Driving down the A9 (main trunk road to the Highlands) on a day like this is not too bad at all. The skies are clear and the sun is warm.  All along the side of the road and in the hills there are people out walking, cycling and enjoying the Highland summer.  I am on my way to Edinburgh airport to pick up a group of mountain bikers who are joining us for a week of XC mountain biking around the Cairngorms in the heart of the Highlands.

The group I am waiting for is arriving from the south of France and clearly they’re surprised to arrive in Scotland to blue skies and sunshine, as they arrange an impromptu photo call outside the airport terminal.

Soon, we are heading north to the Cairngorms, stopping first at Laggan Wolftrax to build the bikes, grab some lunch and stretch our legs around the fantastic trails, graded from green to double diamond black.  After a few hours of fun, we make tracks to our large holiday home in the heart of the Cairngorms were we spend the week socialising and enjoying amazing trails.  We get settled in and lay claim to our bedrooms before meeting up again in the lounge to have a beer and chat over the week ahead. Dinner tonight is a BBQ consisting of locally-sourced beef to go along with our nice French wine!

After our first breakfast together we set about fettling with bikes and getting kit prepared for a big day in the Cairngorm hills.  Thanks to the fabulous location of the house, we ride straight from the door most of the week, only needing to pack the car on a couple of occasions.  Most of today is spent diving in and out of the woods, and nipping down hidden snaking singletrack with the guys all shouting directions to each other and saying, ‘We would never have found these trails on our own.’  On returning to the house the BBQ is fired up and the wine is open before their helmets are even off; here we go again!

You would think after two late nights and a full day on the bike I would be waiting around in the morning, but no, they are outside waiting for me!? We set off for the higher tops around the Aviemore area today. We spend the morning working our way up one of the more challenging climbs that summits at an awesome vista where we have lunch before setting about a mouth-watering descent that drops us into the valley and a nice flowing singletrack that takes us back to our base in time for…yes you have guessed it: BBQ and wine!

We decide, the next day, to travel further afield to ride at Golspie, with its long climb and the longest man-made descent in the UK.  We make an early start so that we can get a couple of runs in before lunchtime, and the guys can get a round of golf in during the afternoon.  For our evening meal we stop in at Inverness to have an Italian meal on the banks of the River Ness, before making our way back to Aviemore for the night.

Day 5 is an epic! We decide to leave Aviemore early in the morning with the aim of riding to Braemar which is situated on the opposite side of the Cairngorm massif, so no mean feat.  With bags packed with enough food to feed an army and, as I later find out, a bottle of red wine for our grand lunch on a Cairngorm hillside, we set off for the day’s adventure.  Apart from sweet singletrack, an awesome descent and a gourmet hillside lunch, there’s nothing out of the ordinary to mention, except don’t leave your bag unattended at any time or you may end up carrying a rock or two to your next destination!

After yesterday’s epic the guys fancy a rest day and a round of golf, so we go for a distillery tour at Dalwhinnie, then drop them at the Aviemore golf course for a round and some food.

On their last day I am determined to get them out on the bike for a couple of hours at Badaguish, and after the first half an hour of moans and groans they settle into their rhythm and enjoy what the local trails have to offer: rocks, roots and challenging climbs – we love it!

So all that’s left to do is pack the bikes and leave the guys to do some present shopping for their family back home.  In the morning the van on the way down to Edinburgh airport is very quiet with a lot of recovering legs and satisfied smiles.

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