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Take the B992 Right Hand turning off the A96 heading through Insch.  At the railway station turn right over the crossing and take the first turning left. (B992) heading towards Auchleven and Alford.  At the top of the hill turn left at the sign for Overhall and the venue.

Take the left hand fork at Oyne Fork onto the B9002.  Follow the road through Oyne and on to Insch railway station (Do not take the turning for Insch) At the railway station go over the crossing and take the first turning left. (B992) heading towards Auchleven and Alford.  At the top of the hill turn left at the sign for Overhall and the venue.

Take the B922 turning off the A944 at Whitehouse. At Keig, fork right and continue along the B922 to Auchleven. Continue on for about I mile towards Insch and take the right turn for Overhall after the trees

Because of the majority of the roads in the area are narrow, crewing will only be allowed at designated location.  These locations are identified on riders the talk round.  Please do not crew at other locations.  Only check point personnel will be allowed at CP2.

0830 – 0900   Vetting for 50km

0900 – 0915   Start for 50km

0900 – 1000   Vetting for 30km

1000 – 1030   Start for 30km

0930 – 1030   Vetting for Pleasure

1000 – 1100   Start for Pleasure

Following on from the Grampian reps. offer at the Central Committee meeting to shrink Grampian Castles to give the long rides in the other branches either side more of a chance, Grampian branch committee met to formulate this proposal and agreed the following with the ride organisers:

That we will honour the commitment to running the Pasquille Championship Ride. Otherwise the event will drop down to a branch one day ride on the Sunday.

The programme will therefore now be:  

80km ER (1st leg of the Pasquill Trophy class)

60km ER

50km CTR

30km CTR (2nd leg of the Pasquill Trophy class)

20km Pleasure

Riders can therefore enter the Pasquille two day (80km ER + 30km CTR), or an 80km ER Saturday (stand alone) or any of the Sunday one day classes.

Please would members note that Grampian Castles will no longer be part of the Pleasure Ride Series.

Unfortunately the 2007 Scottish Championships to be held at Grampian Castles had to be cancelled due to ground conditions.

Venue at Auchleven giving access into the Bennachie and Carreen hills.  New routes in 2007 towards Huntly.  Mainly open country and forest with little roadwork.  Testing ride for all classes.  No more than 20% roadwork.  Minimal gates.  Trooper Trophy Ride.  

Ride schedule - see http://www.scottishendurance.com/files/sercchamps2007entry.pdf

GRAMPIAN CASTLES RIDE 24th & 25th June 2006 – A preview

The Venue:
The venue is in the village of Auchleven not far from Insch (Landranger 37, Grid 62 24) with a pub that serves good food at a reasonable price within a short walking distance. There will be corralling at the venue and stabling and B&Bs close by. Contact Clive or Penny.

With only 5 weeks to go now it's time to get your entries in for the Grampian Castles Ride.  This will be the championship course for 2007 and it certainly lives up to those expectations. The routes are particularly good with long canter tracks across open countryside and rolling hills. Road work has been kept to a minimum but a little is necessary to access these new areas.

The Routes

The 120 km ride has a loop to the East from the venue with the first vetting back at the venue, the second stage is over the Correen Hills and Littlewoods Est to the 2nd vetting at Rhynie, followed by a loop onto the Cabrach and Clashindarroch before returning to Ryynie for the 3rd vetting, then back over the Correen Hills and Whitehaugh before finishing at the venue. This is a lovely ride that needs to be paced.
The 80 km ride follows the same route as the second stage of the 120 km and vets at Rhynie. The second stage goes back over the Correen Hills and Whitehaugh and vetting before going onto the Forbes Estate for the final leg.
The 65 km route follows much the same route as the 80 km but makes it’s way back to the venue from Whitehaugh and not around the Forbes Estate
For the 50 km route we follow the other routes out onto the Correen Hills where we then turn back through Whitehaugh before heading onto the Forbes Estate and back to the Venue. The 30km vetting will be away from the venue just prior to going over Black Hill and onto Forbes.
There are 2 x 32km (20 mile) routes. One following the first leg of the 120 km ride which will be taking you around Bennachie to the East of the venue and onto the Forbes Estate. The second follows the longer routes out of the venue and onto the Correen hills before heading back to the venue via Whitehaugh.
The Pleasure route will go around the Forbes Estate as last year but without the long climb back onto Black hill.
Come along and have a great weekend. For more information call either Clive or Penny on 01464 821024 or email at edingarioch@btinternet.com

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Ride Report by Candy Cameron

GRAMPIAN CASTLES 2005

I went to the Grampian Castles ride organised by Clive Pollitt and Penny.  The route was the best I think that I have ever ridden on and I have done rather a few rides in my endurance career!  There must have been about 80% grass track.  We climbed hills from about 160 to 480 metres several times and the views on the top were fabulous.  The hills in this part of the country are not covered with trees and therefore you see an awful lot more.  The shooting tracks that go right up over these hills are in fantastic condition as they are not overused and are heather and grass with just about no stones on them.  A lot of the country is very wild with no signs of habitation except for the odd dilapidated farm or cottage.  One of the vet gates was right in the centre of Rhynie - rather in the French tradition.  But it was the route that really sold this ride to me.  We could canter for miles without banging up the horses legs.  I have always maintained that the route must take overriding priority when putting on a ride.  No route - no ride.  In fact the complete opposite of the likes of Aachen where they get the venue and then try to find a route to fit.

Clive deserves many congratulations for all the extra route finding he has done over the early months of this season to produce a ride that would surpass even the Red Dragon in its finest hour.  Next year it is planned to be a two day ride as it should have been earlier this year had a strangles outbreak not erupted.  I would like to hope that next year's Scottish Champs and therefore the Home International could be held on this wonderful route, if a suitable venue could be found.  Well done again to all involved.

Cheers, Candy