Touring Scotland

Amazing, thanks man, really appreciate the input! That route is perfect to add to our itinerary, especially as wife is not going to be up for long walks (will be ~5 months pregnant) having a scenic drive up our sleeves is a great idea. The Skye tips sound perfect too - and we're not heading up till mid April which gives us equal chances spring sunshine or the depths of winter.

Yup, totally understand and agree re control of the dog, the question was more whether there will likely be areas without livestock where we could give him slightly more freedom, but we'll work that out when we're up there and the beaches should usually be good spots.

Looking at doing some riding in Scotland...interested in what the chances of me being able to rock up without a booking on the following routes in June and having a space on the crossing

Oban > Craignure
Tobermory > Kilchoan
Mallaig > Ardvasar

In a perfect world, not making a firm booking will allow me to travel at the pace that suits but not sure if I'm dreaming. Advice gratefully received

Generally, yes, you’ll have no trouble getting a ferry in Scotland at last minute with a bike. There are some exceptions, like a Saturday morning crossing to Arran which gets very busy. Groups of 6 are meant to let the port office know beforehand, but sounds like it’s just you.

Calmac's pretty generous with bikes, you'll be fine - just check if there's any boat cancellations in their small print per route webpage, if it means 3x passengers are on the last ferry out of town that can be tight

Bit late to this, but whilst around Loch Voil (or potentially extend you stay there)
-Callander pies and bakes from Mhor/Susans
-Thursday evening trad sesh in Taybank, Dunkeld (if not a whole day chilling in the towns cafe)
-Fortingall Inn Friday rhythm & blues sesh - they've consistently let me camp on their grounds and have a great breakfast
-Ballechin/Edradour distillery if open

(If) you were cycling, after that I'd take Glen Tilt (From Blair Athol to Braemar) and work my way towards the coast at Aberdeen

an alt coastal (car) tour would be the gems of Fife
-Sessions in Crail or (shudder) St Andrews
-Every single East Neuk village, the tidal pool morning swims
-Kinneuchar Inn/The Dory blowaway food
-Falkirk cafes
-Bowhouse weekend markets

I've just come from all of Mull/Arran/Jura/Islay this week - they'll be heaving if summer, will need car/ferry reservations and get a bit midgey

Appreciate the advice re ferries thanks

No problem, another thought I had - a lot of these roads will be a bit/quite annoying as cars behind will be looking for you to stop and on the singletrack bits (a radar light helps a lot), incoming cars also often ignore the passing place etiquette and expect you to stop on the side of the road as they bulldoze past - that said I've not done the Kilchoan/Ardvasar section and basing this off Mull west, and Tayvallich to Oban.
Craignure to Tobermory is at least double lane roads so lots of overtake room and you can just do your thing

Can anyone point me in the direction of a nice gravel route between Aberfoyle/east Trossachs to Edinburgh? I'm riding the Badger Divide next week North to South, but plan to end in Edi rather than Glasgow to see friends... Thanks

Not gravel but the Crow road through the Trossachs is great

How long do you have/how far are you willing to ride in a day from Aberfoyle? If you don't mind an indirect loop I can plan something nice.

Not sure where we will have camped the night before, but we'll want to get to Edi that evening.. So anywhere up to 150km I guess (ideally less – aiming to meet friends at the pub at 3.30!)

There's not a huge amount of gravel that will take you directly east from Callandar. This route is a fairly direct whack via the best cycle paths (avoiding indirect unscenic wobbles) around Dunblane, Alloa and Dunfermline, with some bonus gravel secteurs around Rosyth and a fun off-road way into west Edinburgh. The Alloa > Dunfermline bike path is inspiring for the quality of the infrastructure and, at a stretch, Clackamannanshire's rich post-industrial history.

For camping, if you don't mind a punchy climb to end your day, there are good wide open spaces in Glen Artney above Callandar. The slopes along the side of Loch Lubnaig are nice but quite steep. I grew up in Crieff but, beyond that, my knowledge of these airts isn't terrific.

Enioy! https://ridewithgps.com/routes/46726113

That's great, thanks so much!

I did a ten day tour of Scotland starting in Edinburgh, riding to Glasgow using the Union and Forth & Clyde Canals, from Glasgow, I used the 2024 Trans Alba route to head north till i got around to Inverness at which point I used the Lochs and Glens Way to return to Glasgow and then did a short overnight trip to the Isle of Bute. With the exception of the Edinburgh > Glasgow route, all were rolling to hilly and found myself pretty empty at the end of most days.

There were plenty of cafes / bakeries along the way but also took camping stove and freeze dried meals so I could ride till I felt like coming to an end.

Weather was very changeable with a fair bit of Scotch mist and only really one dose of proper rain. Given the weather when I kicked off, I was pretty conservative with my clothing - didn't end up using a long sleeve merino cycling jersey spending most of my time in cycling jersey, gilet and arm warmers. The one thing that was formidable though was the wind particularly on the more exposed stretches.

I did pick up three ticks one evening when I was bare foot and in shorts - fortunately had tick remover with me but definitely something to be conscious of. Midges were about but more an inconvenience rather than a major PITA.

Route was pretty much all sealed roads bar the Lochs and Glens Way where there were some doses of gravel but nothing that was troublesome for a loaded bike on 28c slick tyres. There were plenty of single lane roads where passing lanes were the main means of getting passed oncoming traffic. Drivers were generally v courteous although inevitably were some aholes.

One section that was daunting was Applecross Pass which is a beast and reminded me of Hard Knock Pass in the Lake District.

Will get some photos up when I get some time but would firmly recommend although probably helped not going during peak holiday season.

If you avoid Dunfermline and hook a left through Limekilns, down through Culroos then along to Kincardine then Alva you miss the cycle route and see pretty little villages and cafe stops.

That is home so I deeply encourage it.

I’ve been over Bealach na Bà many times.

Would not fancy it now with the hired campervans. Great area though.

Signage does say no campervans over Bealach na Bà but there are people willing to chance it

lol. Yeah we both know how that works.

Anyone cycled the whole Affric-Kintail way ? Be interested to hear any experiences of it and how long it took, etc. I did a little of the first section last year as a detour from Badger Divide and that was a mixture of really good gravel tracks and less good muddy forest paths. Am looking at adding the whole thing onto a loop I'm aiming to do at the end of the month.

Was about to reply. Then realised it’s you 😂😂

I could just paste my WhatsApp in here again if you like.
This does remind me that this site comes up on Google easily and given there isn't loads of riding info on the route, I should probably do some sort of ride report when less tired.

Aye just post the WhatsApp message, gives people the gist of what to expect on the route anyhoo