Viewing 25 posts - 1 through 25 (of 25 total)
  • west highland way, how long will it take and where do we stop??
  • westcoastmassive
    Free Member

    Hi,
    Im going to be riding the whw the first week in May with two friends who dont ride that much, but will be fit enough. We will be riding from fort william towards glasgow, and as i know that plenty of you will have done this i just wondered if you had any tips for how much i should be aiming to ride in a day and where i should be staying? I know its about 95 miles altogether, and that some of it is fast track and some of it more technical and therfore slower- if im on my old enduro and my two less experienced mates are on more suitable (i.e. less heavy!) bikes and we are in no hurry whatsoever (ive got the whole week off and we`re planning to start monday a.m.) how far do you think we can get on day 1 and day 2? I know the area well, but i dont know the trail at all- ive got a book coming in the post but if you lot have any advice it would be very much appreciated.
    Cheers, Simon.

    druidh
    Free Member

    Between one and 3 days.

    Here is someones story: http://www.trailscotland.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1270

    Brake-neck
    Free Member

    I did it last year in average conditions.

    WHW

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middling Edition

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middlin...
    Latest Singletrack Videos
    Daisy_Duke
    Free Member

    Do they know about the carrying bit and the Loch Lomond section?!
    Two days easy… It’s a mega route…

    westcoastmassive
    Free Member

    daisy_duke- i only know what i read in an article in mbuk last year and thats not much, i dont mind taking it as it comes though, im used to carrying my bike in the scottish hills and ill make sure theyre pre-warned. tbh its them that wanted to do this as a charity ride, im only tagging along for a casual saunter as the experienced biker and because im riding the macavalnche the weekend before so ill be in the vicinity anyway…so the onus is on them to be up to it haha!!
    druidh- 3 days was what i was aiming for, thanks to you and brake-neck for posting and linking, cheers!!

    supertacky
    Free Member

    A group of four of us did it last year in the May heat wave. Three and a half days from South to North. Stayed at Rowardennan, Tyndrum, then Kinloch Leven.

    Train home from Fort William added to an extremely memorable trip.

    The carry at the north end of the loch wasnt too bad about 2 hours up and down. Good opertunity to chat with walkers and other path users.

    I havent done it North to South and would be interested in doing so, but in my minds eye I think it may well be a better ride South to North considering some of the amazing descents that we did…

    Good luck its a great trip

    supertacky
    Free Member

    Heading South I’d recon a good easy day would be to hit Glencoe possibly the Kingshouse or Glencoe Ski centre Hobbit houses.

    druidh
    Free Member

    I reckon S-N gives the better descents.
    N-S has the advantage that you meet (most of) the walkers head on and are therefore less likely to be obstructed. But who really wants to ride to Glasgow?. 😆

    Seriously though – there are a lot more trains from Glasgow than from Fort William and if you are unsure of your schedule (and therefore can’t pre-book bike space) that might be the deal-swinger.

    westcoastmassive
    Free Member

    this is ace, thanks everybody for their input and enthusiasm. We are definitely going to do this north to south as im going to be up that way anyway and one of the guys wants to end up in milngavie to finish at the hospice he wants to raise money for, then we`ll get the train back up for the cars.
    druidh- that link you posted with all the tips and photos is really good even though he went south-north, i`ll post it on my pals fb pages so they can see it.

    westcoastmassive
    Free Member

    supertacky, thanks for the ideas on where to stay the first night, that bit is the unknown section for me. I can envisage the bit from glencoe south, its just the bit “round the back” i dont know so your suggestions help a lot.

    ktmblag
    Free Member

    I rode this in the day back in 2001 to raise money for Edale primary school…did north to south and it took us 17 hrs…boy that was a long day

    bren2709
    Full Member

    Druidh – great link mate.
    After reading and looking at pics think this is something I will be tackling in the near future.
    North – South.

    br
    Free Member

    I’m reasonably fit and did Kingshouse to FW and back in a day in the summer. But did meet some guys who’d set off at midnight and were aiming for the sleeper out of FW.

    But it depends, are you trying to kill yourselves or just out for a good ride?

    Two days will stretch, three days will be pleasant.

    FW to Bridge of Orchy for day one maybe?

    tomd
    Free Member

    If you don’t have it it would be a good idea to get this:

    WHW Map

    It’s handy for planning the route and when your tired some of the navigation isn’t totally obvious.

    If you’re planning to go in may you might find it tough to find accomodation exactly where you want, so I’d get something booked as soon as you can. If you want to enjoy the route this might be a plan over three days:

    FW to Bridge of Orchy – this is a long distance but has most of the best riding.

    Bridge of Orchy to Rowerdennan – This takes in the dreaded East Shore or Loch Lomond.

    Rowerdennan to Milngavie

    birky
    Free Member

    Worth noting that the SSDT and Pre-65 trials take place 3-11th May based in FW and Kinlochleven and use parts of the WHW. You could find yourself sharing the trail with 200-300 bikes.
    SSDT

    jeffcapeshop
    Free Member

    the loch lomond carry bit is a killer. if you’re doing that, add a full afternoon on imo – and you won’t want to do any more after. i think i’m pretty fit, and i was **** after it.

    westcoastmassive
    Free Member

    birky, thanks for that shout!! ive entered for the macavalanche on the 27th-28th, and we were going to set off from FW on the morning of the Monday 29th. Do you think there will be people practising that early, or will we be fine as long as we get through tyndrum by the evening of the 30th?

    is the carry section just as bad if youre going north-south? i know we`ll still have to carry, but is it easier that way round?

    birky
    Free Member

    You’ll be fine going the week before the trial, there’s no practising allowed.

    tomd
    Free Member

    is the carry section just as bad if youre going north-south? i know we`ll still have to carry, but is it easier that way round?

    Yep, it’s pretty much exactly the same. The path hugs the East shore of Loch Lomond. It’s not hike-a-bike like you might do going up a mountain. It’s more just short carries and lifts over boulders, tree roots and drainage ditches that goes on and on and on.

    dmoffitt90
    Free Member

    Lots of bike friendly places to stay long the WHW, I have previously done it in 2 days and 1 day,

    2 days is really good as it gives you enough time to stop, but is dependant if you can manage 45-50 tough miles in one day.

    We stayed in a really good Hostel just outside Fortwilliam in Banavie called Chase the Wild Goose the night before starting to allow us to get up and get an early start, they had good bike storage. On the First night we stayed in the Youth hostel in Crainlarich, although dropping down into Crainlarich means you come off of the Way by about 2 miles. Notably this will be the tougher day with the Climb out of Kinlochleven to the top of the Devils staircase being fairly steep and long.

    On the second day we manage to catch a ferry from Tarbet to Inversnaid to aviod the long walk at the start of Loch Lomond. Again this allowed enough time ride ride along the rest of the loch and up over Conic Hill at the end of Loch Lomond.

    tomd
    Free Member

    On the second day we manage to catch a ferry from Tarbet to Inversnaid to aviod the long walk at the start of Loch Lomond. Again this allowed enough time ride ride along the rest of the loch and up over Conic Hill at the end of Loch Lomond.

    The OP was talking about his mate doing it for charity. I’d ask for my money back if I’d sponsored someone to do the WHW and heard they’d gone for a jolly in a boat 😉

    Nobeerinthefridge
    Free Member

    Tomd + 1!

    dmoffitt90
    Free Member

    It was really a suggestion to avoid walking as its a horribe section to walk, I managed to do the full way in 14 hours last time including the walking section and would still suggest the boat if your doing it for fun. As a 1-2hr walk carrying a bike and scrambling up steeper sections is fairly depressing in the middle of a long day.

    westcoastmassive
    Free Member

    birky, thanks for the confirmation about the 6 day trial, we are definitely going on the 29th so we will be fine, all we need now is one of those early may high pressures we seem to get on the west coast. ive lived in islay for 13 years now so i know that the first week in may is actually the middle of summer haha.

    tomd, we will definitely be walking the horrible bit, i agree with you about the sponsoring issue. i think even if i was doing it for fun i would still want to do the whole thing tbh, but not everybody will agree with that so dmoffitt`s shout about the boat will be good information for some people who might be reading this!

    from what ive read in the links and from what you all say i think we`ll stay at kingshouse the first night, im going to book that up asap to avoid disappointment. i dont fancy going any further than that on the first day, espescially on my enduro!!

    jeffcapeshop
    Free Member

    if you want it reasonably comfortable, stay at kingshouse, second at beinglas and take the last day to struggle down the loch and over conic hill. that’s what i would do if i was doing it again.

Viewing 25 posts - 1 through 25 (of 25 total)

The topic ‘west highland way, how long will it take and where do we stop??’ is closed to new replies.