Speyside Distillery Cycling tour

Why

A good few years ago, I had the idea of organising a whisky-distillery cycling tour in my home area of rural Aberdeenshire.

1. It's beautiful countryside, great for cycling.
2. Very few people seem to know that. 
3. Speyside has the highest concentration of whisky distilleries per square mail in the world, so you don't have to cycle too far between them.

In 2014, I finally found a group of friends who were interested.  So on 29th May, 2014 (just a few weeks after I'd had brain surgery but don't let that put you off) we got on a train, heading for a fun trip.  Since then, other people have expressed an interest in following the route or at least using it as the basis for their own route.  That's what this post is about: how to organise something similar.

I'll explain

1. What I planned
2. Practicalities of planning
3. What actually happened
4. Some alternatives

There's a vintage steam railway involved so you might want to read to the end.

What

Plan

We planned a Saturday/Sunday/Monday trip, travelling up from London on an overnight train to arrive in Aberdeen for breakfast.

On Saturday, the plan was to cycle 19 miles to Glen Garioch distillery in Old Meldrum, take the tour and have lunch.  Then ride 18 miles to Glendronach, look around and sample some whisky at the visitor shop before a 9 mile ride to Huntly, where we would stay the night.

Planned Saturday route

Sunday, we would ride 14 miles to Dufftown, where we would check into a hotel and then explore both the several distilleries in the town and some in the surrounding area.

Planned Sunday route

Monday, we would ride 11 miles to Keith, visit the Strathisla distillery and then catch a local train back to Aberdeen, from where we'd catch the return train back to London.

Planned Monday route

Practicalities

If you are travelling up from London or some other southern location overnight, you can make cycling reservations on the sleeper trains but there is a limit on spaces.  If more than 4 or 5 people are in your group, you may either need to book different trains or be prepared to disassemble your bikes (which turns them into luggage) and reassemble them at the other end.  We chose the cheap seats sleeper option, not the expensive bunk-bed option  

In Huntly, we stayed in the Huntly Hotel.  Cheap rooms, no shortage of rooms, seen better days but we had no complaints.  One advantage of it being a bit shabby is that they had a "conference room" where they let us store the bikes because it was never used.

In Dufftown, we chose the Commercial Hotel - a nice pub with a few rooms.   Indian and Chinese restaurants directly opposite a bonus.

Finding rooms in either town isn't hard but do check their tourist calendars for events and do some research.  For larger groups, there are camp sites and lodges near the towns.

We did the distillery tour at Glen Garioch and didn't bother again.  Not all of the distilleries even do a tour, some of them now only do a smaller part of the process (getting their roasted grain from other places) and frankly if you've done one, the others are the same. 

The Monday route is a little hilly at the beginning.  Now, I like hills but not everybody did.  We all survived and it's all downhill after the third mile.  But there are alternatives.

What actually happened

Saturday

I'd planned for a 6ish Aberdeen arrival but delays in ticket booking (one guy dropped out) meant we caught a later train, arriving around 9.  Then the guys insisted on a hearty breakfast.  When they discovered just how hearty a Scottish breakfast can be, that delayed us some more.  As a result, we didn't make Old Meldrum till around 1pm.  After the tour and grabbing lunch, we didn't think we'd make Glendronach before the visitor centre closed, so we rode straight to Huntly.

Actual Saturday Route

Sunday

Later than planned start again because Saturday was the birthday of one of the group and some drinking was done.  After a look around Huntly Castle, we rode to Dufftown.  Aside from the Dufftown distilleries, Aberlour was the only one we made it to outside the town itself.

Monday

Monday happened as planned, despite birthday-boy complaining abut the hill.

You can see the evidence here.  Note: the buff guy who took his shirt off is not available as a regular tour guide.

Thoughts

The planned trip was entirely practical and the routes are flexible.  If you don't want to be delayed by hungry, hungover birthday boys, plan lunch/food and take packed food rather than hunting down pubs.  But four whisky fans, one with a hole in his head, managed to make a fun trip out of this so you can too.

The hills are not tough for any but the most casual of cyclists.

Alternatives

Taking a proper long weekend would give you much more flexibility.  Consider travelling overnight Thursday/Friday and/or Monday/Tuesday.  Staying two nights in Dufftown would give you many options (so many distilleries in reach).

There are flatter (but not as scenic) routes from Dufftown to Keith

There is a vintage steam railway linking Dufftown and Keith.  You could make that part of your trip for some or all of the group.