[Closed] Planning a Fall mtb trip to Scotland - Need Help Please

September/October can actually be very nice weather in Scotland - but there is an element of luck in that. One plus is that the midges will have all gone!

I'm sure you know this already - but the weather is totally unpredictable at any time of the year in Scotland. In october, you would have to be very lucky to get consecutive days of good weather - but it's not impossible. To let you know the extremes in october, I've been walking in the mountains in knee-deep snow one year and I've been biking in shorts & t-shirt in perfect weather the next. One big advantage of that time of the year is that the delightful scottish biting midge (my American colleague calls them "no-see-ums" - although he might have made that up 🙂 ) has more or less disappeared which would make lunch stops, etc a bit more bearable.

AS to where would be best - it depends on the type of riding you want to do and how you are planning to get to Scotland. My first answer would be to look at the Cairngorms national park area - it contains a lot of the UK's highest peaks, it has 100's miles of good quality tracks that would give you the option of going through or up-and-over the highest bits. The best town to access the park would be Aviemore, which has a train station on the East Highland line, accessible from Edinburgh (and London).

If you have more specific aims - let us know and there are lots of people on here who can help with the details.

Hello, I would say best wait until next year. Ideal (for me) would be fly into Edinburgh, stay there one night. Hire a car (we can find you loads of good companies!), then drive 40mins to Peebles (Glentress/Innerlethen)- stay two nights, then onto the other 7stanes. Scotland is great for wild camping and has lots of places to stay around the Stanes.

We're doing off road Coast to Coast next month:

Stonehaven > Braemar > Kingusie > Cannich > Dornie/Kyle of Lochalsh.

Can send you route and where we're stopping if you're interested?

Much as I like the 7Stanes, Hora, I think they'd be missing out on Scotland if they restricted themselves to the trail centres.

Celia - I have a 3 day circular route round the Cairngorms I can share with you if you want it. My email address is in my profile so drop me a line and I'll send it to you. We did it in early September which I reckon is the best balance between weather, hours of daylight and those [b]hateful[/b] midges.

As a taster here are some pibs from day 1: http://gallery126268.fotopic.net/c1575877.html (overnight on day 1 my camelbak emptied 3L of water into my camera so no pics of the rest of the trip :~( )

Hora - did you actually read the post before replying?

As others have said - sept / oct can be very unpredictable. Remember what is marked on the map as single track can vary from the sublime to the non existent.

My view after many multiday mountainbiking trips is forget the singletrack if you are carrying luggage more than a few kilos. The singletrack is fine if you are unladen but too much of it becomes too much like hard work / unridable if you are laden.

Its possible to put routes together using mainly doubletrack that take you right out into the wilds.

[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/25846484@N04/sets/72157605318858779/ ] pics of our mainly doubletrack tour[/url] There is a map at the end of it 170 miles mainly offraod in 6 days. It has options for some classic bits if you want - devils staircase and Laggan wolftracks

Lots of options for good multi-day trips on singletrack and the Cairngorms would be amongst the best as it also has good transport links. As above, weather is unpredictable. Once you are a bit nearer to a decision, let us know and mibbe someone will be around to help show you around

hora whilst the 7stanes are great, there is far more to Scotland than that. So to recommend that someone travel from the states, ride the 7stanes, then leave is crazy. Please disregard this advice Celia.

As others have said the Cairngorms are a fantastic area to explore. You could look at riding from Fort William to Kingussie than further on into the Cairngorms. As for the weather, well generally early October is pretty good, but that's a west coast of Scotland 'pretty good', it will be cold towards the end of September and yes the midges will have gone. If you come here in summer you will be plagued by them when you stop moving. And summer isn't massively different from end September/early October - a bit warmer but thats about it.

Scotland is an amazing country, have a fantastic time.

Gary_M totally agree, there are also some stunning beaches as well to take in however it depends how much time the OP has. After all if they have 2-3weeks then yes. If they have <10days then I say the 7stanes offers a good and structured approach where you can't get lost/go wrong. Its a case of where to start?

CHOMP. Druidh you [b]know[/b] the area. I am assuming limited time available and yes I can read, however you can probably read better what with the £2billion annual subsidy coming your way from Westminster.

I think you can do a lot of scenic touring in Scotland in under 10 days Hora. I have a feeling the op wants to see some nice remote Scottish scenery rather than forest car parks heaving with people.

Ok, just throwing that in there as an option. Thats all.

Hora - shut up. The OP is asking about a mountainbike tour. I guess they have plenty of trail centres over their side of the pond.

10 days is plenty to do a decent tour if you get a good route sussed beforehand. 5 is enough.

Again I would say especially for autumn get alternative routes planned depending on the weather. Weather is good - go up high, weather poor - stay low and maybe use some trail centres.

May / June is far better from a weather perspective but to the OP remember - in Scotland we don't have a climate - we have weather - in sept/ oct you could have anything and everything ( same in may / june of course)

One aspect with the debate about routes and singletrack or double track is how much hike a bike is acceptable to you. Many of the great single track routes have sections that are hard to ride because of the roughness or steepness of the terrain. If a couple of miles of hike a bike is worth it to you to get the miles of sweet singletrack then thats fine. For me with a bike with luggage the hike a bike spoils the ride too much. Thats a personal view from too much time hauling bikes out of bogs.

What does the subsidy comment mean hora? Please explain.

Its an opinion. It might not be yours and you might not agree with it but its offensive to tell someone to 'shut up' and ask if someone can read. I wonder how many people are turned off by STW? Why arent I allowed to suggest a tour inbetween the 7stanes? How many people do this every year? Again, the arrogant trail-centre haters of STW. Emails in my profile please, don't attack someone on someone elses thread.

Just a suggestion for the OP but the best/most consistent weather in the UK during late summer early autumn will be in SW England. Epic riding to be had on Dartmoor and in the Quantocks with South Wales and it's trail centres just a short drive away. Nowhere near as mountainous and not as grandiose as Scotland but the combination of summer weather and great riding would make it my UK destination choice.

Hora - can you answer the subsidy q please?

Hora OK maybe the shut up was a bit OTT but the OP was asking about an offroad tour - you suggested a trip around the trail centres - nothing like what they asked for and you made a stupid troll about subsidy.

Have you actually ridden "natural" cross country routes in Scotland?

Not a bad suggestion from trailmonkey actually. Autumn weather will be better

Hora I'm not a 'trail-centre haters' but to suggest to someone coming from the US who wants to do a town to town mountain bike tour that they should ride the 7stanes is quite frankly stupid.
So they spend half a day riding a trail centre, not experiencing much in the way of scenery and no doubt follow/be followed by hordes of other riders at the busier centres - doesn't sound like much of a tour to me.

Actaully its one of my pet hates when someone asks where to ride in Scotland and someone who doesn't even live here or have vast experience of what Scotland has to offer in terms of remore riding suggets 'the 7stanes'.

Email/profile (I'll reply when I'm back in this evening).

Ps. The subsidy comment was abit silly- I knee jerked and took offence at being asked if I could read.

Oh dear.

why would you come all the way from the states just to fall over in scotland during autunm?

don't seem worth it to me....

hora - Member

I knee jerked and took offence at being asked if I could read.

I didn't ask if you [i]could[/i] read, I wrote "did you read?". However.....

Back to the OP - what druidh suggests

Once you are a bit nearer to a decision, let us know and mibbe someone will be around to help show you around

There are books that will help with routes as well [url= http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mountainbike-Scotland-Highlands-v-1/dp/0948153814/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239614345&sr=1-1 ]Kenny Wilsons book[/url] and [url= http://www.amazon.co.uk/Scottish-Hill-Tracks-D-G-Moir/dp/0950281182/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239614529&sr=1-3 ]Scottish hill tracks[/url]( aimed at walkers but has some good routes in it} can be useful Google will throw up various routes as well. Guided routes are possible as well. Many of the highland cycle shops will give route advice

Ben and Celia, its not all like this on here! .. Once the handbag throwing has calmed down its fine. There are a lot of folk who have a great deal of info to share... depends on what your after.

Probably best to post again closer to the time but as others have said, Cairngorms/Aviemore is fantastic, the Royal Estates around Balmoral/Braemar, then there is the stunning western areas of Torridon/Applecross. Not forgetting Skye and the Hebrides island hopping....

SteveTheBarbarian - Member

Oh dear.

Quite.

Why would you avoid the 7Stanes when they are some of the best biking in Scotland and have put 'the best small country in the world' on the map? FFS.

I'd suggest spending a few days around Dumfries doing Mabie, Kirroughtree & possibly Dalbeattie. Enjoy the decent singletrack that the 7Stanes has to offer, then head North somehow and maybe take the West Higland Way along Loch Lomond, through Glencoe to Fort William for some stunning mountainous scenery & trails.

Either that or in reverse, so fly to Inverness and head south ending up at the 7Stanes to finish off with.

Jimmy - you could have a good holiday doing that for sure - but its not what the OP wants to do.

My husband and I are hoping to do a multi-day mountain bike tour around some part of the UK in October, hopefully staying in pubs/inns and hostels in small towns and [b]riding singletrack from one town to the next during the day. [/b]Hopefully through some mountainous, scenic terrain.

there are some cracking trails around, and oct can be ok. i'd definitiely head to the cairngorms and highlands. a mate and i did a cracking 3 day circular route from fort william. there is a section over kinlochleven, with the west highland way which was just magical. if you're in that area its definitely worth checking out laggan. while natural trails are fantastic, some of the man made stuff is also well worth going to imo...

Are the 7 Stanes in Scotland? 🙂 The reason we built them so close to England was to occupy all the hordes of ATGBNI coming from darn sarf and leave the proper riding up North for us and those interested enough to find it.
September and early october should be fine but as long back as I can remember we have had proper fluffy white hills in Oct. The first snow of the season seems to come then and then often disappears until Dec/Jan! We did Carn Ban Mor last Oct 4th in snow.
Aviemore is a great base but there really is a huge choice. The best idea would be to decide where you would like to visit and then get the maps and try to piece together a route encompassing them. If you ask here which bits are rideable I'm sure someone will know and help you out.

Fort William. Do that circuit suggested. On bad weather days you can do the witches trail or drive for an hour to do Laggan.

Celia,

The least unreliable weather in Scotland is late May/early June.
Whilst you can get lovely spells of weather in October the chances are much better in the late spring and early summer. I'd recommend postponing your trip until the following spring.

rainfall
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winds
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sunshine
[img] [/img]

In terms or routes. I'd suggest a cost to coast (west to east). There are plenty of options that google will throw up and some on here will help out too.

Some generic stuff then...

[*]Hills in the East are more rounded and are criss-crossed with paths - mostly ancient, mostly rideable.[/*]
[*]The most spectacular scenery is on the West coast - the combination of mountain and sea is a winner. However, the hills and valleys are rougher/steeper, there are fewer (but still quite a few) bikeable paths.[/*]
[*]Remote areas of Scotland are often lacking in any sort of facilities (accommodation, shops etc). Do a bit of research (ask here).[/*]
[*]The weather graphs are good, but much is down to luck.[/*]
[*]There are very few waymarked trails. The West Highland Way is one of the most popular but is primarily for walkers. It would, however, be a good start as it gets you from Glasgow (major airport) into the West Highlands and you'd then have the option of heading North West or East.[/*]
[*]The maps you want (when you're nearer a decision) are the Ordnance Survey 1:50,000. These show all the major paths.[/*]
[*]If you have a GPS, lots of folk on this forum can supply tracks and routes (but bring the maps too - and a waterproof map case)[/*]
[*]Being Scotland, you can cycle almost anywhere you want - and camp too. Just "be responsible" and don't intrude on anyones privacy. [/*]
[*]You needn't worry about carrying lots of water with you. we have it in abundance and it's 99.9999% drinkable from the streams and rivers.[/*]
[*]Scotland also has some fine, purpose-built, trail centres. These are useful as the surface has been designed for "all-weather" cycling. Adding one or more of these into the mix would give you some additional variation[/*]
[*]Post a thread on here asking for ideas/photos and be prepared to be overwhelmed.....[/*]

Hey ho - this has got me plotting now. Hows about:

Day 1 start in Fort William - West highland way towards kinlochleven ( I don't know this bit) before KLL come off the WHW past Mamore lodge and head for Corrour - bunkhouse at corrour station or youth hostel at loch ossian - 30+ miles.

Day 2 head for Laggan - either thru the pass next to ben alder - very rough singletrack climb / hike a bike or dopuble track north. Take the ben alder option past Culra bothy and the re is the opportunity to stop in Dalwhinnie - 20 ish miles to Dalwhinnie another 10 miles over the hill ( marked single track but I don't know it) to laggan. Possibility of a Day at Laggan wolftracks The double track option going north then east from loch ossian is super scenic past Binnean shuas

Next day Corryairack to fort Augustas - 25 - 30 miles ( is that best done the other way???). then easy return to fort William down the great glen cycleway.

Scenic, some classic bits, some sweet singletrack, some hike a bike, bailout options

Thank everyone! I'll be getting back to some of you individually for further information. Sorry my post started a bit of a turf war - must admit I'm intrigued by the subsidy comment myself! I can see there will be some interesting conversations at the pub in the evenings.... 🙂 Will probably post some more focused questions as our plan evolves. Thanks again for all the food for thought.

Celia 😮

Well, I can't figure out how to reply to individual postings, so here goes:

Steve the Barbarian - Yes, would love your route info for Coast to Coast.

Trailmonkey - Any ideas for a multi-day loop in the SW England/Wales area?

rickmeister - Any links or guidebooks we could consult about the Royal Estates and Torridon/Applecross areas?

All - What would be a good source to order maps from?

Keep in mind that we have really no knowledge of the geography of the UK - what we know we learned from Tolkien!!

Celia

Celia - some folk will have e mails in their profile - so if you click on their name you will get to it - not everyone does tho.

How experienced / fit are you guys? How many miles a day?

Maps [url= http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/ ]ordnance survey[/url] but the maps are widely available - 1:50 000 is the most used scale. Memory map is a programme many of us use that contains all the OS maps.

Access laws are different in England and Scotland - in England you can only legally ride on bridleways and some other categories of tracks although many folk ride on what is legally a footpath. In Scotland basically if you can see a path on the ground or on the map you can ride it.

As you can see there are many difference of opinion on this site - however many folk have good knowledge of the trails.

The kehhy wilson book I linked to above is a good basis for route planning mainly one day routes. There are various classic routes out there but many of them will require some hike a bike.

Have fun planning feel free to e mail me on jeremy.pascoe@btinternet.com

Steve the Barbarian drop me an e-mail and I'll tell you where you can get some proper food and beer in Braemar.

Thanks Jeremy! We're quite fit and always up for an epic ride with hike a bike included. Miles per day depends of course on how rough/technical the terrain is -- I would say anywhere from 20 to 50 miles would be a good day if there is considerable climbing and singletrack or technical double track involved. I'm thinking we would travel light- no panniers or trailers, just what we could each carry in a big hydration pack and a rack trunk... We've road toured a lot and done many long mtb days, but haven't done a light self-supported multi-day mtb tour. I have some friends who travelled this way on singletrack in the Alps and it seems feasible if you pack carefully...

Celia, I'll send route to you later - got to get off to work, and it's slightly out of date and needs changing. It's a bit of a crazy route to take - but as long as it's fun.

We also did off road C2C of England last year. You can see it on YouTube to get some idea if you wish:

http://www.youtube.com/user/stevethebarbarian99

Its all gone "widescreen" on my computer....

Celia...

mail me with your address and I will send you some stuff across for you to look at. Possibly not what you could get on line, brochures, leaflets etc etc.

rickDOTandreaATtalktalkDOTnet

[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/musselburghbikers/sets/72157601921038496/ ]Loch Muick[/url]

[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/musselburghbikers/sets/72157601691237696/ ]Torridon[/url]

[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/musselburghbikers/collections/72157608647415976/ ]Scotchcestershireland[/url]

2 Quarter Pounders? Must be a McDonald.......

[img] [/img]

Sorry for a slight hijack with a thread within a thread. Im yearning to go back and visit Penmachno (Wales) soon. Its a happy compromise between a trail centre and something out back and wild (IMO!) if you ever find yourself down in Wales Celia 😀 :
http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/penmachno-pics-please

I'm going to Penmachno this Sunday 🙂