[Closed] Arran bikepacking routes/tips

she said its no good for road cycling

She speaks with forked tongue...

The Arran circular, 56 miles, is a classic. Road surfaces vary from crown green smooth to a surface similar to the trans amazonica highway in rainy season, but a gravel bike will be ideal for this. The other road classic is the figure of 8, at about 80 odd miles.

As the island is pretty mountainous, there isn't any long distance cycleable paths, suitable for bikepacking to be honest, there is a network of forestry roads in the southern half, but you'd cover it all in half a day.

Either ride the road, or take your mountain bike, if you want routes, I'd be glad to assist (email in profile), and would also suggest tying in with Arran bike club on faceboak, Gerard, Brodie et al are great guys and super helpful.

In terms of accomodation, there are lots of places to wild camp all round the coast, I'd base it on wind direction tbh. Theres a very good bunkhouse in Brodick, and the best campsite on the island is Middleton in Lamlash, which is also the best town for pubs and food.

I agree with him^

Infact i think he might have advised me once on the same question.

Road bike is hands down the bike I'd take.

My tent was hald ruined after one night in arran

I've done both. Road is lovely with the 2 routes as above. The 2 high passes are particularly nice, albeit with 'exciting' road surfaces. But the mtb stuff is great too, with some good riding in places and some stunning locations.

I rode some of these:
http://www.arranbikeclub.com/routes

I rode early on a family holiday and got a good few hours in each day. Definitely worth doing imo.

Maybe mix it all up and take in the easier of the mtb routes too as they will be fine on a gravel bike.

She speaks with forked tongue...

Well she is called Louise 😆

Thanks for the info, will probably take the road bike based on the info above. I say bikepacking although to be fair it'll probably be more touring than anything else just without panniers (handlebar bag, seat bag, frame bag).

I'll be sailing in to Brodick from Ardrossan so might do a night at Glen Rosa then head off from there.

My tent was hald ruined after one night in arran

Dare I ask?

I'll be sailing in to Brodick from Ardrossan so might do a night at Glen Rosa then head off from there.

I wouldn't, it's a midgeyhellhole.

Head north off the ferry, through Sannox, and not long up the hill past Corrie golf course, you'll see a sign on the right for horse/pony riding, take the right there and down to the beach, there's a nice flat area to camp, right on the beach, a far nicer spot than Glen Rosa campsite IMO.

Me personally, I'd take the MTB - In fact I do, we have a week in Lamlash every summer and I take the MTB with me, and I probably ride 4 or 5 other saturdays a year there, all on MTB, but road biking bores the tits aff me, so I'm rather biased... 😀

The routes on the website above were written years ago, and there's many better additions/options now, and even the club guys ride some of it in opposite directions, it's a good basis to explore, but I wouldn't have them as hard and fast routes...

I've got a route nailed down now that I'd describe as the best of Arran, that has a bit of everything, full on rocky descending, gorgeous flowing singletrack, marvellous views and more cafe/pub options than ye can shake a cat at.

I'll happily GPX it for you if you like.

I'm staying in Arran for a few days after visiting Fort Bill in June.. watching with interest..

My tent was hald ruined after one night in arran

Dare I ask?

There is a nice non roaded stretch of coastline from lochranza to sannox bay we decided to walk it getting train ferry bus we arrived in lichranza in the dark in a light breeze.

As we rounded the headland it quickly became apparent the light breeze was more a sheltered spot than general weather struggled to find sonething dry and flat. One fairly sleepless night later in a tent that almost folded on a couple of occassions and the femail end of a numver of easton pole section has been flared and cracked they'll probably fail next time the conditions are rough.

And to cap it all off we dicovered sannox bay hotel was shutdown when we arrived for planned feed!

Me personally, I'd take the MTB

I must admit to being more biased towards the road. I have an over the top fear of injury after smashing my knee to bits snowboarding so I tend to keep my offroad stuff to bridleways and gentle stuff.

Noted about Glen Rosa, will avoid that one and head for the beach instead. I'm assuming its pretty quiet down there? I'll be looking for really out of the way spots to pitch!

If there is anyone, just keep heading further north along the coast - that would be you on the coastal path that Josh mentioned up there, it's a braw stretch.

Arran is one of my favourite places for road cycling, close to Glasgow but getting the ferry over makes it feel like a mini adventure. Was over a couple of weeks ago and the String road has mostly been resurfaced (apart from the high speed bit towards the top hopefully that has been sorted by now). The Lochranza road has a good surface if descending towards sannox. The Lamlash side of the Ross isnt great, its fine for climbing but descending down that side requires caution. The descent down the other side is good though.

You could also get Claonig ferry from Lochranza then head down to Campbeltown via Carradale on the B842 or up to Tarbert and around Kilberry. Lots of nice road cycling options.

A few of us did a wee mini tour a couple of years back, over from Arran onto the MoK then took the scenic route over to Kennacraig then into Tarbet and Lochgilphead, camped there.

Then along crinan canal and up through Kilmartin glen, west of Loch Awe, then Taynuilt and stayed in Oban for the evening.

3rd day was a nice easy one on the NCN into Fort william, then 17.35 train back to Glasgow, then home.

Good wee trip that.

Nothing to see here, just bookmarking this for the future