cliff was following me - any marks for foot down recovery?
Turned off after Huntly to follow road to Rothienorman hoping then to head for Oldmeldrum at Drum but road closed there for works! so back road to Inverurie then home. 325mls. Fantastic

Great run today 327 miles. The weather was not the best but still very enjoyable.
Alistair I saw you run wide on that corner but someone else went all the way to the other side of the road on the same corner in front of me. Starange they were riding the same make and model of bike.
I counted 12 bikes today at Kingswells


Picture from todays run http://www.davemorris.f9.co.uk/aonachmor.html


Dave

Hi Phil

I add our thanks to the others for a really good run out. the pace was just right for smooth
progressive riding with a few quick bends thrown in for good measure. I agree with Dave there
were 12 bikes on the run although you were one short leaving the gondola Thanks John for waiting
The weather will always 'be what it will be',. it's up to us not to let it dictate when and where we ride.
We thought the route was fantastic, it must have taken some pull to clear all the traffic en route
It was ironic though that after all those trouble free miles the road was closed 5 miles from home, we
clocked up 356 miles in all.
Once again thank you and thanks to everyone else who came along for their enjoyable company.

N.B. note to self - don't take the maccaroni cheese next time

see ya later
Bob and Maggie

Thanks Phil and all who turned up at Kingswells P&R for a great day out on Sunday .
Yes the maccaroni was the only bad thing about the hole day , maybe some overtaking on my behalf was untimely sorry ( David , Alistair )

Cheers
Steve

Just wanted to say thanks for all the positive comments I've received about this run both here on the forum and via email. I really appreciate them all. I had a great day leading the group and that was enough for me. The comments are icing on the cake so to speak.

While I'm on the subject I seem to have paid for two lots of petrol at Newtonmore Service station! My bank statement shows two payments to Grants SS on 13th September - I presume this was the petrol station we stopped at in Newtonmore - has anyone else had a similar problem after paying by card here? If you paid by card could you check your bank statement and see if you paid twice too?

The two payments are for £12.81 and £12.28 - I'm pretty sure I put £12.28s worth of fuel in but it could just as easily be the other one. I'm sure I didn't put both in! I thought before I challenged the payment with the bank I'd post a message here about it.

Regards

Phil

Phil,

I have the same as you and have worked out that both service staions that we stopped at in Newtonmore and Grantown on Spey are owned by the same company i.e. Grants. I filled up at both and used the same card.

Regards

Stuart