Which is the best.

Cheers

I don’t think either will be great – not a lot of trails

Aren’t they both quite flat too?

There is some good trail riding on Orkney. There is a great cliff top ride from the Bay of Skail (Skra Brae) round to Stromness. There is also a good singletrack trail from Moness (ferry terminal) over to Rackwick on Hoy. You can ride up to the Old Man of Hoy and back. There is a bothy on the beach at Rackwick.

as above Orkney probably best, not a lot there though, roads are a nice potter if you get a sunny day without too much wind, you can sort of loop Hoy, passenger ferry to Moaness, and then out to Old Man and back to Lyness road) (*allocate some time for museum there). Go early, with the sun, to the Ring of Brogar and have a wander around,

http://www.bing.com/maps/#JnE9Lm9ya25leSU3ZXNzdC4wJTdlcGcuMSZiYj01NC42Mzg5MzMyNDAwNjIlN2UxMC4xNjIzNTM1MTU2MjUlN2U0OC4xNTUxNTgyODYwOTI4JTdlLTEwLjE2MjM1MzUxNTYyNQ== is one of the most tranquil places I’ve been, memorial plaque is quite sobering

worth doing a trp round the Viking stuff – Maes Howe etc

*if you want islands and MTB do Harris

mcmoonter, do you think that you can provide more info on the riding on Orkney, cheers.

After deciding not to go to Europe this year, we are going to hire a campervan and goto a part of scotland weve never been. So its either Shetlands or Orkneys.

I know neither are mountainbike hotspots, but i will be taking the bike anyway and stopping at torridon en route 🙂

Have you checked the cost of the ferries?

Nice smallish camprers for hire

yeah, the ferry is a right bargin 🙁

Thanks for the link. 🙂

I used to live in stromness, there are a fair few paths around, and some hills in the middle of the mainland, but it isn’t an mtb mecca. Hoy has some nice paths but bear in mind at some times of the year very large birds will physically attack you over there 😉 You could have a lovely ride around Hoy and stay in the bothy at Rackwick, which is an amazing place on a nice summers day.

mcmoonter, do you think that you can provide more info on the riding on Orkney, cheers.

Have you checked the cost of the ferries?

There are two ferries to Orkney. The Northlink boat from Scrabster would I’d imagine still be the more expensive. Check the ferry that sails to South Ronaldsay from Gills Bay, they are usually more competetive on price. It has never been a cheap place to get to.

If you wanted to leave the van and bike around, there is a good Hostel
in Stromness, and a million B&Bs.
http://www.brownshostel.co.uk/

There is another out in Birsay.
http://www.syha.org.uk/hostels/islands/birsay.aspx
and Kirkwall
http://www.syha.org.uk/hostels/islands/kirkwall.aspx

There is another very good hostel on Papa Westray
http://www.syha.org.uk/hostels/islands/papa_westray.aspx

There is a good wee bothy at Rackwick on Hoy.

You can catch a ferry from Kirkwall out to Westray and Papa Westray. As has been said there isnt a huge amount of offroad mountainbiking on Orkney, but touring around the archaeological sites by bike doable as the roads are very quiet. Pick up an OS map and you’ll find the trails I mentioned above. The outer isles like Rousay, Sanday and Hoy are easy day trips. Inter island ferries leave from Stromness or Houton for Hoy, the Northern Isles are served from Kirkwall.

Weather can be unpredictable, there are no trees to break the wind. But when the sun shines it is spectacularly beautiful.

Expect mental Wind!

Cheers all 🙂

a little OT

we intend to cycle round shetland (my gran is from lerwick and i went as a kid but not been back) and possibly orkney this summer on cross bikes.

im aware of the wind – but i have cycled round new zealand in its entirety ! – neither island can be much worse than south west NZ where we averaged about 3kph for days.

any must do trails that we could cover on loaded cross bikes.