Bikepacking Knoydart

Hey

Anybody have any experience in this area looking for a day in beers at the boozer then a day out, all on sublime singletrack with stunning veiws to boot.

Suggestions please
waits staring at memory map.

Walked in walked out one trip, walked in chartered boat out another, brilliant. But wouldn’t think it’s that good for mtb’ing. Pub’s good though.

Well if the beers worth it surely it’s worth a shot?

It is on the to do list. Looks as if there *might* be some decent trails on google earth/geograph. I asked this question last year but got seduced by the Toridonian trails further north

I was eying it up earlier this winter. I reckon there must be something do-able in from Kinloch Hourn over to Inverie. Ended up doing an out and back along Loch Morar instead. One for the spring I reckon.

I’ve walked in that area a few times. There are a few potential nice bits (the descent off Mam Barrisdale for example) but mostly you’ll be pushing/carrying. It’s a lovely part of the world, and the Old Forge is a fantastic pub, but for biking you’re better up in Torridon.

You see if you tell me not to push the big red button that says ” never ever push me ever ok” I’ll push it.

The trail from Kilnoch Hourn is a great walk, but not really conducive to a pleasant bike ride. The route is boggy and rutty – you’d probably wind up pushing most of the way until you get to the bothy at Barrisdale.

Sometime ago (2-10 years?) on of the UK MTB mags did an article on a route in from, if I recall correctly, the end of Loch Arkaig. It was an overnight ride, with a stop in a bothy on the way, then ferry from Inverie back to Mallaig. From what I remember, they wound up pushing a lot as well.

Done a bit of riding in that area myself, don’t really recommend a ride in to Knoydart. Do some walking there instead!

For riding in that area, we have linked some multi-day rides together in the Glen Affric/Glen Cannich/Attadale area just North of there, with lots of good riding. Be mindful of stalking season though.

I’ve walked a wee bit in that area and wouldn’t rate it as the best mountain biking country……

…but there’s something about it.

I’d probably head in along Glen Dessary. Exit via Kinlochhourn and then possibly head West to Glenelg (did you realise that’s a palindromic place name?)

Just been reading Nick Fairweathers ”Cycling Around Scotland”[/url] and he did a coastal route from Inverie, round Airor and then got picked up in a boat at Croulin to take him to Arnisdale.

Where the posts go?

Yep – I’d love to know ‘cos this looked like an interesting thread!

into the ether

Read the sticky for info

Well Tj you got any experience in Knoydart?, Day ride in night, in the boozer day ride out.

Lets see if I can remember what I wrote….

The trails aren’t the best for MTBing, but there’s a wildness which is, nonetheless, attractive.

I’d opt for going in via Glen Dessary, then out over the Mam Barrisdale to Kinlochourn with an option of then heading West to Glenelg.

Nick Fairweather cycled round from Inverie, past Airor and on to Croulin where he got picked up by boat for a trip to Arnisdale. There was some carrying/pushing on this section.

thank you

Stick to the trails unless you want a brutal epic is my advice…

http://shoestring-racing.blogspot.com/2009/09/few-days-at-coast-knoydart-penninsula.html

Some great stuff there.

brutal epic sounds good 😀

jojoA1 – what was the path along Loch Morar like? I take it you went to Tarbet / Swordland?

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=tarbet&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=23.246083,44.077148&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Tarbet,+Arrochar,+Argyll+and+Bute,+United+Kingdom&ll=56.964374,-5.632124&spn=0.020846,0.043044&t=h&z=15

bump?

7hz, the morar path is brilliant fun in places, and pretty spectacular, but not all completely rideable. There are a couple of sections where you definitely need some skills on the rocky bits!

There’s a couple of pictures of one of the (many) good bits on my blog

http://ianezzi.blogspot.com/2010/11/learning-from-my-mistakes-benderloch.html

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What 13th floor Monk said! 🙂 I got my inspiration for doing the ride from looking at his piccies. Hope you have a drier day than we did…

Ouch! Yeah, wouldn’t fancy it in the pouring rain, that would be slippy…

7hz, you can ride it as an out-and-back if you can’t synch up with the ferry times, although getting the ferry back from Tarbet would be pretty cool.

Going in by boat from Mallaig is a really good way to start the ride. We had a pod of porpoise surf our bow wave on the way in and were transfered into a unfeasibly tiny wee boat to get dropped off at Tarbet.

Didn’t take many photos of the path on the way back to Morar as it was so much fun to ride. Quite technical in places and unridable (for me anyway) on a section that’s made up of big boulders built out into the loch.

As for deeper into Knoydart I seem to remember tiggs121 posting a thread of a big circular route a while back. May have been the old forum though.

I’ve been investigating a ‘big circular’ in Knoydart, hoping to ride it in May.

‘Fraid I’m keeping it close to my chest for the time being though, I want ‘first ascent’!* 😀

*Or at least, ‘first ascent by somebody who then posted about it on here’

Thanks for the info on the Loch Morar path folks – looks a good one indeed. I have a cunning plan for this summer, but it needs a chartered boat for it to work, which is proving difficult. Packraft is a backup plan, but I don’t know anyone else with one, so I’d be on my tod for that :-/