Touring Scotland

They are great tyres, fitted incorrectly or not!

I will of course have to go immediately correct this inspite of it making no discernable difference whatsoever.

The 300 people with OCD reading this thread will sleep better so think of it as helping them out. :)

Handy reference photos from twitter de hippy...

One of them

My girlfriend and I are riding the badger divide in July, but only going as far as Callander as we want to end up in Elie, Fife.

Any suggestions for connecting up Callander and Elie? It could be riding something more interesting and then getting a train as I don't want to spend a few days riding crap roads in comparison to the Badger Divide. I have found a section of the Central Belter that goes as far as Stirling but that's it so far.

Check the Fife Coastal Path can get on it from Kincardine or South Queensferry for instance, keeping to the coast up to Elie would be simple enough. There are interesting wee gravel sections to link together, complicated to explain without creating a route...

Which I did:

https://www.komoot.com/tour/396312569?ref=wtd

This is Stirling to Dysart (Just on the edge of Kirkcaldy, from there i'm not particularly clued up) Some really nice scenic sections along the coast, taking in some local forests. Naturally some tarmac but it ain't the highlands round here.

I did most of the Badger with a friend who lives in Dollar. We got as far as Lochearnhead, then headed east. Mix of old railways, country lanes towards Crieff* then Auchterarder, before some glorious/frustrating hard work and HAB over the Ochills.

*Crieff boasts a "year round Christmas shop". For this alone, it deserves to be wiped from the face of the planet.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/31138115

And sneak over the bridge back to Fife?

That looks very promising. Would you mind sharing a gpx, I don't have uk maps on Komoot so I can't download it.

I only use Komoot and ive never ridden that whole route so dont have it on Strava or anything. Wouldn't know how to make a gpx...

You can probably download the route as a gpx from Komoot, I just don't have the necessary membership to do it myself.

@cjr that's the GPX file

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• 2021-06-19_396312569_From Stirling to Dysart.gpx

Thanks, muchly appreciated.

Looks like I could do a 3ish day tour somewhere in the vicinity of the Cairngorms in mid-August - am staying near Aviemore on a family holiday and going to try and add on a few days at the end. Can anyone recommend anything 'gravel' (with 2.1 tyres) bike friendly? Looks like the Cairngorms loops are more MTB and I'd like this to be fairly enjoyable.
Also need to figure out somewhere to leave car (including family's bikes and probably a laptop) safely while doing this, which adds another logistical issue.

Could come to Deeside and do the Firmouth and Fungle Routes. Or ride up from Braemar to Derry Lodge and towards the Larig Ghru.

Thanks - will investigate those.
It's not an area I know well, am much more familiar with West Coast, so hard to know where to start.
Alternately wondering about testing the upper section of the Cairngorms route for Roam Scotland Rally https://www.roamscotlandrally.org/the-routes/ - was due to do it this year and last year which has ended up cancelled. Any thoughts on that route?
Or I could just head over to the West coast and do some sort of loop round there. It's not like it's much further and it's been a while since I've been to the area around Sandhaig/Glenelg which I'd love to go back to if I could figure out a route involving those.

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Will be staying in Edinburgh August 2 - 9 and taking my gravel bike. So, between now and then will be reading up on gravel routes reachable from Edinburgh and trying to decide whether to take the 650b 47mm tyres or 700 43mm. I'd probably only choose 700c if I end up doing a high proportion of road. Also, thinking about combining train and bike to get to other parts of Scotland, but may end up needing accommodation too. Any suggestions, group rides etc happening at the time would be great.

@chris0

https://www.komoot.com/tour/406150003?ref=wtd

I was cat/flat sitting in Portobello for a while so gave me the chance to do some new stuff (Live in Fife) and this was a highlight. Genuinely very little road riding, very nice gravel and trail sections linked with cycle paths/old railways etc. Lovely stuff.

Naturally you should try get to Aberfoyle. Bit of trek from Edinburgh on public transport, I believe Balloch in the nearest train station.

https://www.strava.com/activities/5229690965

Some nice photos in that Strava activity link too, to wet the whistle.

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Did the Caledonia Way a few weeks ago and would recommend to anyone looking for an introductory touring ride in Scotland. Wanted to do the Heb way but limited capacity on the ferries made it a nightmare to plan.

Was the gf's first multi day thing and was great! Tweaked it slightly to start from my parents and cut a few bits out but also gave us the chance to add another few ferry trips onto the journey.

Highlights being;
Wild camps - being Ballachulish quarry & Loch Ness (literally at the end in Fort Augustus at the viewing point)

https://www.sustrans.org.uk/find-other-routes/the-caledonia-way

Cheers, that route on komoot looks perfect. Will check the logistics of getting over to the west coast. May have the option of riding in Perthshire too and see there is a Perthshire gravel website.

I ride with a regular Thursday night gravel group that’s super friendly and relaxed. We meet on the west side of town.

PM me if you fancy joining and I’ll share the details.

Did the Hebridean Way and parts of Skye the other week with my girlfriend. It was great.

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And some more.

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Thanks for this. Sounds great, but I've got plans for the Thu evening. Will PM if things change though.

That looks so good! I rode the Hebridean Way with my wife for our honeymoon a long while back. Fond memories, but it was not dry. Looks like you got the weather for it.