North Scotland Touring ideas

McMoonter, myself and one other have the route below as an idea for a wee trip next week.

Seems the are is pretty sparsely populated so camping/cooking will be necessary, but there should be some epic scenery.

Are there any things we should be checking out en route? Smoo cave, Cape Wrath, Douneray (I am a closet power station enthusiast) look good…anything else?

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/Ardgay/Lairg,+Highland,+UK/58.2550663,-3.9593176/58.5084226,-3.8861229/Durness,+Highland,+UK/Ullapool,+Highland,+UK/57.6858031,-5.6512109/Inverness/@58.0181047,-5.8814307,8/data=!3m1!4b1!4m35!4m34!1m5!1m1!1s0x488f924459f7c47d:0xd9253504fc4c9e69!2m2!1d-4.363214!2d57.881213!1m5!1m1!1s0x488e258173d5add3:0x5928cf9c83fac0ea!2m2!1d-4.402414!2d58.022058!1m0!1m0!1m5!1m1!1s0x4890395fe0758cdd:0x6e45ef344b056e4a!2m2!1d-4.7468816!2d58.5685565!1m5!1m1!1s0x488e30fbb7a7b361:0x59c4937301c9c80d!2m2!1d-5.161313!2d57.895418!1m0!1m5!1m1!1s0x488f715b2d17de2b:0x624309d12e3ec43d!2m2!1d-4.224721!2d57.477773!3e1

Looks nice to me- some of it, whilst bleak, is lovely, especially the road toward Helmsdale. Only about 4 houses up that valley and some forest roads to get away from the road with to camp.

Looks good

Wee side jaunt to Stac Pollaidh?

Camp at Firemore sands near Poolewe (honesty box job, no facilities) and pedal up to the artic convoy memorial and old WW2 look out and camp at the end of the peninsular if that works out as a good overnight area.

Lovely route.

Tip: if you click the “cog” icon at the bottom right of new GoogleMaps, you get the option to “share or embed map” which gives you a much nicer link like this

https://goo.gl/maps/I6S0n

you’re skirting around Suilven, which is on my list of places to see.

Ta, I have a wee “+” in a box, no cog, can’t see that option.

ah, I’m on a desktop, are you on mobile or something?

Ancient Safari I think

My mate used to be the warden at Tounge Youth Hostel which was a nice spot and another mate used to stay somewhere called the Inchnadamph Field Centre when he was that way which was also a good spot. Very envious.

Just after Ullapool you can turn left at Drumrunie and ride through Coigach, past Stac Pollaidh then along the small coast road to Lochinver. From here you can keep on the coast road round to Kylescu. Your current route is on the main road which while quiet (this is the NW of Scotland after all) isn’t the nicest riding but it does go past the geology centre at Knockan Crag there are also the caves at Inchnadamph (a bit of a walk). The coast road is narrow and like most of the similar roads on the west coast is very up and down.

There’s a great pie shop at Lochinver and a good village store at Drumbeg.

With a slight detour you can nip out to see the Old Man of Stoer (sea stack). Further north, if you turn to Kinlochbervie you can carry on a few miles then ride most of the way out to Sandwood Bay which is a stunning beach just south of Cape Wrath – you can see the lighthouse.

I’d second whitestone’s Lochinver suggestion, it’s a lovely loop. It is very uppy downy though, some very stiff climbs around Drumbeg.
Also, I’d turn off just E of Contin and go through Marybank, Muir of Ord then drop onto the single track road along the shore of the firth to North Kessock.

As above, definitely go through Lochinver. You can decide after there whether you go through Drumbeg – it’s a beautiful road, but there’s alot of signs saying 25%….. count the arrows on an OS map.

Cheers, sound like my 30/23 may not do it, 24/28 FTW!

The Wee Mad Road of Inverpolly is not to be missed, even if it means you miss out the Drumbeg road by heading East out of Lochinver.

Second Sandwood Bay. The track is a wee bit rough in places and sort of peters out just before the beach but there are few finer places to camp. DO NOT be tempted to head directly north from there to Cape Wrath.

From Inverness, I prefer to head West towards Beauly, Muir of Ord and then the A832 to Contin.

Any reason for not heading south at Achnasheen and heading for Torridon – or is that just what your timing allows?

Edit: just noticed you are doing it anti-clockwise. That’s unusual…

Cheers druid. Train times mean we start at Ardgay Saturday pm and depart Inverness Thursday evening.

Any other route suggestions that improve on mine above welcome!

The road from Kinlochewe to Garve and then to Inverness is a very fast road and from Garve is busy with trucks from Ullapool. Is there any reason why you don’t keep heading further down the coast through Torridon and pick up the train from Lochalsh? I realise that there might not be a connection or that it might (will) be expensive.

Dunno how your bikes would handle it, but you can use the forestry roads on the north side of Loch Garve to reach Contin rather than the main road on the south. The main road is not somewhere I would contemplate cycling on,blind corners on crests etc

Plenty of good suggestions above. Crask inn worth a stop and you ca camp on the lawn if it suits your timings. After that I like the Strathnaver road and the one down Loch Loyal to Tongue which your route misses out (I guess you chose the Helmsdale way to get to Douneray though, and it’s not bad either). If time allows add some side trips up those other roads though – interesting history and very quiet. North coast beaches are great and easy access to several that rival many more famous ones on the west so plan to stop often. On the west, a trip out to Handa is a good detour at this time of year if you’re into wildlife. Further south the coast is hillier than inland but for my money more interesting riding, better camping (and obviously great beaches). Stac Pollaidh is a great little scramble on the roadside, well worth it for the views in all directions.After Garve the falls of Shin are worth stopping off at, as is Black Isle brewery a mile or two off route. If you have time to kill then continue out to the east coast instead of straight over to Kessock, loads of small towns worth exploring.

Kinlochewe-Kyle is potentially a good idea, but the main road west-east isn’t that bad as there’s only really a short section after Garve with poor sightlines where you’ll be going slowly, most of the rest you’ll have decent speed (downhill) or visibility. If you don’t fancy it or get delayed then another option is a bike bus that runs Inverness-Durness daily in summer.

FWIW me and ms Bajsykel did pretty much this route in reverse from Inverness over three and a half days with several stops each day. A week would be much more enjoyable as there is so much that you have to miss rushing like we did.

I’ve cycled the road past Garve and found it ok. The main busy period is caused by the ferry traffic and that can be carefully avoided with a bit of planning. In fact there might be less at the moment as the Ullapool linkspan is being upgraded for the new boat.

There is also a company by the name of John O’groats Bike Transport that does pick-ups and drop-offs at various location. Works out more affordable for larger groups though (e.g. 4-7).

Not only have I developed manflu, but 🙁

Screen Shot 2015-05-14 at 15.47.55 by alan cole[/url], on Flickr

Get on with it ya big jessie

Who said I wasn’t?

Not all of us have £500 Goretex 🙄

Revel in the knowledge that those in £500 GoreTex will be wet and £500 poorer, you on the other hand will just be wet. 🙂

Good point. I bet they impress people on the Saga holiday circuit tho 😛

As above, def go in by Stac Polly and take ‘the wee mad road’ to Lochinver
https://www.facebook.com/achinsbookshop
http://www.lochinvermission.org.uk/%5B/url%5D

Definitely add in the Lochinver loop (and pie shop).

What about Cape Wrath?

The road from Hope (before Tongue) past Ben Hope to Altnaharra is a wee gem and would lop a loop off if you’re wanting to dawdle elsewhere.

The Highland Bike Bus runs from Inverness to Ullapool to Durness. Really opens up the options.
http://www.inverness-durness-highland-bike-bus.co.uk/
(May not start until the last week in May. We used it two years ago when a lass on a tour took ill at Scourie)

If you detour round the coast road, Achmelvich bay has a lovely wee beach with a nice hostel and a campsite (although it’s probably about 30 years since I’ve been there).

That road between Hope and Altnaharra is ace – there’s a ruined broch by the roadside to have a look at – it just feels like you are heading in to the middle of nowhere, at least from the Altnaharra end, it gets busy near Ben Hope with Munroists.

The other two roads running north from Altnaharra are also interesting: the middle one for the views of Ben Loyal and the eastern one for the strath it runs along plus the history of the Sutherland clearances. I’ve not been on the indicated road further east that the OP is intending to use.

Inverness to Garve will be the worst bit but after that all looks really nice. I had a very similar route planned in my head for when I finally go for a wee tour.

My route started by heading up the east coast and going round in a anti clockwise loop and finishing at Kyle of Lochalsh. train home from there.

I’ve modified your route to show how I would ride from Inverness to Contin. (Home territory – I live in Dingwall)

The Garve stretch is no problem. Just try not to be on it at a time that co-incides with ferry traffic, although as Colin says Ullapool is out at the moment, so it will be Skye ferry. I haven’t been killed yet on that stretch and it’s nowhere near as scary as the northern side of Loch Ness. 🙂

You’ll probably be fed up of hills by the time you get to Ardgay, but riding up over the Struie to Alness is a treat IMO.

You’ll be passing the Corrieshalloch George which is worth a wee visit.

There’s a George at Corrieshalloch?

There’s a whole Asda

😀

Anywhere I can get free coffee?

The Crask Inn. Totally unique.

Looks good Al..
Enjoy.

Tonight was supposed to be the night we set off to Scotland – doing a route similar to yours (details in my blog here – https://haydenwsite.wordpress.com/ )

Unfortunately due to a family emergency it’s been put back to September however i’m still planning on riding it. (Off touring in the Peaks for a couple of days this weekend as a compromise).

cynic-al – Member

Anywhere I can get free coffee?

I’ve carefully routed you well away from my abode. 🙂

However if you do pass through Dingwall you’re welcome to cast your eye over your old 907 and absorb some coffee.

Food stop – There is an exceptionally good burger van at Garve just after the railway line on the right. It’s well worth eating there. Warning don’t order the Big Wyvis burger – it’s hard enough getting through the Little Wyvis one.

Thanks for all the input folks. I’m really looking forward to this tour.

I’m going to try and keep a blog going, might be tricky with limited access to wifi, but there no harm in trying.

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/mcalandbertilexplorenorthernscotland