Feanor otp & I are intending doing a 400km DIY on 10th August in NE Scotland: Aberdeen - New Deer - Fraserburgh - Portsoy - Dufftown - Forres - Aviemore - Ballater - Aberdeen.
The eck-approved shortest distance between controls is here: http://goo.gl/maps/VIbBH
My intended route is here: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/2581359
My current plan is to start at Sainsburys, Berryden Road, Aberdeen at 6am.
Let me know if you are interested.
For the record, we did this ride yesterday.
Stayed mostly dry, which was a bonus.
I found it unusually hard on account of not being on a bike for a month!
Spotted various wildlife along the way: several fawns springing about amongst the farmers' crops etc.
Was flagging at about 300k, but the 300k stop @ Aviemore had an all-u-can-eat pizza and pasta buffet, and that put my batteries back in the right way.
They were, however, pound-stretcher zinc-carbons, not Lithium-Ions!
Drunk-o'clock as we passed thru Nethy Bridge, and then the big climbs over the Lecht in the dark were a little surreal.
Last 50k I had to honk out of the saddle to keep the dozies at bay.
Reckon I saw a single Perseid Meteor near the end, or it may have been a hallucination.
Thx to Pingu for dragging me round.