Touring Scotland

Was absolutely fine, no socks needed. Even got some sunburnt ankles

Gutted I'd definitely have joined you for the North bit as I've got a week off from 6th. Might steal your route.

I tried! Drove out to Helensburgh last night and did about 40 miles before it got dark. Got up this morning and my lingering cold had made the comeback of the century. Sacked it off at Dunoon as even the road miles were a PITA . On the plus side, I had a lovely sunset ride and an incredible camping spot last night, and I still did about 100 miles.

Somewhere near Lochgoilhead at 5:30 this morning.

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looks rubbish

Looks nice. The first bit to Dunoon is the hardest as I recall, shame that coincided with your cold!

Ahh, good to know as I’m keen to give it another blast soon!

Its good round here, part of the Kowal way I think in places?

Most tourists buzz right past this on their quest to get to the long lost isle of Skye where there won't be any other pesky tourists..... Means most of Argyll and Kintyre peninsula region is empty for most of the year

Yes, you’re right - the Kowal way. I have more annual leave in July so will hopefully be making a return then

We moved to Palnackie near the end of your route (just before you get to Dalbeattie forest) not too long ago.

Currently awaiting the birth of child number 2 any day now, so I expect I'll be quite occupied around that time (!) but more than happy to lend a hand if you run into any problems on the route around here 👍

Thanks and congratulations!

There are a lot of ifs before I get to the end of the route, mostly weather related but also associated with guilt in leaving my pregnant wife at home. Leaving tomorrow though and starting to get really excited, weather also looks spectacular for the first two days!

I will DM you, @Pmccee and @cozey my number so you can hit me up in case you have time and want to come out join me for a bit, no pressure at all!

My main sticking point is SS with arm warmers or LS. Seems unlikely it’ll get to SS temps and wearing arm warmers all day isn’t the most comfortable…

What are your deliberations?

Will have both in the end, plus a thermal base layer, it seems it will vary that much!

I went just with a LS. Maybb be e only an hour or so where I could have really had my arms out. I do have a hand tan mind.

@giofox, I think your route is around Scotland right? So it wasn't you and your friend/partner that we saw in Whitelee heading off to do the second city divide today?

I got back from a couple of weeks in Scotland (Sunday sleeper 16th May to Inverness - returning Friday 28 May from Carlisle) which included a long weekend in Glasgow.

This gives a rough guide to the route of the first week. My Dad grew up in Invergordon hence my interest in heading up that way. Would otherwise have probably headed out straight south although heading west of Loch Ness meant possibly a more interesting/challenging route
https://www.komoot.com/tour/368298993?share_token=abcrccgs86kL7z0CjEiRYk2NNrqOSMbh8XUPTExJ4gOjTERhYo&ref=wtd

This gives a rough guide to the second week. Much less miles planned so a couple of side trips around the coast on the latter part of this section.
https://www.komoot.com/tour/363470546?share_token=aZt3E0TYFzFLu46gU3W2eKNghy7LCKFcR7dgg6sVtwLEox5mBO&ref=wtd

Weather was wet but never got completely dunked on...generally found that as long as i was moving i could cope. Hardest part was the overnight when the temperatures seemed to plummet

Photos here - plenty relating to Glasgow/friends but you will get a feel for the landscape from those that are not.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/dkL6LuTUJKT8Y7Fo9

Wild camping was amazing. Beautiful spots with the extra daylight meaning that if you didnt find somewhere initially, you just rode on till you found somewhere that hit the spot. Typically this involved views of lochs/sea.

Locals were extremely friendly and helpful and drivers were generally really courteous. Arriving back in London saw the need to quickly adjust to gladitorial traffic

As youll see from the photos, I rode with panniers and a tent on the front, small frame bag and a saddle bag on the rear. Route was mainly road, some gravel and a bit of walking track on the western side of Loch Ness

I'm starting JOGLE next week, and had planned to pass through Glasgow on June 6th; given Glasgow is still in level 3, should I change route to avoid it or will it not really make any odds? It would be a shame to miss the vegan restaurants I've heard so much about

Officially Glasgow is in lockdown and visiting is not encouraged (worried about spreading the Indian variant to other parts). Restaurants are open although closing earlier in the evenings and not serving alcohol.

Id made plans to pass through Glasgow some time ago as it was a chance to catch up with friend who had moved there last year and was self isolating before i arrived

We are also hoping to get moved to level two by Saturday 5th though I don’t think many are holding their breath for it.

For Scotland Glasgow is off limits if passing to it from a level 2 area. So unlike Covid hotspots in England where avoiding is discouraged, in Scotland passing into a level 3 like Glasgow is disallowed.

I'd just play it by ear. we might change into L2 next friday (although we are 9 months into a 2 week local lockdown so...) if we're still L3, you could just re-route accordingly (or pass through without stopping)

or pass through without stopping

I think the letter of the law is that you can traverse into/out of/through areas in different levels during exercise so long as that exercise starts and ends in the same place.

At least that was what it was last time I checked.

Chances of actually getting busted for anything...pretty slim.

Chances of catching Covid while you're here...???

Side note: we have decent vegan restaurants in Glasgow?

stereo’s decent no ? mono/the 78 I can take or leave. not tried the chinese (?) place in partick. plenty of places have vegan options too these days - much more so than when I was vegan at least

bold gio picked the best week of the year to come lol

78 is nice actually yeah.

Mono/Stereo, hmmm, I’m not keen on eating places where the toilets are minging enough that I try and hold it.

my top tip for the best vegan dish in the city is the vegan currywurst at west (washed down with a pint on their in house weiss beer)