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Great pics, that's some bothy fire! Good news on the midge front..
Planning Highland Trail route next week (bottom 2 loops which I've sanitised a bit - road bit near Ullapool which I think avoids Coffin Road?, and a gravel path near Torridon which looks much more sensible on the gravel bike).
Weather looks incredible next week!
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was following on strava - looked class. sorry I never made it out for a pint in the end, sure you were thankful of the rest though
saw you had some trouble w/midges - how were they overall ? can sometimes seem like they get overhyped a bit but don't think you truly appreciate how bastard annoying they are until you experience them yourself
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midges - how were they overall ?
Hard for me to say as I can't compare them to other experiences and from what I gathered it can get a lot worse than I found it. That said, I hated them.
It was naive on my part not to have any repellant, but I didn't expect them to be in full force as I found them.It was only real bad on the West Coast, in particular when I got to Gairloch, started biting at the pub while I was having dinner, so I went on a cliff to camp, keeping in mind the "be far from water, in the wind" advice and I thought that was good as it was exposed. Well, it was full of midges. By the following day I had about 80 bites, I was itching like hell and hating life.
The right ointment worked well and being back in central/East highlands it was a lot better on the last days. But I hated having to be concerned about them the whole time, not being able to stop to enjoy a view or even having to choose camp spots based on these fuckers. As a chap from Glasgow I met on the Corrieyairack pass put it "it's a curse we have here"
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What ointment did you use?
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Ta. Noted for the next time I venture out. The fuckers get everywhere these days.
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Figure the recent heatwave has been enough to bring them to life...
Probably. Or was there a bit of wind when you were here?
Just did an overnight mini adventure in whitelee at a spot I’d camped at before with zero midges, this time however they were out in clouds that were probably the worst I’ve ever seen.
They fucked off once we got a fire going though.
I’m pretty good at just zenning them out. Imagine it’s some sort of natural acupuncture treatment! There’s usually very little lasting effect from them unlike the bits from horseflies/clegs.
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Side note: we have decent vegan restaurants in Glasgow?
We dropped in to The Glasvegan in St Enoch's. Absolutely corking food, and so cheap.
Picture is our camp at Loch Venachar south side that morning
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Here it is, my (probably too long) report of a week of riding in the Scottish Highlands, broken down in 3 parts:
- HT550 (2 days)
- NC500 (2 days)
- Badger Divide (3 days)
TL; DR: Head to my Strava for all the pictures day by day and ask me if you plan on following any of the route.
HT550 (2 days): I got off the Caledonian Sleeper and set off to Contin, to spend the first two days follwoing the route of the HT550. The route here overlaps with others most of the way to Loch Shin, and I found it rather easy, I’d say generally rideable on any bike, including a capable touring bike. The route quickly leaves the NC500 roads after Contin, taking more or less easy fire roads into the forests. After getting to Inchbae Lodge, the next resupply is then in Rosehall. The climbing gets a bit more elaborate here getting over Loch Vaich, but it is a nice ride all the way to Croick Church. From there it follows then glen for a while before climbing again. This climb was annoyingly boggy, having to get off to navigate around some of them after the first few I tried to ride through sucked my bike in, hub-deep. I made it to Rosehall in time to grab dinner at the Achness hotel, where I met a nice local man that invited me to stay at their private bothy as well as into their house for a nice tasting of Scotch while having a chat with him and his wife. A nice first day overall.
The second day was always going to be the toughest, so I got going bright and early, knowing I would not find food until Kylesku Bridge. The route starts deceitfully easy following the glen on a mostly paved road, until the climb kicks up at the end of the glen, to get over the ridge and descend into Loch Shin. After a short stretch along Loch Shin, it then ramps up offroad again along to reach Loch Ant-Seilig, a nice climb offroad brings you to these remote lochs and a moon-like landscape with a long sweeping double track road descending to what looked like a hunting lodge. Just before reaching the Lodge (the GB divide route here keeps going past the lodge) the HT550 route turns left along Glen Golly River and that marks the end of the easy section. The going gets more elaborate but still rideable at first, a few sharp climbs and descents highlight how not many vehicles normally ride that. At the end of the glen the gradients increase to the point where I had to get off and push the bike. The pushing continues to almost the top of the climb, which is where I realised the 4h estimated to cover the 35km would have been far from sufficient. I started on the descent before quickly realizing I was in MTB territory and would have to walk/push for most of the descent. I decided to stop and cook lunch, taking advantage of the light breeze to keep the midges at bay. The descent was tricky to navigate, luckily I could follow the tracks of the HT550 riders when the trail was not clear, but some sections required lowering the bike 2m then jumping off the drop before continuing. I doubt any bike here would make it more rideable. The presence of bogs also made it all more difficult to navigate and misjudging one, I ended up knee deep into it. Not a big deal, the river fording shortly after provided a simple way to clean up. What followed was another significant uphill push, while I was thinking how the HT550 daredevils managed to navigate that section in foul conditions. Once to the top, the descent was also not straightforward riding, with a lot of loose rocks, hard to take on with my bike. Once I got to the bottom I was about 4h behind my original plan, but still determined to get to Clatchtoll by the end of the day. I quickly got to the top of the next climb to Loch an Leathaid Bhuain (required a bit more pushing) before enjoying one of the best descents of the whole route, all the way to Kylesku Bridge, where I stopped for dinner/second lunch. I then kept going to Clatchtoll, passing the famous Drumbeg stores, but finding them closed at 8pm (it seems they only do special hours for the HT550 race) and getting to Clachtoll where I went into a campsite as I needed a shower to wash away the long day.
NC500 (2 days): I set off from Clatchtoll tired and late, only to drag myself to the pie Shop in Lochinver (I think this stop is a must if coming this way), I wanted to do the coastal trails of the HT550, but quickly changed my mind as I wanted/needed food first. After a very long triple breakfast, I set off following the NC500. I found the section to Ullapool rather pleasing, with the twisty roads following the jagged coast. It was a stark comparison from the previous day, easy riding and flocks of cyclists going either way around. I made it to Ullapool quite tired still, but a proper lunch sorted me before I got going again. I did not have any destination in mind, but I started feeling better and better and decided to keep going. The kms rolled incredibly easily and I was craving a proper dinner, so I made it all the way to Gairloch for a pub dinner. This is where things started getting sour. Midges were abundant here and started biting me straight from the pub. I naively did not have any repellent with me, confident the bad weather of the past weeks had kept them at bay, but apparently a few days of sun are enough for their eggs to hatch. After dinner I fretted to find a camping spot. I chose the nearby cliffs between the golf course and harbour, finding a nice spot with a view on the setting sun. I thought I’d be fine since far from water and slightly exposed to wind. The place (at that time) was full of midges. I set up the tent in record time, trying to cover all of my exposed body with what I could and jumped into the tent. I killed as many midges as I could, but some still were inside the tent, which provided me with the worst night of sleep of the whole trip. I woke up 3h later with about 15/20 bites per limb, including the same amount on my head, neck and ears.
I broke camp with the midges already active and got going at around 5am, sleepy rolling to Kinlochewe. I got there 1h before anything was open, so I waited for breakfast, trying my best to nurse the itching. Once I managed to stuff my face with coffee and food, I got going towards Torridon, only to go offroad again towards Coulin, following the HT550 briefly. This valley is stunning and quite easy to ride, although I took a different pass from the HT500 to come out of it. This lifted my mood mildly, before it was again more flat roads of the NC500. I stopped in Achnasheen for lunch, itching everywhere, with a mix of midges bites and 3 days old sunburn. This is were the day really turned for worse. I had found a potential route to hook up to the Achonochie Road on the South, but after about 5km I found myself in an impassable bog, with ticks and midges attacking from everywhere. I backtracked and continued on road, all the way to Mur of Ord, where I found a hotel for the night, hoping for a good night of rest, to nurse my itching body and slightly broken morale. All in all I did not find the NC500 particularly spectacular for a bike trip, with very few sections I thought I would have not enjoyed equally from a car, but with several open sections I would have definitely not want to find myself riding in bad weather.
Badger Divide (3 days): I did not sleep well, still extremely uncomfortable due to the bites. I set off in the morning aiming for a pharmacy. I got myself a good ointment (worked really well for me) as well as a midges repellent (4 days late) and got going to hook up the Badger divide route. The first part of the route, following the Great Glen Way, was extremely uplifting, lots for fire roads and single tracks sneaking through the forests on the north side of Loch Ness, high on the Loch banks. I reached Fort Augusts around mid afternoon and had food here. I knew this would be the last restocking place for a while, but had still 2 days worth of dehydrated meals with me, so I got going on the Corrieyairack Pass. The ride up to the pass is long and nice, with views changing and increasing as you get close to the top, it’s a true shame a major power line runs up the pass as well, with its masts truly spoiling the view. I stopped along the way to check out Blackburn Bothy as I heard it was open and it was indeed, but decided to carry on. I then descended the pass, but decided to stop and camp next to Melgarve Bothy (this was closed) to have a bit of shelter from the wind, content with the day and the stark comparison in morale from the previous one.
I got going early the following day, determined to reach the Corrour Station House by mid morning. This part of the route was simply stunning and the most fascinating to me. Sections of it (from Loch Laggan to Rannoch Station) made me feel very remote and exposed to the elements, something comparable to what I had experienced in Tibet and Patagonia, which I did not expect to find in Europe, let alone a 5h train ride from London! The bridge in the private estate just past Lochan na h-Earba is currently being redone, so the suggestion was to take a “cross country route” -> more bog walking. I got to the house station without reservation and was seated right away, but I can see how it would fill up quite easily (particularly at times corresponding to train arrivals, also, the place is closed if there are any Scotrail strikes, so check before going). After filling up in food at the station, I kept riding to Loch Rannoch (you can also restock at Rannoch Station Tearoom) and then climbed into the forest above it, sparing myself having to drop down to Dall. The forest riding here is nice and easy, before you climb up even further above the tree line. From here the route sharply descends to Bridge of Balgie, where you can restock at the Post Office/Village store. The route is then on road up the Glen Lyon, over the pass and down the parallel Glen into Killin, a small village with most amenities. I started to feel satisfied with the route and my trip overall here, as the views were starting to repeat and I had had almost enough of solo riding. I had a quick pub dinner and found a nice camping spot next to Loch Tay (with a reasonable amount of midges).
The last day started early, with the knowledge it would be my last. The route became even easier, with the only challenging part being the climb between Loch Earn and Loch Lubnaig. The pretty gravel paths around Loch Drunkie and above Aberfoyle were also a nice part of the day, resembling some trails in Trentino in norther Italy. The hills started becoming shallower and shallower, the thick forest giving way to farmed land and before I knew I had to stop at a traffic light, for the first time in a week. I made it to Glasgow where I celebrated with all the food I could eat, and some more.
All in all I am happy with the trip, particularly with that not anticipated feeling of remoteness and adventure, but a few things stained the trip as well, mostly as a result of my own decisions (or lack of), such as going solo, devising a route that made it such that the landscape would start becoming similar after a week of riding and also the whole midges situation. I truly hated having to be concerned about them at any given time and not simply being able to enjoy a place based on its features.
As usual, thanks all for the input, really useful for a trip I had not done much research about before, a forum donation seems appropriate. - HT550 (2 days)
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Government has just announced it will drop to Level 2 from the 5th.
Thanks all