A Commonwealth Games athlete today joined young cyclists in Lochaber to launch a new interactive mountain biking e-guide for the Highlands.
Lee Craigie, who is originally from Glasgow but has lived in Inverness for the past 10 years, met up with pupils from Caol Primary School for the launch event alongside the Caledonian Canal at Banavie, Fort William.
The 35-year-old finished seventh in the cross-country mountain biking event at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
She is also a director of the Velocity cafe and bike workshop in Inverness, which works to promote healthy, happy lifestyles through cycling.
And she played an important part in the development of the new e-guide by riding the routes and trail centres featured, charting them on GPS and filming short videos for the site using a chest-mounted “GoPro” camera system.
She joked that it had been a tough job riding around the beautiful Highlands “but someone had to do it”.
Ms Craigie said: “The rides range from the straightforward routes to some really challenging ones up the north-west coast, as well as the purpose-built trail centres like Nevis Range in Lochaber.”
She added that the e-guide included 21 “natural” cycling routes, as well as videos, descriptions, maps and downloadable GPS files.
She said: “It’s really fantastic and I hope it will encourage people to visit this area and to get out and about and explore the best of what the Highlands and Scotland has to offer.
“The whole point is that the guide is bursting with information and will appeal to people of all ages and abilities, from families with young children to the committed rider tackling a tougher route with a mate.”
The e-guide was developed by a range of partners across the Highlands led by Developing Mountain Biking in Scotland (DMBinS) and Scottish Cycling.
It has been jointly funded by DMBinS, Highland Council, the Outdoor Capital of the UK, Cairngorms National Park Authority, Northwest Highland Initiative and all the trail centres across the region.