Badger Divide – train from Glasgow to Inverness

Hi all

I’m doing the BD in early May with a friend.

We’ve booked the train from Glasgow to Inverness, including bike spaces.

I found this thread last night which got me concerned about getting our bikes on the train.

Has anyone used the service recently with their bikes and if you have, how was it?

Thanks

Phone Scotrail and book the bikes on. You should be ok going from Glasgow to Inverness, it’s a bit more challenging booking from Inverness south as they tend to have more cyclists ending routes in Inverness.

Thanks – I booked bike places when I booked the train tickets.

The thread above gives the impression that despite having a booking there might not be sufficient space on the train for our bikes. Just trying to understand if that’s likely to be an issue?

despite hoping to, I’ve not done it since my post on that thread. I don’t think the trains have changed though. Gravel bike probably fit easier than mtbs (I was in an MTB). You’ll probably manage to squeeze them in but be ready to pull wheels off and have Allen keys handy for spinning bars etc if needs be.

Thanks Oblongbob – we’re on gravel bikes so fingers crossed

There are two storage areas. The first are at the door and won’t fit much, the space is designed to hang your bike vertically and look a bit like a cupboard, they seem to have brackets for two bikes. Inside the actual carriage there is much more space, probably enough for four bikes, this is where we put our bikes last year.

That makes sense EdwardH – the online booking was showing 6 bike spaces.

I think it depends on the train. The one I got didn’t have the other section, just the cupboard with hangers for 3 bikes.

We’ve had a couple of trains with unbooked bikes in the spaces.. We just squeezed on anyway.

We had one guard who would not let us on. Next train was empty of bikes.

This all on the 125’s.

Don’t forget the train starts at Glasgow. So if you are ready to go through the barriers as soon as it gets there, maybe 10 minutes before departure, you can hopefully avoid being blocked by unbooked bikes. Plus there is a better chance of getting unbooked bikes removed then than at an intermediate station with time pressures.

I have never failed to get a booked bike on at Glasgow Queen St. I wouldn’t be worrying.

,

We’re starting at Glasgow so we’ll be sure to get there in good time!

We used the trains at the end of March and did exactly what IRC did, no issues.

There were plenty of unbooked bikes trying to get on though.

I picked up the tickets yesterday, which included tickets to attach to the bikes. I hope these tickets will fend off the unbooked bikes! 😀

Every 125 that I’ve been on in recent times has had the new, additional upgrade to add space for 4 in a big open gap where seats have been removed. That’s in addition to the 2 vertical spaces in the cupboard and in reality, this extra space will easily take 6 bikes.  There’s a telltale big green stripe painted on eh outside of those carriages.

Yeah, getting on at the starting station you’ll be fine. You can then watch all the people with bookings get turned away at the stations along the way, ruining their plans, which is an unfortunately common occurrence on ScotRail.

There’s some sort of problem on the line around Broxburn IIRC. No idea of you can get bikes on the replacement busses🤷

Just finished the Badger on Wednesday.  6 bikes is a bit of a squeeze . 4 of us on at Glasgow  and another 2 got on at Stirling.  Those 2 were huge e bikes with panniers.  They had to stand with them til they got off at aviemore

There’s a thread on the CyclingUK about getting back from JoG – apparently Scotrail have no plans to expand the bike carriages beyond the WHL which seems very disappointing if there’s demand.

I have noticed the Inverness train generally gets quieter as you get further north, usually past Perth and vice versa. The guards are usually very helpful. The early trains are normally very quiet especially at weekends.

I reckon I could jump on an early Saturday train heading south and get on with my bike with no reservation from Aviemore to Perth or Blair Atholl and cycle home.

I am planning on doing the Badger route south to north (I like a tailwind). I will make sure I have a bike reservation though as I don’t want to steal someone else’s reserved bike space.

When I booked last year, the person on the phone said that the reason you can’t book the bike spaces as early as the train ticket was because they don’t know what trains they’re using as apparently different trains have a different number of bike spaces.

If you’ve got bike spaces booked on a specific train I think you’ll be good.

We’ve on the train. The only two bikes (space for six). Thanks for all the responses.

And what a weekend for it. Not even going to pretend otherwise – massively jealous.

Lovely story.

Have fun. There is some great riding to be had.

I’ve just done it. Totally lucked out with the weather, gooch is crying.😅

And we’re back! What a route. Brutal in places but incredible and 100% would do it again.

We were lucky to finish ahead of our schedule (2.5 days total) and miss the bad weather that came in on Sunday evening (the drive home was challenging – heavy thunderstorms across the the A66).

Things to consider if you’re thinking of doing it:

• Spare tyre – My friend slashed open his brand new Panaracer Gravel King in the first 15 or so miles. Our spare saved the trip.
• Tyre size – We were on gravel bikes. I’d say 45mm min to cope with the rougher sections and for comfort.
• Direction – North to South worked for us due to logistics and to get the toughest parts over with first.
• Water – It was hot so carrying enough water for drinking and cooking was a challenge (2 bottles and a bladder each). We had a water filter which got used a number of times – an essential bit of kit IMO.
• Food – On top of snacks, we carried four dehydrated meals due to food anxiety. In the end we only needed to use one meal but it was reassuring to have them for back up. Thankfully we made Corrour Station for lunch on Saturday (note the kitchen closes at 14:30). It was a long way from the bothy on Corrieyairack Pass where we had overnighted to the station! The detour to the Mhor Bread and Store was totally worth it – amazing food.
• Use a lanyard with your GPS – I lost my trusty Garmin 800 on the Corrieyairack Pass descent. I normally use one but had overlooked packing it.
• Route – There are a number of routes out there. Use the same GPX file as your ride partner so you don’t fall out. 😀

Sounds awesome. Based off of this thread I’ve decided to do it next year. Planning 3 days South to North.

Glad you sorted your travel. Public transport with bikes is a hassle.

I did it on a rigid mtb with 29er 2.6 inch tyres. When we got to the train station a couple of gravel riders were abandoning as they had split tyres. They said they had struggled coming down off the pass.

There was a lot of road on the last half but at no point did I think id have preferred it on a gravel bike, some of the descents were a lot of fun with the reassurance of bigger tyres.

I also needed the easier gearing on my mtb.

I really enjoyed it except the 2 and a half hours of pain after fort Augustus.

We too took extra food but managed to find enough on route but we were glad to have it just in case. The highlight was the post office cafe just after a big descent. Can’t remember the name but the food was amazing.

And the sawyer water filter got used more than any other trip I’ve ever done but probably because there’s a lot less livestock on the hills than I’m used to.

The highlight was the post office cafe just after a big descent.

Bridge of Balgie – one of my favourite cafe, riding and general loitering spots on Scotland.

here was a lot of road on the last half but at no point did I think id have preferred it on a gravel bike, some of the descents were a lot of fun with the reassurance of bigger tyres.

Not really, but fast-rolling MTB tyres are IME the best option overall.

damascusFree Member
Glad you sorted your travel. Public transport with bikes is a hassle.

If I ever do it again (and I’d like to) I’ll probably start/finish in Ft William instead to use the bike train. Shame to miss Loch Ness, but then we never actually saw it as the weather was so grim anyway

Regarding starting or finishing in Ft William, isn’t that just the West Highland Way?

No, that would be riding the West Highland Way. Other routes are available.

There are no fixed routes – it’s a network of tracks, estate roads  and annoying “spark gaps” which you can use to string together a trip.  Start Fort William or Spean Bridge to Fort Augustus rather than Inverness to Fort Augustus.   (I would rather the latter but public transport can be a limiting factor)

Glen Roy or the Lairig Leagach are other possibilities from the Fort William end.

Any who have done this in 2 days able to recommend a place to stop to camp (and ideally get a decent brekkie?).

Corrour Station covers both elements

Edit: saying that, 8.30 might be a bit of a late start to the day

Camp a bit before and have a second brekkie there?

Sorry to ask, but any tyre recommendations for the Badger? Going in 3 weeks or so on the MTBs. Currently on a pair of Spesh 2.3 Ground Controls but wondering about switching to Fast Traks, Rekon Race, etc.

Not going for speed, just want to make it enjoyable rather than a slog.

If I ever do it again (and I’d like to) I’ll probably start/finish in Ft William instead to use the bike train. Shame to miss Loch Ness, but then we never actually saw it as the weather was so grim anyway

badger quarter?

Not going for speed, just want to make it enjoyable rather than a slog.

I’ve seen a few people bail at the corrour station as they ripped their tyres coming down off the mountain. I think you need to find a balance between fast rolling and tyre protection. Make sure you take some sort of tyre boot/floss so you can repair a tyre.