Thinking of getting the first train (gets in at 10am) to Fort William on a Saturday morning in the Spring, and have a place I can stay in Inverness whenever I get there.

Anyone done it? Do-able? I’ve ridden it before as a student, but we were lazy and did it over 3 days (2 would have been better).

Think I would follow the walking route for the whole way as the old cycle way (which is no longer officially marked) had a fair bit of road on the last stretch.

Navigation should be easy, and the trails weren’t technical, so I reckon it should be easy to tick off the miles (except for the odd big climb).

I’ve only ridden the bottom half, from Ft Augustus to Ft William.

If I were doing it, I’d prefer to skip the bottom half by getting the train to Dalwhinnie, riding west via loch pattack and loch laggan to the foot of the corrieyairaick pass, riding over the pass and descending to Ft Augustus, before rejoining the GGW.

Problem is, this becomes a 120km day, so a little bit of an extra challenge!

and the ground will be sodden toward Inverness 😥

short days aswell you’ll need lights…….

Think he’s planning it for the spring, but good advice, I rode it on a wet may day and it was pretty splashy…

Ive been thinking about flying to inverness then riding to fort William then sleeper train back so I’ll keep an eye on this thread for any better suggestions.

Thanks. That does sound like any interesting route 13thfloormonk, does that start along the private road towards the bothy by Ben Alder, but stay on the main track before the bothy turn off? Sounds like it might be one for another day!

Planning on doing it in May, so will take some basic lights, but would hopefully be close to Inverness by the time I need them (if at all). If I can average 8mph inc breaks, that would be 10hrs, so even accounting for faffing about, breaks etc, hopefully I could do it by sunset.

Flatfish – the train I was looking at to FW is the sleeper, which gets in at 10am. The advantage of doing it to from FW to Inverness is that you have the prevailing wind behind you (and a nice flat section to warm up!)

If you don’t die of boredom you should be fine.

Thats the one pixelmix, although there’s two bothies by Ben Alder, I’m talking about the landy track that heads towards the northermost one, but then turns towards Laggan.

Oh, and the couple of experiences I’ve had of long days is that too many ‘breaks’ can actually do more harm than good, I’ve felt worst after stopping too long/eating too much than if I’d just carried on. Little and often etc..

Ha, admittedly not the most techy riding, but it’s a nice part of the world, with nice scenery, and not somewhere I don’t go too often.

Maybe I’ll take the SS to liven it up.

If it makes you feel better TheBrick, the other rides I’m pencilling in for next year will be more “interesting” trails.

Cheers 13th. Noted!

My theory for Inverness to fort bill was I can fly with a cardboard bike box and then abandon it at the airport and once done I can just rock up at fort bill rail station and put my bike aboard without packing anything up for the trip home but like I said I’m open to other suggestions for a long weekend away.

“If it makes you feel better TheBrick, the other rides I’m pencilling in for next year will be more “interesting” trails.”

Ha! I like a good gentle ride I just personally found the middle section very boarding. The two ends are good cycling though.