Moulin Rouge - DIY 200 9th December 2018

With Kingdom come in my legs, a sniffle in my nose and a chill in the north westerly breeze I set out to blat out what had become my favourite 200km DIY route of my own creation so far.

Admittedly it only really competes with an out and back to Aberfoyle for that title BUT... it is rather nice.



The route starts off in Newport-On-Tay and then heads along the Tay Coast via the Gauldry hills; I had a worryingly low average up here with a threat of being full value on the cards already. The rude awakening always produces worrying numbers but usually you can pick it up again on the descent to Newburgh, but with that North Westerly blowing it was still looking like a long day.

My bike was making a number of "Interesting" noises with clunks from the back, sometimes clearly from the drive train, other times not so obvious. At Aberargie despite the quiet roads I still took the Dron road to Kintillo, frost glistened on the surface but I still felt enough traction that I didn't worry.

At this point I discovered that one of my bottles contained sports drink that could best be described as "off"; I had thought I could get away with keeping it from the previous week but the fizz and terrible taste said otherwise, I decided against stopping at Kintillo shop, my best chance of picking up some speed being on the relatively flat blat through Strathearn to Auchterarder, there are a few ramps along here and some days you hardly notice them while on others they grind you to a near halt and set your lungs screaming of penance . Today was the later.

A quick stop at Dunning shop for some alternative sports drink (Lucozade sport) which I watered down and some chocolate and I was off again.

Along to Auchterarder where I don't stop and onto Hunter Street; the Crieff road junction, this oddly ever since having housing estates tagged either side takes two unsigned turns, one a T-Junction and the other a roundabout, and back out into the country side.  This road lumps its way towards Crieff via Kinkell Bridge, the first part of this route to feed the name, being referred to as "Kinky Bridge" by some.

The Highlands looming ahead,
the gap at the foot of the
rainbow is the Sma' Glen

From the bridge we start to climb seriously after turning off the Crieff road at Millearne, although we're still in the Midland Valley this is where some of the toughest climbs of the day are, lumping over to New Fowlis on the A85, sometimes it's busy, but often not, you could spin along to Monzie (that's a Yough not a Zed, there's plenty more of them on this route) to climb into the Sma' Glen on a more gentle gradient if you really wanted to, but that would be too easy, climbing the Braes of Fowlis takes you through Fowlis Wester with it's replica pictish stone at the road side, and now we're going up severely, sever enough for the OS to give it a single chevron on the map. 100m up from New Fowlis in little more than 4km; at the summit the Highlands rise in front of you, the edge of the Midland Valley and start of the Highlands.

Descend to Buchanty on the River Almond, this is Lowland Glen Almond, the river near following the Highland Boundary Fault, before long a sharp ramp leads to a triangle junction with the A882, as you join this road the Highlands surround you as you cross the Fault and enter the Sma' Glen.

Through the Sma' Glen the road actually descents to Newton bridge, where you leave Highland Glen Almond behind and start the ascent to Amulree, quite a steady climb.
At Amulree you could divert by the leg burning and lung busting climb of Glen Quaich for a technical descent into Kenmore. However it's a direct route to Aberfeldy today, relief from the climb is short lived as the Glen Cochil junction is reached.  The summit at 393m next to the "loch" is the highest point of the ride, and from here it's a gentle descent followed by a sharp plunge into Aberfeldy.

Looking towards the divergence,
Glen Almond (of which the Sma' Glen is part) to the left,
the climb to Amulree on the right

You arrive in Aberfeldy at the cross roads at the west of the town and if you need proof of passage or just victuals you need to turn right into the town centre.
There are two ways to proceed from here, if it's busy crossing "Wade's Bridge" to Weem and heading East along the North road makes sense, however in the off season it's often quiet enough to blast along the south road. It was not long after passing the Dewars visitor centre that a loud crack was emitted by my rear wheel, the wobble that went with it told me enough, the whacking sound from the spoke hitting the frame confirmed it. I carried on until a suitable road end was found.

The spoke "fix" after I got home

A single spoke had snapped at the nipple, and the tyre was wobbling towards the disc side chain stay. Bollocks!
I considered adjusting other spokes but decided against it as the wheel was still rideable and fiddling with them may just make matters worse, especially since I'd be fiddling with the spokes beside the broke one.
Zip tying the flailing spoke to a neighbour seemed like a good approach, and I dug a zip tie out my bag, then i realized I now had a zip tie flailing around instead, thankfully I had a new first aid kit in the bag, and I went to get the scissors out of that, but I hadn't broken the seal on that yet so I couldn't open it, a surprisingly strong plastic tie between me and the scissors.  Digging further I found my tyre levers which I used the hook on to get the purchase required to snap the tie, obtain the scissors, cut the Zip tie and stow everything back in the bag. I carried on with wheel wobbling and considering my options.

I could ride to Pitlochry, get a train and DNF the ride; or.... The wheel has 32 spokes, I'm avoiding adjusting tensions for now but can do so if I need to, my other wheel has 24 spokes, that's a whole 8 less, why don't I have a fibre fix spoke? (it wouldn't be any use, the nipple dissappeared and is probably like last time a clean break at the edge), 8 less so I should be able to get away with this provided another spoke doesn't go... which means don't strain them too hard, erm... just a bit of climbing to go... ok.

Carry on along the tay past Grantully and you eventually get to a bridge over the tay, the roads approach on either side; an interesting detour here would be to carry on to Balnamuir and cross the Logierait bridge to get to the village.

On previous editions of this ride I've taken the Dunfallandy road as used by the Etapé Caledonia to get to Pitlochry and the climbed up via Moulin Village to get to the muir; however today I crossed the A9 on the bridge into Ballinluig, past the Motorgrill and... all the way along to the end of the road, I'd missed the turn.  Doubling back I accepted that the only option was to take the Dalcapon road, I know this road from officiating on the Saltire rally, and knew well enough it was a steep climb before a long gradual descent through Dalcapon itself before a plunge into the East Haugh.

The Dalcapon road eventually flattens out

The aim of going this way was to try out the shortest route from Aberfeldy to Kirkmichael in Stratardle, the distance difference is marginal and if you aren't hungry at Aberfeldy being in Pitlochry gives you another chance to feed before the long climb over the muir.  I also know this road from the Saltire and know it's steep... A rather bizzarley placed mini-roundabout lets you choose between Edradour and Croftinloan, not that there's any signs, and the climb takes you in stages to "Scotland's Smallest Distillery" before spitting you onto the main road over the muir.

Sunset on the Moulin Muir

The climb onto the Muir is more of the same, though possibly steeper to begin with but it's worth it, a rest at the summit shows you the descent to straloch and back over the Muir to Faragon hill, pitlochry deep down in the valley out of sight.
At last some speed though with the descent into darkness, winter roads and a sick wheel I wasn't for the summer heroics down here (even though less traffic makes it easier to maintain speed); with only a few bumps needing effort to climb you can maintain a decent pace all the way down the glen.




Normally at Kirkmichael I take the climb over to Dalrulzion (another Yough) but today I was wanting to try the Netherton Road out of Bridge of Calley; this mean more mostly downhill where as normally I'd be climbing again, and then climbing steeply out of Bleaton Hallet to High Rannagulzion before descending off the muir into Alyth. However today I took the road by Netherton and Drimmie, missing the Alyth junction in the process.  The road is set up to take you to Blairgowrie and I think if heading to Bridge of Calley I'd want to go to Coupar Angus and then across to Meigle.

At Alyth I stopped at the Co-Op in the Square, this is one of many small Scottish towns where there are two co-ops, one a co-op group, the other a Scottish Midlands co-op, we are now once again in the Midland Valley, the Highlands left behind on the descent into Alyth.

Only the Sidlaw hills now stand between us and home, fast rolling roads and gentle undulating descents take us out of Alyth and through Meigle with Belmont castle hiding in the trees.  A house lit up over a bridge looks a bit like a low bridge, but the road turns right and we continue on to Newtyle at speed.  From here however we must climb to Auchterhouse, the hill is deceptive and looks steep but never really asks for serious effort.

From the summit the muir descends at a reasonable rate before forcing you to climb from Dronley up to Muirhead. The taste of success starts to enter your mind but it's not over yet. The climb into the village is hardly severe but we're now entering the urban sprawl of Dundee.  The road from Blairgowrie joins at a fork and you can judge how busy it's going to be on the climb.

The most enjoyable route (to my mind) is the one I will describe now, but should the road be busy through the village, turning Right just past the pub takes you down gourdie brae and across the Myrekirk where you can descend to the riverside cyclepath through the technology park.

But it's a quiet enough day, I'm pumping out a decent pace to the march at the summit between Templeton and Camperdown woods. The descent takes over and now all you need to do is watch out for the Circle at the main entrance to Camberdown park.

No one is exiting the retail park or park so I blast through the circle... oh in Dundee a roundabout is called a circle, Dundee has had Circle since long before the Roundabout was invented, just think like the Arc D' Triomph, this possibly explains why Circle etiquette in Dundee is to straight line it if it's a painted one.

Crossing the Kingsway at Dryburgh there is a slight easing of the grade as we pass the former Park Hotel, the dual carriageway normally has cars parked in lane one but it's a good place to let tailing cars past. Another Circle at the top of Lochee and you're onto the Lochee By-Pass, a big dip down to another circle and then a sharp climb out of Lochee past where the railway bridge used to be. The bus lane is inconsistently signed, at the bottom of the hill it says Local buses only, but at the top it says Taxis and Cycles are allowed in so I tend to climb the whole way in the lane, giving way at the bus gate a the summit.

Back into Dundee proper, and the junction with Loons road, get green lights from here and you've got an epic plunge where you can reach 30mph without trying. The City council are looking at how to improve this section for cyclists as at the bottom of the hill is the Dudhope roundabout, a clear run through and you're on the Inner Ring Road, keep left and as you reach the Ladywell Circle the Hilltown underpass is in front of you, the darkness (it is winter right?) punctuated by the tunnel lights, the King Street traffic lights are likely to be green as only Buses, Taxis and Cycles are allowed to cross, and you're onto the Seagate Circle, hold the right side of the left lane and (probably) come to a halt at the East Dock Street junction aiming for the dock gates.

The old docks here is now a buisness area and a few restaurants are here too, take care through the car park, past the Apex hotel and then onto the riverside walkway.

You can either carry the bike up the steps or go round to the lift, but watch out, the big pebble seats mark the start of a set of steps that run to the bridge wall, so go the far side of them to use the ramp. This is particularly bad design as you cant' see they're steps until it's too late.

Onto the bridge and pootle over to the bridge access car park, from where Newport is hardly far at all.