Great Glen Way advice

Hi there, I plan to ride the Great Glen way in a few weeks time and I am looking for some advice/suggestions please. Is it rideable on a gravel bike or do I need to take the mountain bike? I plan to ride it in sections, are there any transport links, shuttle service providers, that can get me back to the car at the end of each section?

Gravel bike would be ideal.

Get in touch with these guys about transport.

https://www.tickettoridehighlands.co.uk/cyclist-transport.php

Many thanks, much appreciated!

I hope you update after your ride. I’m particularly interested in the surface between Fort Augustus and Inverness on the north side of the Loch.

Done on gravel and apart from a few quite short (hundreds of metres) rougher and more technical sections, gravel just the job.

Equally done it on an mtb and not sure there’s a downside to using one either, given a lot is steep up or steep down, and mtb gearing may be a bit easier depending on your gravel setup.

Either would work.

Did it over ten years ago now. Easy gravel bike route, but I hope you like plantations. .. gets quite full tbh. Start and ends are the best imo.

Thanks, FYI I have 34/34 set up on the gravel bike, so I am less worried about the gearing it was more the terrain and how technical it is? If it means I have to walk the odd 100m section so be it, just as long as it’s the not miles and miles of pushing

It’s very dull.

We went to walk it a few years back, got as far as Invermoriston and gave up.

Not injured or tired just bored.

Fort Augustus was a great night, good pubs and music.

 I hope you like plantations.

The newer, high-level, section is much, much better than that.

The first half to Fort Augustus is pretty much cycling along a canal. I think a gravel bike would be absolutely fine.

Have you looked at the Loch Ness 360 as an alternative?

The newer, high-level, section is much, much better than that.

That’s interesting (and good), I used it as a covenant waymarked trail to get to Inverness from FW but found it dull.

The newer, high-level, section is much, much better than that.

Does the high level route take out some of the steeper sections? I did it in a day about 10 years ago and had underestimated those bits. Was by far the least fun part of the day for me.

The high level bit adds in some even steeper sections. Nice views (weather permitting), but the lower level section from FA to Invermorriston is more rideable.

Well worth considering the South side of Loch Ness (per @RichMTB above). Some additional technical sections (which can be walked), and more interesting views IMHO.

Either way, a good (big) day out, or a very nice few days, depending on how you do it.

I think gearing more a factor then gravel bike or not. Any pushing will be dictated by gradient more than it being technical. Some steep and real big climbs to do.

I’d not manage them 34:34 tho everyone different.

Everything below assumes you’re going Ft Bill to Inverness, so have a following prevailing wind direction.
As for logistics, the bus service along the glen is pretty frequent, both local buses and Citylink. Check if they take bikes, most do across the Highlands.
As Scotroutes states, the newer two top sections that create high level links between (a) Ft Augustus & Invermoriston, then (b) Invermoriston to Drumnadrochit create a lot more interest and also a lot more climbing. You now have a choice of high or low routes on each of these two sectors. Both top sections take you well above the tree line on built, (light) blue – grade singletrack with just a few rocky sections that are brief, with long, flowing sections of trail and stunning views. Highly recommended in my opinion and the switchback section down towards Invermoriston is a real eye-opener on a rigid bike..!
The perfect bike overall is probably a short travel 29er hardtail with a lockout fork but I’ve had no difficulty on a chunky hardtail nor on a rigid bike wearing 1.9 tyres.
Riding the upper options on the second half often catches folk out with how tough it is, the ride from Fort Augustus to Inverness with all of the upper options takes in well over 1500m of off-road climbing.

There is also a choice of routes on either side of Loch Oich. SE side is a freshly re-surfaced old rail line and is therefore flat. This also takes you past the pub boat at Laggan Locks. The alternative on the NW, Invergarry side of Loch Oich takes you firstly up a loose, stony forest road climb, down into the village and up again on a 3 mile section of singletrack between the village of Invergarry and Bridge of Oich.
Worth noting are the two wild camping spots, one half-way along Loch Lochy and another on the SE (railway) side of Loch Oich. Both are simple bits of flat ground, with composting toilets and fire circles. I don’t know of any more such along or above Loch Ness, @Scotroutes ?
I’ve not ridden the 360 gravel route on the south side of Loch Ness yet (sorting that out in a couple of weeks..) but understand that it too is grand, a good bit of climbing and choices of sectors with tarmac, forest roads and several newly built gravel path sections.

Thanks Highlandman, that really great information. Yes, I am heading From Fort Bill to Inverness and will use the buses (FYI, I have heard from the local bus service who have confirmed they do take bikes so long as they are bagged (I will buy a couple of cheap ones on ebay or Amazon). The choice of routes sounds really good particularly as my wife may not fancy the more challenging off road trail sections. Thanks once again

I don’t know of any more such along or above Loch Ness

Nothing official, though you are often well enough away from houses etc that it wouldn’t be difficult to find a decent spot.

There is the Abriachan Eco-cafe and campsite. Always worth a visit, just for sheer eccentricity.

Any advice on ride time for the low level route between Fort Augustus and Inverness. Is it about 4 or 5 hours on a hardtail? We are travelling light not carrying anything.

Whole route is Kinloch Laggan to Fort Augustus in the morning. Lunch at FA. Ride Great glen way lower I think to Abriachan for coffee. Finish route into Inverness to van at Bught park.

I can see the amount of climbing thinking 8 or 9 hours riding time. Is that in the ball park?

Route here Laggan to Inverness

I have 6 hours for the high route. I guess the low route would be a bit less.

Thanks, I’m trying to work out a start time so we make it to the Old Bridge Inn for supper. Looks like it is doable.

I hope you’ve booked the OBI and aren’t planning to do it on a Wednesday.

It’s for this Saturday. Tables already booked. It’s just the start time I’m trying to finalise and a wee bit of logistics.

5-6 hours riding time FA to Inverness

Thanks. Looks like I need to allow 9 hours riding plus 2 x 1 hr cafe stops. That’s assuming 3 hours for Corrieyarick pass and 6 hours for Great Glen way. 7am start should get us to Inverness for 6pm. May start at 06:30 if it’s light enough. Thanks for the input. Hoping the weather gods are nice to us.

I’ve done FW to inverness on the mtb with the high routes which was good. Also did the loch bess 360 last week on the gravel bike . This was with the low routes. Both were good but If I was purely doing the Great Glen way I’d stick with the mountain bike as there were some fun bits on the high routes and I think there is not much to be gained by using the gravel bike. On the other hand if your doing the 360 use a gravel bike as day 2 is pretty much 90% on the road.
Also if you do the low route from fort Augustus to drumnadrochit you dont really see much of the loch .

Went over the route today. Luckily it stayed dry. 6 hours riding time from Laggan to Inverness. Will post some photos. Plenty of time for the pub tonight. Thanks for the route advice we took the lower route on the Great Glen way. Tons of climbing and still some good views.

Strong work Aberdeenlune! Did Inverness to Laggan about 10d ago and it took just shy of 8h on a gravel bike, headwind and rain were a bit keen (my slowness excuse!)

Excellent. Todays weather was nowhere near as bad as forecast either so looks like you got a good day.

go slow
I hope you update after your ride. I’m particularly interested in the surface between Fort Augustus and Inverness on the north side of the Loch.

If it’s any help I’ve ridden it on this, single speed, so a bike with gears and knobby tyres should find it a breeze.

^ da heck is that?

Edit: @<span class=”bbp-author-name”>epicyclo</span> posted it, no explanation needed.

@matt_outandabout

Dahon Hammerhead. Nifty wee beast. Fits nicely in the boot of the car with the pedals folded.

It wasn’t in production long in that form, but that front fork has just enough suspension so that it feels like a bigger wheel. Later models were rigid forks.

They’re featured in one of the fancy cycling books as an example of good design… 🙂

Must have been a fair bit of walking doing that route on a single speed unless you had a flip flop hub with big cog/little cog. Well it would be for me anyway I love my dinner plate cassette especially on that route with 2500metres of climbing.

aberdeenlune
Must have been a fair bit of walking doing that route on a single speed…

Mainly the start up Craig Dunain, but I’ve seen plenty people on geared bikes walking that too.

What sticks in my memory more is that there were a couple of slightly sketchy bits with the wee wheels and skinny tyres. Recent rain had made it a bit slidey.

Accommodation booked for this in a few weeks time – thanks to all for the info above.

Transport from here in the deep south is proving a bit of a pain to plan so any tips greatly welcomed please.

3 x riders going FW to Inv is the plan with overnight stops in Fort Augustus & Drumnadrochit.

It feels mad to take 2 vehicles up from SW Scotland, dump one in FW and another in Inverness then shuffle around on buses but between sporadic trains on the way up and bus replacement services (bollocks to that for a laugh) I can’t see a more efficient option.

Another unattractive option is to ride each section, bus it back to the start point and drive back up in a slow and tedious leapfrog manner.

Am I missing something obvious?

Taxi from Inverness to FW?

https://www.tickettoridehighlands.co.uk/cyclist-transport.php

Be aware that there are a couple of diversions on the GGW. In particular, you’ll need to ride up the West side of Loch Oich.

Good to know about the diversions, thanks for the heads-up.

I found some more details on this here, including a map of the re-route:

https://www.highland.gov.uk/greatglenway/news/article/31/ggw_route_diversion_along_loch_oich_from_the_start_of_december_2022_to_december_2024?fbclid=IwAR18lf4N7dRMC7qk8PDwgCsRS3YTxNS8COEqqQ-B2qYD_UD9jXsPHKYkuTM

Had a look at Ticket to Ride – it’s a great if pretty expensive option to have as a fallback. Though, if the bus service is actually as fully booked up for bike spaces as CityLink’s site suggests, it’s actually a pretty shrewd business model.