Touring Scotland

everyone I know who has done it, has done it on a gravel bike. I think the corrieyairick pass would probably benefit from a MTB on the way down but it's def doable (from what I gather) on a gravel bike

Which is the normal direction? Could I get a train to Inverness and ride it southwards?

£88 is cheapest train up but that appears to be a sleeper train, seated only, which sounds like a really shit way to start a tour.

Sleeper seated isn't too terrible. It is a reclining seat like an airplane. Better than a normal train seat by far.

Usual direction is S. to Glasgow.

what's the best way to get a train booked onto the inverness-glasgow train ? I seem to recall it's maybe best to phone customer services, reserve your bike space on a train and book your tickets at the same time (rather than e.g. faffing about on the website, going in and out of trains double checking whether there are available spaces for bikes.) I wish there was a straightforward planner view on the scotrail website that showed: trains on the day, cheapest ticket on each train, bike space availability on each train. it would make things so much easier

I've been thinking about doing a Friday night out reclining sleeper seat, Sunday night back, just to get a bit more Scottish cycling time. You can cancel up to the last minute at the moment so tempted to just book for sometime in October/Novemeber and cancel if the forecast is bad. But then hard to decide if two nights of bad sleep for one night in a tent is worth it. Plus the forecast will almost certainly be bad.

south to glasgow = it's all downhill of course. why would you cycle UP the country

I found it pretty rough. Only go for 'proper' berths now. Then again I am longer in the leg and last time I did it there were people at the other end of the carriage talking and drinking cans pretty much all the way to Carlisle. I doubt this happens all the time but fuck that.

It can be hit or miss as you say. Maybe for the return leg it is an option as you'll be so knackered you could sleep anywhere.

If travelling as a pair the berths are a lot better value compared to solo as you can no longer get paired up with a stranger in a sharing one.

Cheapest I've seen is £200 for 2x each way, so 100 each. Not that much more than a seat at £80 odd (assuming that was 1 way)

Wind is best going south to North but you'd have probably do more walking because of steepness/roughness. Did it on a mountain bike and friend had gravel, I'd probably take mountain bike but either are fine

Did it recently with my other half. I was happy with 45mm tyres and hydro brakes. She was on 35mm with cable disks (and smaller hands) and there were definitely sections she wasn’t that comfortable on.

I'm a fussy little princess though (read: I don't sleep well when not horizontal and I have blood clotting issues which makes long duration sitting a bad idea)

Cheapest I've seen is £200 for 2x each way, so 100 each. Not that much more than a seat at £80 odd (assuming that was 1 way)

Ah, I thought that price was each. £200 for both of us in a box sounds more reasonable.

https://new.sleeper.scot/?children=0&cycles=2&destination=9328&males=2&origin=1072&outDate=2021-09-20&returnDate=2021-09-29

Cheers. Grrl's got 45mm tubed WTB Riddlers on her Sequoia currently w/ hydro discs.

I was thinking about setting up her wheels tubeless with the 700x50mm GravelKings I used for Badlands to give her a bit more volume (and more tubeless setup drama for twitter).

Now thinking about skipping the whole GNT and just doing the An Turas Mor (aka the Scottish bit) and maybe extending by riding to JOG as well depending on how we're doing / how fun it is/isn't.

https://www.anturasmor.co.uk/route

They say 8 days but I was thinking about squishing their 50mi days together and making the trip north in 4ish and that would allow some time to go back down or go over to John O'Groats before heading back on the train(s).

I need to read the guide again but if you were doing this would you take any cooking gear or just carry nuff cold food between services?

Also, these fordings - any point taking some kind of waterproof sock or overshoes or anything? I'll be riding in a pair of trainers most likely so maybe it's a better idea to just take a pair of sandals or something so I can dry them out? Dunno. Don't like water unless it's in beer.

Dude, sort out your ideas first, take a breath, have a beer and then look at rwgps.

• BD is doable on a gravel bike, 45mm tyres are plenty, make sure to have some shoulder knobs if it gets wet.
  
• North to South is enjoyable. Some steep bits along Loch Ness section I would have not wanted to do going up. Corrieyairack is not that bad actually, some worse bits near Loch Rannoch if it rains, but generally fine.
  
• An Turas Mor looks like a great route, takes in most of the BD, and a good part of it is also on the HT550 and GB duro. I did a good part of it and it's nice, but would only follow it to the point where it turns left onto Glen Golly River and avoid that. You can instead follow the GB Duro route there and either go straight for the north coast (I hear Kearvaig Bothy is ace) or follow the route to JOG.
  
• Village shops have really short opening hours and might be far between, I would recommend a stove. You can carry some adventure meals as an emergency food and then only use them for when you don't find open stores. That way you just need a small stove and a mug to boil some water but no pots and such.
  
• I know you and your partner ride strong, but 100mile days are long days on that route, expect to ride in the dark if going in September.
  
• Definitely get the cabin if it's two of you.
  
• Lastly, I'd recommend a pair of crocs for fording shit
  

Have a look a few pages back to my pictures/words on my ride to get a feel for what the route looks like.

also bothies are still shut iirc

MBA says they’re now open with the usual covid caveats. https://www.mountainbothies.org.uk/

Dude, sort out your ideas first

This is how I sort out my ideas.

Current idea is An Turas Mor to Cape Wrath doing kinda double days and then ride back to Durness to get the bus back or, depending on time and enjoyment levels, ride to JOG and then train back.

Village shops have really short opening hours and might be far between, I would recommend a stove. You can carry some adventure meals as an emergency food and then only use them for when you don't find open stores. That way you just need a small stove and a mug to boil some water but no pots and such.

That's much as I expected. Perfect. Ta

I took a osprey packable rucksack and used it loads (have carried it on the races I've done and never used it)

Lastly, I'd recommend a pair of crocs for fording shit

I've always wanted a pair of Z-Trails

https://xeroshoes.co.uk/xero-shoes-umara-ztrail.html

I did. I'm trying to work out what's doable in various time frames, that's the reason I keep changing ideas. I have limited holidays left and there's limited daylight, etc.

An Turas Mor is basically a gravel route which is almost all rideable (according to their guidebook which I found that I'd bought years ago). I don't want the missus having to do rocky hike-a-bike descents and shit. I'm looking for remote but not technical for this one.

I experimented with a mussette during Transiberica and it sucked arse. I left it in a hotel.

A running backpack vest or packable backpack would be better as it stays put. I have feed bags already so we could take one each for snacks. Was also thinking about getting a hip pack but my little camera is in storage so not sure I'd bother with that and I'm not taking 5kg of DSLR kit.

rocky hike-a-bike descents and shit.

That's the description of Glen Golly River