Planning a trip to North West Scotland in late May/early June with the primary aim of riding the Torridon lollipop and the Loch Damh loop. We also have an idea to ride from Poolewe to Corrie Hallie via Kearnsary, Carnmore, Shenavall either with a car at each end or as an out and back with a doss somewhere en route. Information is plentiful for walkers but there is not much for riding the route. I have seen scotroutes blog that covers the section from Kearnsary to the fascinating causeway/Carnmore. I’d be interested in knowing if what the path/terrain between Carnmore and Shenavall is like, is it rideable or one long grind of portage/combat mountain biking?

Also any other options/suggestions for must do rides in the area?

Cheers

That’s on the Highland Trail Race route (though it’s done North-South). Find any write-ups of the HTR and there’s sure to be some comments about it. Expect lots of carrying/pushing all the same.

I’ve walked in from Poolewe as far as the col beyond Carnmore. The path as far as Carnmore and a little beyond is a decent stalkers’ track with the occasional water bar. Once you start the climb to the col proper it gets more interesting. I wasn’t looking at the path from a biking perspective (we were there for climbing and a bit of Munro bagging) but it was your typical Scottish path really – some easy sections some rocky ones.

There’s photos on Geograph.org – this square is OK as a starter http://www.geograph.org.uk/browse.php?p=788895

It’s an adventure, so go prepared to deal with what you find….. The only advice I’ll give on here (it’s my local ride) is to do it north to south. Unless you really want to push up something you could have ridden down, and carry down something you couldn’t ride up. Hope that’s suitably cryptic!

Don’t mind a bit of portage etc provided there is some return for the investment, as it were.

felltop an adventure is what we are after and all in the party are experience walkers/climbers as well as riders so familiar with what remote parts of Scotland have to offer. I’ll try to decipher the clues with the aid of a map 🙂 If there is anything extra you can share mail is in my profile. If not thanks for the pointers.

+1

It also means you get to finish at the Bridge Cottage Cafe 😆

I’ve ridden Carnmore to Poolewe (great, in that direction), having ridden in from Kinlochewe over the Bealach Meinnidh (hard, in either direction).