Burn o’Vat, Cairngorms, Scotland

Distance: 14.6km (9.1 miles) Climbing 215m (705ft) Time 1hr to 1hr 30mins

Route summary A lovely low-level route on interesting and varied trails around the loch, before a climb to inish on an exciting descent down the Vat valley Start/ inish Burn o’Vat visitor car park (postcode AB34 5NB, grid ref NO 429/998)

1

Head over the road to join the signposted routes. Follow the Loch Kinord trail, heading right and then keeping ahead at a junction with wider tracks. Bear left to join alongside the edge of the loch. Stay left along the water’s edge, over varying terrain, until you reach a stone cross (Kinord Celtic Cross) on the northern shore. Turn right here, away from the water.

2

Keep following the trail, bearing left. As you near the B9119, head left along a track past the buildings, to a crossing you were at earlier. Keep straight ahead here, to a layby area. Join the road (leaving the track, which bears left into the woods).

3

Follow the road to a T-junction and go right, signed to Ballater. Bear left into the layby, signed to Cambus o’May suspension bridge. Follow the cycle track past the (closed) bridge, with the water on your left. At the road crossing by the Cambus o’May Cheese Company, cross the road to the car park and cafe opposite.

4

Go out of the back right-hand corner of the car park, to the forest track. Continue past an electricity warning sign, to a clearing. Turn right here, under the electricity cables. When you eventually arrive at a wide track again, turn left on it, past a silver gate. Ignore the first singletrack on the right but take the next, after a couple of hundred meters, to join the Burn O’Vat trail. Follow this route, with care, descending back down to the visitor centre to finish.

LOCATION DETAILS The Cairngorms mountain range, in the eastern Highlands of Scotland, covers 4,528km . It’s home to plenty of amazing remote and wild riding, but also some in safer surroundings, such as this wonderful ride near Ballater in the centre of the National Park.

GETTING THERE Ballater is west of Aberdeen, halfway up the eastern side of the Cairngorms, on the A93, which runs between Perth (at the end of the M90) and Aberdeen. This route starts at the Burn o’Vat car park by the Muir of Dinnet Nature Reserve (follow the brown signs), just east of Ballater, on the B9119.

MAPS & BOOKS Ordnance Survey Landranger 37: Strathdon & Alford. Scotland Mountain Biking: The Wild Trails by Phil McKane (Vertebrate Publishing).

FACILITIES There are toilets at the start. The Courie Courie Bakery-Cafe at the western end of the route is excellent. Loch Kinord Hotel in Dinnet is a good place to stay, with log cabins and a restaurant (01339 885229, www.lochkinord.com).