After consulting the weather forecast it seemed to be driest over in the northwest. So Isi and I went over to Torridon to do some mountain biking and the Torridon Loop seemed as good as anything. Arriving at the Beinn Eigh car park masses of midges persuaded us to skip any faffing and hop on the bikes as soon as we could.

The rain started as soon as we turned off the main road and onto the fireroad. For the first half the waterproofs came on and off on a regular basis. After a good ride on single-track and a bit of uphill we blasted down the hill to Achnashellach. A few quick stops showed us just how beautiful this part of the Highlands really is.

Across the rail tracks and through Achnashellach we got to some more single-track and the start of heavier rain and pushing the pushbikes. We had a wee break and at the bothy after 2 km. The shelter was a welcome place to get away from the rain and midges and since I had some problems with the rear derailleur it was also a good place to fix that too.

After the break we headed off up the trails again. It started to get rougher and more pushing was required till we got up to a pass at 420m height. Now came the payoff. Blasting down the hill on some of the best single-track I have seen so far in Scotland. We started to get a bit tired but it was fun nonetheless. At one point I managed to do a face plant in a big mud hole. At least it was soft a landing. Somewhere half way down my rear brakes gave up and it started getting faster for me. No stopping there. It was however a relieve to get to the road and back to the car.