Going up for a mini road trip in a couple of weeks, what would be the definitive must do’s?

buy a midge hood 🙂

(joking aside, I’m also interested in responses to the best trails there)

staying applecross and Plockton, hopefully there’ll be a gentle sea breeze to cool us off from the warmth of the sun and blow the midges away!

There are very few trails on Skye, other than the two obvious ones and they are not earth shattering, nice scenery though.

Really? thought Skye had a quite bit to offer, may be moving onto Ciaran a day sooner then!

I’d definately do the achnashealach descent- went up in April and did that then drove to sky and did sligachan out and back . Awesome weekend!

I hear the Skye ridge is great on a bicycle, would love to be proved wrong, Sligachan out and back (or the loop lots of road), Totternish for a couple of hours.

From my trip up there in early June the highlights were the descent from Drochaid Coire Lair to Achnashellach and the Annat descent from Loch Coire An Ruadh Staic as an out and back.

If you want a big day out link them up with the classic lollipop loop from Annat.

From Applecross, ride the path to Kenmore and back. Cracking day out! I was there a couple of weeks ago with reasonable weather. Midges were not a problem.

Loch Damph circuit is ace and the last descent to the road is a corker

For 4 days, I wouldn’t bother with Skye tbh, I’d stay on the mainland. Also, CIaran path is rather overrated IMO.

Cheers guys, Skye is in danger of being relegated, what about Devil’s staircase then (I’m under the impression it’s not part of Ciaran path iirc)?

If you like rocky descending, consider a day on the gondola at Nevis doing the red descent, it’s an awesome days riding, I try to do it once a year.

It’s worth a day trip to Skye to do Glen Sligachan. But do it out and back, ignore the road versions you see in some guidebooks. Riding the Quirang is good if you have nerves of steel for the big big drops. I didn’t and walked much of it. Still a nice walk though.

In Torridon it has to be the classic loop that’s been mentioned a zillion times on here (Coulags, Annat etc).

I was aiming to have an ‘all wild’ trip, I’ve done Ft Bill and most of the trailcentres at some point in the past, thanks for the suggestion tho’ nobeer!

If you have some time over Skye way, it could be worth looking at a day on Raasay – nothing earth shattering mind you, but great situation and natural trails.

Torridon

Up from Annat / Torridon hotel up and over Bealach Na Lice round Bealach ban then down Coire Lair then all the way down the classic bed rock descent to Achnashellach station.
Spin along the road to coulags then back up past the bothy hike a bike back up to Bealach na lice then another belter of a descent all the way back to the Torridon hotel.
Its a big loop with a good bit of height and a fair bit of hike a bike.
Its generally pretty good gravel not much mud other than going past loch Fionnarich if its been wet.
There isnt much in the way of get outs though so you have to decide at the first descent if you commit to the big day out or turn back.

FWIW the word Bealach means narrow mountain pass like Col in France i suppose.

i did another big-ish loop around Liathach. Dont think i would rush to do that again as the bog hoping before the final descent is massive and a real slog, but the descent is a cracker. May be worth looking at for an out and back up Corie Dubh Mor you would start at the car park on the road just outside torridon to Kinlochewe.

Looking up corie Lair i think if you descend all the way to the station its about 6km of down.

In the interest of fairness, same trail different weather

Top of corie lair

Highland hike-a-bike, look carefully you can make out the singletrack on the valley floor

Beinn Faddha circuit is just south of applecross (starts at Morvich) and has stunning scenery, a sense of being in the wilds and one of the best descents I’ve done anywhere.

thanks for the sharing the pics NCB, really whet my appetite.
How long is the Beinn faddha circuit MrH, I suspect we’ll be arriving late afternoon so a couple of hour ride from applecross would be perfect!

I just saw you’re in plockton too, it’s really close by there. It’s quite a big day out tbh and no bail outs, I think it’s 35-40km ish with a couple of sections of hike a bike. I’d be looking at 4-5 hours.

I’d recommend the route described by north country boy and the beinn fhada loop Mr hoppy mentions.

Between them they cover three of the best descents I’ve ridden in the UK.

If you’re in torridon its worth a go at the beinn damph loop, though the novelty of the wet route in and climb are wearing off for me and i might just push up the descent a couple of times next time I’m up there.

Definitely prefer Torridon over Skye. Torridon lollipop is an amazing ride. A big day out in the mountains. A must do. I just wish I could get up there more regularly. Although I suppose that’s why it’s quite special.

I enjoyed the Ben Damph circuit too. We did this as a second day route. A nice leg spinner but it’s all about the final descent. I especially loved the pine forest section after the river crossing.

I’ve read the out and back from Applecross is a really good ride too.

As for Skye. I’ve ridden Glen Sligachan and Quiraing. If I rode Sligachan again I wouldn’t bother with the road work and just do an out and back. The Quiraing was good too but there was a lot of stop start riding for me with plenty of exposure. The views are amazing though but it’s not one I’d go out of my way to do again.

I’m sure Skye has other routes to offer. A couple I met up with to ride the Quiraing also rode around the cuillins/fairy pools and were very impressed and I know Go Where Scotland do part of their Torrid Affair trip on the island too.

+1 for kenmore path it’s pretty much bog-free. We returned via the coast road for a change of view though it’s obviously a fair bit of tarmac.

+1 for just doing an out and back on the Ben Damph loop, absolutely cracking descent. And sligachan for that matter. I like to do the Kenmore to Applecross as a loop back round the coast, bit more singletrack and then a fair bit of road but with amazing views of Skye.

Kenmore loop is excellent. Start in Applecross enjoy the views from the road and finish at the café in the walled gardens.

cheers folks, keep them coming! 😀

Ben Damph
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1202441926

Torrid Lollipop
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/209357681

Annat lollipop and Achnaschelach (sp) are great. I was unimpressed by Ben Damph; very damp, little tech and the best bits were similar to those at Annat but not so much fun.

Skye doesn’t have so much good riding really.

Mafia, did you miss the last 6k from the Bealach through the loose rocks, the forest and down to the road ?

We rode from Shieldaig via a nice road – up and over to Bealach na Bà, and going off-road at the top of the pass just to do the track to get as high as possible. We then dropped into Applecross had food and rode back to Shieldaig via the track to Kenmore.

Fairly big day out but with the added bonus of Bealach na Bà, even on a mountain bike is a good challenge.

Mafia, did you miss the last 6k from the Bealach through the loose rocks, the forest and down to the road ?

We came up that way from the road as an out-and -back missing the loch section. It was nice, and really fast in places but I think with it (and us) being so wet it didn’t quite make up for the higher stretches.

It did remind me of some of the best bits of the Laraig Ghru though, you could get some serious speed on the lower wooded sections with some tasty flat corners.

Maybe I was just grumpy in retrospect!

Mafia, I’m thinking that it was a fair bit of a push !

Rickmeister, thanks for the downloads, we’ll use them!

I wouldnt bother with Skye tbh, personally I thought the Sligachan to Camasanary Bothy and back was a relentless slog, far better riding Torridon area, Kenmore to Applecross and back was sublime, feels different on the way back,big lollypop loop either all at once or break it up as I did when I was riding solo, Annat to Bealach Na Lice and back for superb descent back to Annat, bit of lunch Torridon Inn Ben Dampf (well Ben Dampf never happened but that was the plan) in the afternoon, Coulags to bealach Na Lice, coire Lair and descend to Achnashellac and back to Coulags, superb day out, I should add I did these in near perfect weather conditions end of may, I’d imagine it being horrendous in bad weather.