Speyside And Moray Self Guided Cycle Tour

Check in to your accommodation and explore Inverness. There are several good pubs and restaurants. The Castle Tavern is always popular, and you might want to make a booking with Rocpool Rendezvous as a treat on your return at the end of the week. If you’ve got time swing by our base in Bellfield Park to try the bikes or pick up last-minute essentials from the town centre

Cycle Inverness to Aviemore: 35 miles / 2543ft | 54km / 775m. Depart Inverness at the mouth of the River Ness and head south along the signposted cycle route number 7. The route climbs steadily as you leave the city and crosses the River Nairn valley with views of the 29 span railway viaduct at Clava which is the longest masonry viaduct in Scotland at 1800 ft (549 m). As the road emerges from the forest onto more open moorland the route tracks and then crosses the River Findhorn just south of Tomatin. Tomatin is the last chance for refreshments before Carrbridge and also provides the first distillery visiting opportunity of the tour. The Findhorn is one of Scotland’s longest rivers, popular with kayakers and anglers. The mountain pass at Slochd marks the highest point in the route today. This pass is an ancient route and was formerly a “drove road” used to move cattle on the hoof from Highland crofts to markets in southern Scotland. Carrbridge is home to “Carve Carrbridge” the Scottish Chainsaw Carving Competition each September and “The Golden Spurtle” World Porridge Making Championship in October. During the rest of the year, most visitors will spend time at the Landmark Forest Visitor Centre. Although Landmark is most popular with families, there is much there for adults to enjoy too. The Bridge from which the village gets its name dates from 1717 and is the oldest in the highlands. The day ends in Aviemore, once a railway junction, then ski resort and now a bustling village, popular all-year-round with visitors to the Cairngorms National Park.

Cycle Aviemore to Newtonmore Return 32miles/1755ft | 51km/535m. The village of Newtonmore is the village closest to the geographical centre of Scotland. The Highland Folk Museum is a fantastic open-air depiction of highland life through history and was featured early on in the TV series Outlander. The route there passes The Highland Wildlife Park at Kincraig. The Highland Wildlife Park is affiliated to Edinburgh Zoo. It is home to many of the species that have at one time or another been native to the Highlands including pine martens, wildcat, lynx, wolves, owls and most recently Hamish the first polar bear cub to be born in Scotland for 25 years. The return route passes the remains of Ruthven Barracks which was built following the first Jacobite Rebellion in 1715 and saw action in the build up to and aftermath of the Battle of Culloden thirty years later. It’s nearly three hundred years since the Battle of Culloden but you can still witness skirmishes between Highlanders if you catch a game of Shinty. Shinty is the traditional ball and stick game contested between teams of twelve which shares a common ancestry with Irish hurling. Newtonmore and Kingussie and two of the most successful teams in Shinty and games take place most Saturdays throughout the summer