The main road down Skye is one of the few bits of two lane road so is a bit shit compared to all the single track stuff but it wasn’t that bad when we did it.  Car speeds are obviously higher.  I guess it depends what you are used to but for us it was acceptable to make the route work.  It rained as well which didn’t help but it always rains when I am on Skye.  Just the usual defensive riding needed.

Don’t try to do too much is my advice tho.  think carefully about daily distances and don’t forget the time it takes for the ferries

One bit you can do to shorten things is not to go down ardnamurchan to Kilchoan get to mull – go the other way at Salen and go via Strontian  to lochaline / fishish ferry instead

Lochboisdale goes to Mallaig in the Summer. It’s my favourite route.

Great thanks all. My reckoning on the Oban->Oban would be:

1. Friday night or very very early Saturday morning drive up to Oban

2. Saturday. Ferry to Barra. Do some riding round Barra (up to 50Km)

3. Sunday. Ferry to Eriskay. Up South Uist. Probably aim for somewhere north of Creagory (75Km)

4. Monday. Up to Berneray. Aiming for 2ishPm Ferry. 45Km. Then up to Luskentyreish. A further 25Km (70Km total)

5. Tuesday. 15Km in morning then Tarbert Ferry. 11.40am on a tuesday. In the afternoon aim for a further 50Km down Skye (65Km total)

6. Wednesday. Remainder of Skye 50Km to Armadale. Mid afternoon ferry. Get another 15Kmish done. End up somewhere around Inverailort. 65Km total.

7. Thursday. Aim to get to Kilchoan 65Km

8. Friday: Ferry to Tobermory. Would probably spend the last day mooching around Mull and stay over on Mull. Can do any distance really. Minimum is 35Km.

9. Saturday: Craignure ferry back to Oban. Drive home.

Could add an extra day onto that somewhere and come back on the Sunday. also have a day spare in the mix on that route as mainland-mull-mainland is do able in a day easily.

A wee footnote to the above setup:
day 2, while on Barra, go down to the end of the road and the double beach on Vatersay then if practical, have a picnic on the beach. Whichever side is more sheltered! Listen out for the corncrakes in the machair.
You’ll also pass the monument at the crash site of a WW2 Catalina.

I did this a few years ago, one of my best trips on the bike.

I left van in Oban, ferry to Barra. Camping near the airfield. Then slowly made my way north. After the butt of lewis, I cycled back down to Tarbert, didn’t enjoy this stretch, headwind and not a great road.

Ferry across to Skye, I just took the main road through the island, wasn’t too bad. Camped near the Sligachan hotel (great food).

I wasn’t rushed for time, so I rode back via Fort William, can’t remember the exact route but was pleasant enough.

Overall was a fantastic trip, looking to do similar this year. In the years since, I’ve explored most the other Hebridean islands. All fantastic.

7. Thursday. Aim to get to Kilchoan 65Km

8. Friday: Ferry to Tobermory. Would probably spend the last day mooching around Mull and stay over on Mull. Can do any distance really. Minimum is 35Km.

9. Saturday: Craignure ferry back to Oban. Drive home.

7. Allow yourself some extra time to go out to the Ardnamurchan Point lighthouse – cafe there. Check the ferry times as if you miss one, it’s a 2 hour wait

8. If I’m around you can stop by for a coffee – if you’re up for it, ride the west side of Mull – there’s a campsite at Calgary or another at Craignure

From a purely cycling point of view there isn’t a lot to go at, although the full length will take a couple of days. The ferries will slow you down.
However if sitting on some rather nice beaches is your thing or a bit of history in the far north then all is good.
Good parking at a dive centre south of Oban if I remember correctly.

We did a similar trip back in September. Drove up to oban and stayed at the youth hostel. The ferry over to Barra was in the afternoon so we went straight to the hostel in Castlebay.
Day 1 rode to North uist and stayed at a campsite/hostel called the tractor sheds.
Day 2 to Stornoway where we stayed for 2 nights at the heb hostel.
Day 3 up to butt of Lewis and back.
Day 4 early ferry to Ullapool and the rode to Gairloch
Day 5 Gairloch to Applecross via torridon.
Day 6 Applecross to Mallaig. Went via Plockton then on to Skye, getting the ferry from Armadale.
Day 7 Mallaig to ardnamurchan, over to mull then ferry back to oban.
Have to say we both enjoyed the mainland riding more than the hebrides.

Did you actually see any of the Hebrides?

Did you actually see any of the Hebrides?

Indeed.

To say nothing of how did you find time for 2nd breakfast, elevensies , first and second lunch, afternoon tea, dinner and supper ?

A slightly left field suggestion. But to get back from ullapool how about cycle to Mallaig, nc500 I know, ferry to Lochboisdale, retrace your steps to barra then ferry to oban. I know it sounds a bit daft but the ferries are pretty much free and the ferry to oban is first thing so you can get that ferry and drive home that day.

Indded it would have been nice to have the time to see more of the hebrides. Unfortunately I only have a limited amount of time off work. If we could have spent 2 weeks doing the same trip we would have.

Well, we went.
It was amazing.

Weather totally played ball! very very lucky.

Gloaty photos:

sweet

Blummin marvelous

That’s not bike packing, you’ve got panniers. Looks great.

Brilliant! Been watching the weather closely, we head up in 7 days…will it last???

Just finished it on Thursday weather was great past week. We had about 2 hours of rain one day and that was it.

Any tips or recommendation from those who’ve been recently? We’re going south to north over 5 riding days with a rest day in the middle, staying in B&Bs/pubs/pods.

That’s not bike packing, you’ve got panniers. Looks great.

Doesn’t matter how you do it, as long as you do it!

Great photos

Brilliant! Been watching the weather closely, we head up in 7 days…will it last???

Forecast is for another week at least due to the jet stream being somewhere over Iceland – blue skies, but light northerly winds means it’s not too hot – great weather for being outdoors doing stuff

Looks Ace
and
Perfect timing for a thread reboot, we have just started planning to do it in Sept (hopefully less midge 🙂 ).
I am sure the weather will wait until we are done 😉

@fasthaggis (or anyone else) if you want the route plan we did, DM me and I’ll send you gpx files and spreadsheets with all the planning in it! It was quite a feat to work out all the ferry timings etc.

Worth mentioning for anyone heading up this way that the Mallaig – Lochboisdale ferry service is currently suspended until the end of June