Hi guys. I'm thinking about cycling the west highland way next year with a mate for charity. Just wondering if anyone has ever cycled it? Also just looking for some basic info about it, how long it takes, where to stay, how to prepare etc. if anybody could give me some information it would be greatly appreciated.
Hi
This has been covered pretty well on the forum but I know the Advanced Search function can be a bit of a faff.
Try [url= http://singletrackworld.com/forum/search.php?search=west+highland+way&advanced=1&exact=1&posts=1&highlight=1&users=0&located=0&forums%5B%5D=0&maxcount=100&age=366&direction=0&sort=date&order=0 ]this[/url]
(it'll take a while to do the search)
Had a look at the search but it only seems to be people doing the double. We want to do the double but not in one go. Looking to stay the night at fort William.
It gets cycled quite a bit. Some people do it over two or three days, some people in two and less non stop in a day (well <24hrs). It's a great challenge rather than a great bike ride I would say. I've ridden most of it on different days and did it non stop once. My thought are:
Glasgow to Drymen - easy-ish cycling broken up by a few too many gates
Drymen to Balmaha - mix of easy riding and a very steep hike / downhill up Conic Hill. Quite a tough section
Balmaha to Inversnaid - Some nice riding, but some frustrating bits
Inversnaid to Ben Glas farm - every kind of awful. 10 miles of dragging your bike over tough terrain, try not to fall into the loch. This may break you.
Ben Glas Farm to Tyndrum - Good riding on old military roads, rough in places but decent riding. I would do this for fun.
Tyndrum to Glencoe - Great section, fast riding on old military roads in amazing scenery. A pleasure.
Glencoe to Kinlochleven - The best descent of the ride, with some hikeabike
Kinlochleven to Fort Bill - Hikeabike with some great riding on fast open tracks for the first 7 miles. The last 7 miles to Fort Bill is through forest and isn't great riding.
I have no idea how fit you are, but for most reasonably fit riders doing it in two days will be a good challenge, with about 10-12 hours of ridinga day. If you're going to do it in two days remember that the Loch Lomond section is awful so the half way effort wise isn't half way distance. If you want to do it in a day, you'll need to be used to the type of riding and be in good shape. I'm not sure what the current record is but non stop it takes between 14hours for the very fittest to 24hrs+. If you've got any specific questions just ask and I'll try and help.
Wow thanks very much! I've got so many questions about it. Would you mind if we swapped email addresses instead of chatting through this?
yeah sure, if you want stick your email address up and I'll drop you a message, otherwise I can answer on here.