Mountain Biking to the CIC Hut on Ben Nevis

September 19, 2008 on 11:59 am | In Mountain Biking |

Today, for a change, I went mountain biking with Ailsa and Heather as part of their week’s holiday of biking in the Outdoor Capital of the UK. They had already explored the Witches Trails and taken the train to Corour for the trail down to Spean Bridge past the Lairig Leacach and the legs were feeling a little sore so a shorter day was the plan.

So we went for a wee ride up to the CIC Hut along the Allt a’Mhuillin starting from the North Face Car Park in Torlundy. This is a great trail but you have to put in the effort at the start to reap the rewards later!

The new Forestry Commission trail going up to the Allt a’Mhuillin at the top of Torlundy Forest is very steep and usually requires some pushing (or burning thighs). However there are two well marked viewpoints just off the trail that break up the climb and give fantastic views over Loch Linnhe and Loch Eil at the first and the best ever view of Ben Nevis from the second.

The Allt a’Mhuillin trail sits back at a much more friendly angle but still with bits of pushing over the drains. It goes right into the heart of the north face of Ben Nevis, a fantastic sight, and we even got a cup of tea from the guys working on the hut just now.

The descent (all 650m vertical of it!) is a bit technical with lots of drains to cross but great fun and flowing in between. A section of fast forestry track then got us on to the Witches Trailsas part of the descent. Down by The Wall back to the North Face Car Park and we finished with a wee loop by the River Lochy.

It was a superb short day out, wet and windy for much of it but this just added to the sensation of being right in the heart of the mountains. Fantastic single track that puts the “mountain” back into the “biking”!

Mike Pescod
http://www.abacusmountaineering.com
Mountain Guide and Instructor with a passion for the hills. Scottish winter climbing is my favourite but scrambling, rock climbing, walking and ice climbing here and in the Alps are pretty good too!