(Most of) The Great North Trail - September 2025 - a trip report.

Why do it?

Ever since I’ve found out about the Great North Trail, the idea of riding my bike from my doorstep in South Cheshire to Cape Wrath has resonated with me. I realised I could ride my bike off road to Glossop and then join the Great North Trail there.

I’ve never really done any long distance cycling before, but there was something about travelling under my own power, through beautiful scenery, that really appealed. Last year we did a hybrid bikepacking/XC/Enduro riding trip to Ballater, riding up and back from Aberdeen, and had a great time, so that was when I started to plan the trip seriously.

Since buying my bargain hardtail frame in the Chain Reaction Cycles closing down sale, the thought of doing it on a bike that cost me ~£200 and was built up with old parts also appealed. Ahem, more on the cost later…

I also liked the adventure. Most times you go on a trip and you can be fairly certain, barring mishap, about how it would turn out. Organising this trip, without being certain whether we would get to our destination (spoiler alert, we didn’t!) added to the excitement.

This year, my riding buddy’s circumstances had changed, so he was able to get the time to come with me.

The preparation

Our first decision was whether to wild camp or stay in pubs, hostels and hotels. There are advantages and disadvantages to both, I won’t go into the details, but we decided that we wanted good food and a decent bed at night. This made the logistics more complicated, as it meant that I had to break the route down into sections going from one accommodation to another and then book 24 consecutive nights of accommodation more or less simultaneously. Fortunately, most of the smaller places have free cancellation policies so that if I had to move the dates around I could cancel and rebook at no extra charge.

There were a few places where (I thought) that there were no alternatives for accommodation, so they were the ones that I locked down first. More on finding accommodation later.

We decided on 21 riding days, with two rest days, one in Edinburgh and then another in Fort Augustus, as this meant an average of 36 miles a day with (ha ha!) an average of 778 metres of climbing. As we were doing it on hardtails, this seemed like a reasonable amount per day.

We started with a test run at the end of last year, doing the first two days from my house to Glossop, and then Glossop to Hebden Bridge. We ended up having to cut the second day a bit short because we’d started a bit late in the morning and thought we were going to miss the train home. What we hadn’t realised is that this second section was probably one of the toughest of the whole route.

I also bike packed up to another riding trip in Mid-Wales. The main change I made after these trips was to put a smaller chain ring on the bike.

Although I only outlaid about £200 on building up the bike originally, I spent many times that amount in getting it ready for this trip. Wheel rebuilds, drive train replacements, new brakes, bottom brackets etc took it to £1000 plus spent on getting the bike ready. Still, man maths…

I also did some training. In retrospect I think that I overtrained somewhat. I was worried about the impact of riding consecutive days, so for my training I tried to do quite a few big rides in a row. This did come at the expense of spending time with my family. One advantage of doing the longer rides is that I was able to get my bike to fit me pretty much perfectly.

The bike:

My Ragley Marley, built up with old 140mm Pikes, JRA wheels with Stan’s Flow Rims, Specialized Fast Track Tyres. An Aeroe Handlebar Cradle and Spider Rear Rack. A Tailfin Long Top Tube bag, and Revelate Ranger Small Frame Bag. Apidura frame bag bladder.

I love this bike. I’ve had so much fun on it doing different things. It’s so versatile.

How was it?

It was one of the best things I’ve ever done in my life. It was also occasionally brutal. Sometimes it was both at once.

As we were heading North, Autumn was moving South, so everything was gradually changing to autumnal colours as the days progressed.

Generally we’d be setting off at ten, and finishing by about four, so five to six hours riding per day. We did have a few days when we finished later, and a few when were done by the afternoon.

A pleasant surprise was that after a few days, our legs and bums got used to it. No aching at all. Even more surprising was that by the second week, we weren’t even getting breathless on steep hills, just spinning up until we ran out of traction.

The section from Glossop to Hebden Bridge was tough, as were the sections from Peebles to Edinburgh, Killin to Bridge of Gaur, and Loch Ossian Hostel to Fort Augustus.

Cross Fell bears mentioning all on it’s own. I’d asked for advice on here, and decided to follow the bridlepath that passes Greg’s hut to get up it. It was hellish. 650m vertical in one climb up a rocky bridlepath that then became a bog with a stream running down the middle of the path. At one point I thought we’d nearly finished because Garmin told me we’d only got a mile and a half to go, before realising that our average speed at that point was one mile an hour. My buddy, who does crazy 100km 2500m vertical days in the Peak District said that it was the hardest thing he’d ever done on a bicycle.

However it was beautiful. At some points so beautiful that we had to be careful not to ride off the trail. It also gets more beautiful the more northerly we got. The highlands are stunning.

The best thing was just getting into the rhythm. Getting up, and only having to think about packing up the bike, working out where we would get lunch and how many hills we would have to climb for day after day was wonderful.

In the end we cut it slightly short. On what would turn out to be our last day riding, we met a couple of guys coming in the other direction who told us that the Durness ferryman had shut up shop for the season. My buddy was going down with a cold, and there was a storm coming the next day, so we decided to call it a day at Rosehall, and get the train back to Edinburgh the next day.

The high points:



Getting to the top of Cross Fell. I’m so glad I’ve been up there on a bike.

Sunrise at Loch Ossian.

Great little tea rooms and cafes, quirky hotels and pubs.

The views. Pretty much from the start, they were spectacular, but getting more and more so as the trip went on.

Descending from the Dales along the ridgeline bridlepath down to Hawes as the sun was low in the sky.

The Chippy at Hawes.

The homemade pies at Cannich Stores - worth the 45 minute wait.

Alladale.

The best pecan slice I’ve ever eaten half way up the Corriearrick pass.

Our last day. A perfect day on the bike.

The low points:

Getting to the top of Cross Fell. I’m so glad that I never need to take a bike up there again.

The toilets at Loch Ossian.

Sheltering under a tree, in pouring rain and thunder, halfway up a fell, on day 2.

Dropping my bike whilst opening a gate on day 2, and bending the mech and mech hanger.

Puncturing on the way down the Corriearrick pass and getting very cold very quickly indeed whilst I repaired it.

The bloody gates.

Being let down by the ferryman despite having spoken to him when I was booking the whole trip.

Things that went well:

Doing it on hardtails. There were sections that you could do on a gravel bike, but every now and again we were very glad to be on proper mountain bikes

It was lovely knowing that we’d be in a warm room with showers and hot food every night.

It felt like the right amount of riding every day. Some longer days, some slightly shorter, enough to feel like an achievement, but no so much that we were too tired to enjoy it.

Things I’d do differently:

Take less stuff. We took too many spare clothes.

Concentrate on structured interval type training riding up hills rather than consecutive longer rides - I think I’d have got the same benefit for less time invested. In terms of fitness, after I'd survived the first few days, my fitness took care of itself.

Not to trust Gamin maps to predict how much climbing would be involved in a day.

Realise that when I searched on Google Maps for accommodation, it only shows accommodation that is available for the dates that I was searching on. This lead me to believe in some places that there were fewer accommodation options than there actually were.

I’d probably have a slightly different itinerary - after Edinburgh we stayed in Milngalvie after cycling along the canal towpaths. It was easier than expected, so next time I’d try to get to Drymen and stay there, and maybe go directly from there to Killin rather than staying a night in Aberfoyle.

I quite liked the Aeroe kit, but next time I’d like to try the Tailfin stuff.

Overall it was absolutely brilliant, and to anyone contemplating a longer bike trip, I’d highly recommend it.

Happy to answer any questions, and will try and attach some photos at some point.