Touring Scotland

Did you ever get round to a write up on this? I’m riding it in April with the lady and it would be good to hear your thoughts.

We will be camping but looking for a bnb maybe halfway for a quick shower etc

Sorry, somehow completely missed this! I actually forgot to do a proper write up but happy to answer any questions. Overall it was a lovely tour and can definitely recommend it. I ended up getting a ferry to Arran on my first night and found a really nice camping spot on the NE of the island before getting a ferry to Tarbet ( I think) and taking the route up from there. In the end I think i only lost about 15 miles off the original route though it was a shame to miss out on the distilleries in Cambletown (best whisky imo).

On the whole I reckon it's a great route to split camping with a BnB half way as I found some parts that weren't remote enough to find a good camping spot. it's also worth noting that there seem to be 2 main routes on Komoot:

• https://www.komoot.com/collection/991093/-the-caledonia-way
  
• https://www.komoot.com/collection/919804/cycling-coast-to-coast-through-the-scottish-wilds-caledonia-way
  
  

I ended up using the first one mostly but the second does seem more scenic and takes you through some more historical/interesting spots, whereas the first felt more direct in moments. The first also took me to Oban, leading to the biggest and best pile of muscles you'll ever get for £5 - 100% recommended and a nice town/city to refuel before the rest of the trip - though you also get Fort William towards the end. Also one of the final days' riding up General Wade's road into the highlands was one of my favorite cycling ever - a tough climb rewarded by perfect descent to Loch Ness and met with a double rainbow!

I get that you're leaving soon but shoot me any questions you have :)

https://bikepacking.com/routes/the-pictish-trail/

Has anyone come across this? Looks ideal for a gravel bike/rigid bike and could potentially be broken down into a shorter route from Edinburgh to Inverness (or the other way) to make it a more manageable trip

Yeah, it popped up on bikepacking.com the other day. There's also a video to go with it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SskTg-y6wvQ

Touring/Bikepacking North to South on the GB Divide in 4 parts:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eR9qk_dktOI

Braemar Youth Hostel is closed for the year, anyone know of any bike friendly accommodation in the vicinity? Hoping to do the Cairngorns national park loop without having to bring bedding or tents.

2nd one and take all the options. Slower but it does avoid some busy main roads.
The inside of the kintyre pensiula through carradle is much more up and down, but almost no traffic, the main road is busier, but usually a tail wind (when your heading north) and not mega busy TBH. Once north of Lochgilped its much busier, so the back roads are nicer. Plenty of forest tracks as well to get away a little bit more.
Campbeltown has really sorted itself out the last few years, no longer a dark depressing hole at the end of the world, worth a visit.
Got accom there with bike storage if anyone needs it.

if you're doing Cairngorms Loop you'll want to stay in some of the brilliant bothies en route.
It's not really a route designed for staying in hotels.
All you need is a mat and a normal sleeping bag.

I think there's a couple of cairngorns loops, I'm talking about this one:

https://bikepackingscotland.com/cairngorms/

which lists a bunch of accommodation on it. We've got leads for the other nights, just the braemar night that's causing an issue.

Also don't you basically need a tent if you're sleeping in a bothy in case you arrive and it's full?

There is Gelder Sheil bothy which may be worth a look, it's 10 miles out, bring midge nets and a bivvy bag incase it's full. Also, watch out for ticks as they are on the up and up right now

I did see this before we set off but didn’t have time to respond. Really helpful - thanks.

We rode it from East to West. The Campbeltown to Ardrossan ferry back towards Glasgow wasn’t running so ended up cutting things short and riding from Inverness to Oban and then touring the Isle of Mull. Perfect weather and agreed on the General Wade road - that’s the second time I have ridden it and it’s certainly challenging.

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Campbelltown ferry pretty much never runs anymore, it gets used on other routes most of the time. So psa to future folk, don't count on it!
West Coast motors do a good bus service back to Glasgow and will often take a bike if your early and ask nice.

I'm off to the outer Hebrides for 5 or so days with the Gravel bike, starting in South Uist and heading north as much as i can before I have to turn back and get the ferry back from South Uist.
Any recommendations of routes/roads or places to camp?

Have ridden from Vatersay up to Lewis several times. Wild camped and also used the Gatliff Trust hostels https://gatliff.org.uk/ which are amazing. It’s worth the detour to Rhenigidale if you’ve the time. Best wild camp spot I had was on Luskentyre beach, again worth detouring up the road along it to find a good spot. My first trip there was maybe forty years ago. No other tourists really then. My last trip was maybe five years back and a very different story! But still beautiful, even if the wind can be wild. If you do hit a very windy patch of time, probably best to avoid riding over the causeways till the wind drops. If you fancy reading about one tiny bit of one trip done with my daughter quite some years back now, it’s here https://saoirsedavis.com/2021/01/14/ride-to-rhenigidale/

Anyone got any suggestions of nice wild camping (or even non-wild if it's not a motorhome filled site) within an hour or two's ride from Inverness? Am doing the Badger Divide (heading North) at the end of the week and have just added an extra day on at the end as figured if I'm going all the way up there/suffering seated sleeper train on way back, I might as well make the most of it. Thinking maybe somewhere around Black Isle - would quite like to see dolphins. Mostly want to take it easy so prioritising a nice spot I can relax in for most of the day, rather than doing another big ride.

Has anyone ridden the Southern Upland Way trail (the off-road route, not the new road version)? I'm wondering if it would make a nice adventure for my 40th but I'd be starting almost from scratch so just wondering how viable/challenging it is likely to be?

Can you ride it? It's a walking trail so it might not be feasible to ride all of it (although I think Scottish rights of way are different to English ones).

I don't have any clear idea really. My long held aspiration has been to run it as a multi day ultra, but I'm off running for the medium term and so my thinking switched to riding it. You are right that it is a walking trail (there is a road cycling route too) but I did see a couple of YouTube videos suggesting people had cycled at least parts of it and so I assumed that it would be ok?

The slight difficulty is that I'd be sort of starting from scratch. The attraction is that part of my family is from the village at the exact halfway point and my dad's front door literally opens onto the trail, so I have some level of emotional connection. The downside is that I don't even own a mountain bike, I've never done a multi day bike packing thing, and with a 2yr old, I don't have time to train 😀. Hence that I was hoping to find someone who had done it previously to maybe give me some advice (or talk me out of it!).

If it all goes to pot I might revert to the road version but, frankly, traffic puts me off the idea of long distance road rides at the moment.

Edit: page 1 of the FAQ says it's legal to ride but difficult.

Sounds like a lot of excuses and not a lot of actual "this will fucking stop me".

If you want to ride a track on your 40th and it's legal, fucking do it.

That's literally it.

ANYTHING else is a hurdle to overcome and part of it.

EDIT: How drunk was I? Very.

Looks an awesome route. give yourself places to bail out and go for it. Take pictures for here.

So I probably need to head off to another thread to decide what MTB to buy first 😀. I might be able to stretch to something around 2k tops if I do it through C2W.

Not cycle touring, but hoping for some input here. If you had ~5/6 days to explore Scotland, starting from sort of the middle (Loch Voil) and you wanted to get dramatic scenery, lovely walks and vibes/culture (history/distilleries/trad music/communities etc) without spending too much time travelling, where would you go? We'd have spent ~3 days around Loch Voile so want to go somewhere with some coast I think. Is Skye the answer? Outer Hebrides probably too much travelling for the time we have. Any thoughts/suggestions much appreciated. Mull/Arran/Jura/Islay could be done and would likely make the journey home less painful... should also note will be with a pregnant wife and massive puppy, so will not be doing anything too extreme.

This bit is unreal for wilderness, coast, weird geological shapes.

Ullapool the town....this time of year....ghost town but for the dramatic scenery yer laughin'

Skye is the obvious choice if you haven't been before.

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Nice one, thank you. Added to the list! Never been to Skye so that is looking attractive. Any recommendations for there appreciated as well! Also, anyone got any intel on what the situation is with dogs? Slightly concerned lots of areas will have free roaming grazing animals so not much good for offlead walking so any insight into that much appreciated.

https://strava.app.link/OB2GZJTnrGb

The little lolly pop out and back bit to the west of that route is amazing so don't miss that if you're up there.

This is a ride up there, I know you aren't riding but this route can be driven, highly recommended. Lochinver has a famous pie shop for eating.

I don't have a dog but you should be in complete control as I am sure you are aware. Even where I live in the central belt dogs have been shot by farmers for chasing sheep.

On Skye, the obvious points are the Quiraing for a hike, Kilt Rock, Faerie Glen for a walk around, The Black and Red Cuilins for a mad hike at this time of year. Sligachan Bridge for the famous view of the Cuilins. Can't go wrong on Skye really. Don't know what Portree is like in the winter but it's a beautiful wee town/village. En route to Skye if you're going via the Kyle of Lochalsh bridgr is Eilean Donan Castle which you'll have no doubt seen in photos.