Rainspotting, un viaje por el corazón de las montañas Grampian

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On March 26, 2020

Ayer miércoles, Pannier y Brother Cycles realizaron el lanzamiento del vídeo de su última aventura de bikepacking por Escocia. Pese a querer organizar varias proyecciones alrededor del Reino Unido, dado el estado de alarma mundial, decidieron suspender esos eventos y organizar una Watch Party en la que poderlo ver desde casa.

Pannier es una marca inglesa de cicloturismo, bikepacking y aventuras en bicicleta que ofrece todo tipo de servicios como tours guiados, material para viaje, o información para quien quiera iniciarse en este mundo. Por otro lado, Brother Cycles es una marca londinense que diseña bicicletas para la aventura, ya sea para salidas casuales de gravel o carreras de ultra distancia como la Silk Road Mountain Race. De este modo, la colaboración entre ambas marcas resulta de lo más orgánica. Al tener un proyecto similar, a la hora de organizar este viaje se han centrado en lo que más les gusta: coger la bicicleta y llegar a esos sitios remotos y desconocido sólo alcanzables sobre dos ruedas.

Queriendo rememorar su anterior viaje Beulah en Escocia el 2016, intentaron reunir parte del equipo original, y organizaron una expedición de 6 personas hasta la más alta y remota estación de tren de Escocia, para así poder hacer una travesía de 4 días siguiendo las antiguas vías pecuarias por las montañas Grampian. La idea del grupo, formado por Stefan (guía de Pannier), David (fotógrafo y guía de Pannier), Will (Brother Cycles), Luke (cineasta), Taylor (Cloud 9 Cycles) y Jordan (parte del equipo original), no era llegar lejos, sino adentrarse en lo desconocido para explorar, salir de la zona de confort, tomar riesgos y escapar del día a día.

El viaje, que duró un total de 84 horas, tuvo lugar en noviembre y su principal condicionante fue el tiempo: las horas de luz eran pocas y los días fríos y acompañados de lluvia. Sin embargo, eso no significa que no disfrutaran del camino, pasando por paisajes inhóspitos y vacíos, intentando conectar senderos por rutas intransitables y lodazales, re-trazando el recorrido, cruzando ríos helados, empujando la bicicleta y pedaleando hasta adentrarse en la noche. Porque lo bonito de lanzarse a explorar es dejarse perder y no estar al cien por cien seguro de si llegarás al destino en el tiempo previsto. Eso sí, cada segundo es especial, el grupo se apoyó mutuamente y los desconocidos se convirtieron en compañeros que te respaldan y te ayudan en las situaciones más difíciles; todo para poder llegar al final del día, resguardarse y poder disfrutar de un plato caliente antes de ir a dormir.

Sin más preámbulos, os dejamos el vídeo dirigido y editado por Luke Francis junto a las fotografías de David Sear que os trasladaran a un mundo desconocido y gélido que no se asemeja para nada a la típica verde Escocia en la que todos pensamos al escuchar su nombre.

Rainspotting video oficial:

About Pol Sopeña

Apasionado de la bici y de la competición, Pol, siempre está preparado para una nueva aventura. Le encanta la sensación de ponerse un dorsal y es un auténtico adicto al ciclocros. Passionate about bikes and racing, Pol is always ready for a new adventure. He loves the feeling of pinning a number and he is truly addicted to cyclocross. View all posts by Pol Sopeña

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Rainspotting, a journey through the heart of the Grampian mountains

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Pol Sopeña

On March 26, 2020

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Last night, Pannier and Brother Cycles released the movie of their last bike-packing adventure through Scotland. Even though they wanted to organize several projections around the UK, given the global state of alarm, they decided to cancel those events and organize a Watch Party so that they could share their film with everyone at home.

Pannier is a bike touring, bike-packing and cycling adventure English brand that offers all kinds of related services such as guided tours, traveling gear, or information to get introduced into this world. Alternatively, Brother Cycles is a brand from London that focuses on producing bicycles designed for adventures, whether it is for a casual gravel ride or an ultra-cycling race such as the Silk Road Mountain Race. Hence, the collaboration between these two brands is totally organic. Since they share a common project, when they organized this trip, they focused on what they like the most: picking up their bike and getting to those remote and unknown places only reachable by means of the two wheels.

Looking back on their previous trip Beulah, through north-western Scotland in 2016, they reunited part of the original team and brought together a 6 people expedition group up to the highest and remotest train station in Scotland, from where they started a 4 day-long journey following the old-established drove gravel roads of the Grampian mountains. The group’s idea, composed of Stefan (Pannier guide), David (photographer and Pannier guide), Will (Brother Cycles), Luke (filmmaker), Taylor (Cloud 9 Cycles) and Jordan (part of the original crew), was not to get far but to go into the unknown in order to explore, to escape the comfort zone, to take risks and to abandon day-to-day life.

The journey, which lasted a total of 84 hours, took place in November and the greatest setback they had was the weather: daylight hours were scarce and the days were cold and rainy. In spite of that, that did not mean they could not enjoy the journey, riding through hostile and empty landscapes, trying to connect roads through pathless trails and marshlands, retracing the route, crossing freezing creeks and rivers, pushing the bike and pedaling until entering the night. Because what it is beautiful about going into exploration mode is letting go, getting lost and not being a hundred percent sure whether you will make it to the final destination. What is true is that every second count. The group got along very well, strangers became friends who helped each other out and could give that so-much-needed push. All of this to get to a shelter at the end of the day and enjoy a warm meal together before going to bed.

Without further ado, we leave you with the movie directed and edited by Luke Francis, as well as the pictures from David Sear, which will take you to an unknown glacial world that does not resemble at all the green Scottish landscape that we all have in mind.