Great Glen Way, Scotland

Has anyone here ridden the Great Glen Way? It looks like a incredible way to experience Scotland, as I've never been before, and I'm looking into whether I could do it on my tourer with knobbly tires fitted. If anyone has cycled this route please share your experiences.

In particular, where did you stay? how long did it take? what bike did you use? and any other tips you have.

Cheers!

For anyone who hasn't heard of The Great Glen Way here's a bit of info

Bump. Anyone have any comments about riding fixed 32mm tyres? Sensible or stupid? Heading up at the end of the month and taking our time, 100 miles in 3 days so plenty of time to go off route and explore a bit as well...

We did it as part of LEJOG, did it on Specialised Sirrus, stayed at Loch Lomond and went up to Inverness IIRC.

The Glen itself isn't too hilly, undulating but it's along a canal which was pretty nice. Road has LOTS of coaches on it which is a bitch, bit of a climb up to the SAS? memorial but worth it for the view. Not a clue about the cycle path but you'd probably be able to do it fixed.

Edit 1 - Also, Loch Lomond youth hostel is REALLY lovely, huge manor house, massive kitchen, gorgeous. Bit of a climb up into the highlands from there. (I think I might have missed a day out somewhere though, we may have done Loch Lomond-Fort William-Inverness but not sure.)

Edit 2 - AH! That was it, we stayed at the Ben Nevis youth hostel after Loch Lomond! Was again lovely and a bit out of the way, very lovely place.

Cheers WJ, I've read a bit and people are strongly recommending mountain bikes for the trails, did you take on any trails or stick to the roads (A82?) We're planning on riding South from Inverness to Oban.

We stuck to the roads pretty much, they're totally rideable, lots of coaches but much better than the Inverness - John 'o Groats road.

I was thinking of avoiding the A roads and maybe some of the back roads... They've got to be pretty quiet, just worried about meeting a ton of hill climbing instead of rolling by a loch.

Probably, you can most likely keep next to the canal and avoid all hill climbing, pretty darned flat.

Has anyone done this from Fort William > Inverness beside the canals/lochs or vice versa recently?
It looks like its fairly flat and a mix of paved/packed gravel, light trails, and i don't necessarily need a mountain bike, am i correct?
I can handle a few miles of bumpy trail on the old tourer, even if i have to get off and push occassionally.
Planning on doing it mid june as part of a Thurso to Glasgow ride.

Me and the missus did this last summer Inverness to Oban. The last section to Oban was possibly the nicest, and the train from Oban goes to Glasgow.

The section south of Inverness to Fort Augustus was a mix of very pleasant forest tracks to near on impossible to cycle on loose rocks/tree routes. We skipped the last 10 miles as we were averaging under 8mph through the Northern part. The rest was more pleasant and very flat.

Cool, thanks for the info @hairnetnic
I guess we'll just play it by ear and skip out onto a road if it gets a bit tedious.
It also looks like the east side of the Lochs could have a nice route too.

Thats a reasonable plan but the exits can be quite spaced out.

Next time I would take the roads through the hills for the northern section. South of Augustus the canal side trails are very nice but the section on the east coast of Oich was full of exposed 2 inch high exposed tree routes. That needs 32mm tyres at the very least.

I did this about 4ish years ago after doing the WHW. Defiantly doable on 32mm tyres. Pretty dull and boring IMO but served a purpose for me getting me to Inverness with a bad knee. A couple of climbs but not much. Best thing is near Inverness a cafe called Rory's Cafe just off of the way in the middle of nowhere. I camped. Plenty of other much nicer routes in Scotland IMO.

I did this last September from Inverness South. I started trying to take the Great Glen Way but soon after Inverness turned around and took the B-roads on the South bank through Foyers through to Fort Augustus. The roads were really nice with a nice slow climb up the Suie. After Fort Augustus I picked up the Great Glen Way again but as you say it is mostly Canal Paths and Forest Trails. One section was over a pretty rough hard pack walking trail. I managed to do all of it on my Surly Disc Trucker with Conti Contact II Reflex tyres.

https://www.strava.com/activities/197021992

How have people found the midges in summer? Thinking of doing something walking/cycling related this summer.

I did it mid september. No midges for an entire week.

I went in August, one morning after rain it was bad for 15 minutes, but on a bike you don't really notice them as you're traveling too fast.