Touring Scotland

I'm looking for remote but not technical for this one.

Have a look at the Cairngorms Loop as well, could tie in nicely halfway along the BD segment of the route

enjoyment levels

The scenery is great, some of the best riding I've done, in UK. I got bored of it after a while though, as I found it rather repetitive, so my personal advice would be to aim for a shorter, more manageable plan/route and pick and choose the nice bits. I have not heard much praises about the stretch to JOG for example.

But this is just based on one experience, riding solo.

Yeah I haven't tried a mussette, but the little rucksack didn't move too much. It's quite a long stretch between Fort Augustus and Killin, there's food at Corrour Station if it's open but other than that I don't think there is.

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.

What track were you using? An Turas Mor doesn't turn left at the Glen Golly River, so far as I can tell. It goes right on the Strathmore River towards "Alltnacaillitch"

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/course/18544462

I'm trying to reduce my options not add more :)

But thanks for the suggestion, I'll have a look.

EDIT: https://bikepacking.com/routes/cairngorms-loop/

"spine-chilling singletrack descents to epic hike-a-bikes."

Yeah not sure about that.

Yeah, I'm kinda used to that (seeing the same thing for days). Not sure how the missus will feel but that's part of the "fun" - finding out what we like and don't.

I was trying to just keep it to An Turas Mor because it's a complete package and I have the guidebook already so it simplifies things. If I start adding in detours then I may lose the plot - it's already a bit of a rush to get something in place before the weather turns to shit and I need approval for any hols anyway and I've just been in Spain for 3 weeks :)

Fort Augustus and Killin

Killin to Fort Augustus -> 107km-290km

Yeah, looks sparse. There's some hotels, lodges and YH at Loch Ossian:(https://www.hostellingscotland.org.uk/hostels/loch-ossian/) so if they're open we could plan this section for a posh stop.

A different one from that, but you'll be good if you follow the one you have linked, that was the way I was recommending.

There is also:

• Glenlyon Post Office at Bridge of Balgie
  
• Moor of Rannoch Restaurant & Rooms and Rannoch Station Tearoom at Rannoch Station.
  
  

And you can always detour to Laggan if in a pinch or caught out by bad conditions.

"spine-chilling singletrack descents to epic hike-a-bikes."

That doesn't sound like 'noob gravel bike rider' territory to me. 7/10 difficulty rating?
I don't want to kill her (or me) on our first proper tour.

The Cairngorms outer loop is generally regarded as relatively chill, the inner loop is where all the epic HAB is. I'd probably take the MTB over the gradventourer though.

We only hav da grav and although I'm comfortable throwing myself off dumb stuff I wanna keep it chill for the most part.

Ah, I see the loops now: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/16650111

I'll edit this to remove the inner loop and then see how it fits with An Turas Mor route.

Ok, so if you use An Turas Mor FULL route it's different to their 8-day tour routes and DOES go left at Glen Golly River. That explains why I'm seeing different stuff.

The GNT route is different again.

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Yeah, I was looking at the red for reference.

The path up to Glen Golly River is somewhat rideable if your stubborn, although the climb up to Creag Staonsaid is steep/loose and will require a bit of hiking. The route then goes down to Loch Dionard, but I could not see any way around the Loch from routes/satellite/heatmaps, so I avoided and chose to follow the HT550. What followed was 4/5h hike a bike, both up and down, not pleasant.

I'd stick to the magenta option.

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looks rubbish

Thanks. Will definitely use the "8 day" magenta version. I may have got over my hatred of hike-a-bike during Badlands but if I can choose/plan to avoid it I will.

We might be scuppered by the ferry timetable. Looks like it only runs in Sept so if we're there in Oct is there another way to Cape Wrath? https://capewrathferry.wordpress.com/rates-and-services/

Depending how late in October might be worth a phone call.

Yeah, I've sent a message to the number on https://capewrathferry.wordpress.com/faqs/ and will see if I get an answer. I guess there's no other way over there. It would be a bit annoying to ride it and not get to the end but then we could aim for JOG instead perhaps. I've still never been there.

If you don't mind a bit of hike a bike you can cross a couple km down at the fb and hug the coast line.

I've not done it but have taken a good look at it from the other side and it looks quite doable, check streetview. Mostly arable land.

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There's definitely some tracks on OSM maps that go part way around that side, but also looks like a water crossing in the SW corner that might be problematic.

OS map and satellite images shows footbridge at both., The Allt Coirie Fresgill looks like there is a sheep paddock straddling it so likely passable too. Low tide should assist too as there will be a lot of beach

Thanks for that. I think I can see what looks like a bridge on Google Sat view.

What are you waiting for? Go find out for us. Cheers.

The plan is to head up later this month.

The ferryman didn't respond to my text so that doesn't bode well. If Wrath is out, we'll just go elsewhere or maybe ride more of the route backwards.

The missus currently panic buying all the midge repellents and tick tools she can find...