Scotland Summer C2C2C – Route Advice

Hi,

After reading about Chew’s adventure on barebones bikepacking and also 13thfloormonk’s legendary trip on STW I’ve decided to put the two weeks vacation I have in May to good use by attempting my own Scotland epic.

I’ve just finished the initial route planning stage and, as I’ve never ridden the majority of these trails I was hoping that some of you would be able to crit/suggest improvements/give feedback on my initial route. I’m particularly interested in your thoughts on the section from Poolewe-Altbeithe Bothie as thats what I’m most worried about and also any advice on the best path to take from Mount Keen to Dunnotter Castle which I’ve selected as the end point for the trip.

Above is a screenshot of the entire trip however, if you want to have the individual GPS files for yourself/viewing on Bikehike then you should be able to access the files from my dropbox account here.

In summary:

Day 1) Bonar Bridge-Ullapool
Day 2) Ullapool-Poolewe
Day 3) Poolewe-Kinlochewe-Torridon
Day 4) Torridon-Applecross-Lochcarron
Day 5) Lochcarron-Falls of Glomach-Alltbeithe Bothie
Day 6) Alltbeithe Bothie-Loch Affric-Fort Augustus
Day 7) Fort Agustus-Laggan-Ryvoan Bothy
Day 8) Ryvoan Bothy-Aiteachain Bothy
Day 9) Aiteachain Bothy-Tomintoul
Day 10) Tomintoul-Ballater-Dinnet
Day 11/12) Dinnet-Mount Keen-Dunnotter Castler

+ 2/3 additional days spare for rest days/mishaps.

As you can see, for the middle Cairngorms loop I’ve taken inspiration from the Highland Trail 400 loop from this website. [/url]

Thanks for all your input.

Looks good. How are you carrying your kit? All the obvious bits are quite good, but without looking at the route in detail there might be bits that I’d avoid when loaded up. Lots of good riding, but back to back days loaded up with gear in bad weather could be demoralising. I can’t offer any advice East of Ballater but if I remember I’ll download and view the files later for the bits you’re worried about in the West – I might be able to help with those.

Thanks bajscyckel,

I’m loading up the bike with Alpkit’s Stingray framebag, a bar bag from Porcelain Rocket[/url] kindly borrowed off a friend and most likely a Tiger seatpack (although I haven’t bought this yet) from Wildcat Gear[/url]. I’ve also heard good things about the fueltanks from Bikepack.eu however I’m going to do a bit more research first before purchasing.

Just blowing up your screen-grab I can see a few issues:

Croftown > Dundonnel. Would be very bad in that direction – particularly loaded up. Avoid.

Is that Coulin Pass > Coire Lair? Might want to rethink the latter in that direction.

Inverbain > Applecross Bay? Hellish – go from Kenmore though its a better ride in the other direction (like Coire Lair)

Is that LochCarron > Glen Ling > Killilan > Glomach? If so ok but taking a loaded bike up the side of the falls? I’d say no it’s very steep terrain.

Presume Bealach an Sgairne to Alltbeath? Nice but wrong direction – lots of pushing. Gleann Lichd> Camban would be easier in that direction.

The rest sounds ok

Depends what you are used to – beautiful route but as above often not in th best direction from a riding p.o.v. Fair bit of that is demanding / far better suited to fast and light i.e not tooled up with frame bags et al.

Wow, thats an amazing looking trip! Mine started out as a C2C2C but I only made it from the West Coast to the North Coast and missed out the final leg to the East Coast…

From Ullapool south, I would definitely recommend your route through the fisherfields, the high point between Loch Na Sealga and Fionn Loch is an amazing bit of trail, although the climb up from Loch Na Sealga is a really steep push. The crossing of Strath Na Sealga should keep you entertained also, I think I crossed the same river about 4 times…

I would maybe suggest splitting Ullapool – Poolewe into two days if I could, I managed as far as Poolewe – Strath Na Sealga in one day and was glad to stop at Shenavall. Its a beautiful area so it would be a shame to pass right through without spending a night.

Getting to the falls of Glomach is pretty spectacular but a lot of pushing, and one section of almost scrambling while also pushing… Gleann Gaorsaic (between Falls of Glomach and Glen Affric) is a long slog, I don’t remember any path at all and its very wet and tussocky. If you prepare for a long push (read two hours minimum, unlikely you’ll be doing more than 2km/h!) then you can just enjoy being in a very untrodden glen.

I’d definitely recommend some merino socks, I got the midweight IceBreaker ones. They stay comfy when wet (essential) and will go weeks without a wash (well, mine did anyway). I also had one set of tent only dry clothes, I could tolerate almost anything so long as I knew I had a dry set of clothes to crawl into at the end of the day.

What are your daily distances? Obviously I don’t know how fit you are, and I hadn’t really trained much for my trip, but in slightly wetter than normal May conditions, travelling almost as light as possible while still carrying a tent, I averaged perhaps 50km a day. If you want to really savour the trip you should give yourself a decent amount of time in the evening for pitching tent etc. etc.

Inverbain > Applecross Bay? Hellish

Have to agree. I did it the other way last year, and found the path runs out northward at the summit https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUK381&q=Inverbain&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&sa=N&tab=wl and really doesn’t pick up again till you hit the road! I didn’t time it, but it was hours of pushing downhill to do that section. It is very very rough, cycling is out for a start, and pushing is a real chore. It would be ok (but tough) to walk, but dragging a loaded bike through it was really not much fun, although scenery was spectacular.

Where the path runs out at the top, looking north:

The most ridiculous ‘dirt’ track I have ever seen, consisting of 6″ high boulders. Very very hard work to walk a bike through:

On a slight side note having spent many years in the highlands. April/may is a good time to go but be prepared for midges and ticks (lymes disease) smidge is a good repellent.