Scottish Highlands Cycle Touring – Routes/Advice please

Tomatin

Good whisky.

Re: ggw the high route does look like a good improvement. I don’t remember views like those posted

Definitely inschriach cake!

The B9152 cuts out a lot of the A9 so looks like a better bet

It’s a nice road to cycle. Very low traffic.

My choice for Fort William to Inverness would be B8004, GGW to Laggan, A82 to Aberchalder, canal towpath to Fort Augustus, B862 to Inverness. Great views from the top of the B862.

The B862 (south to north) is a big climb for the first 3 miles or so followed by miles of long gradual downhills. The pic below is at the viewpoint at the top of the climb, looking nth towards Inverness.

My choice for Fort William to Inverness would be B8004, GGW to Laggan, A82 to Aberchalder, canal towpath to Fort Augustus, B862 to Inverness. Great views from the top of the B862.

Why miss out the Great Glen Way by Loch Oich? It has been improved as part of NCN78, its now a pretty smooth path, following the old railway. A few nice old bridges and a tunnel.
More fun than the A82 anyway.

Ta for update. New/improved since the last time I was there. And better than the A82.

Just catching up with this thread, thanks folks. This is shaping up to be an epic trip.

Main question right now…just how MTB is the Great Glen Way?

Bike wise, I’m using a Croix De Fer (CX) with rear panniers… I’m a seasoned MTBer and don’t mind some rough stuff.

Worth sticking the cross tyres back on, or do you reckon I could ride 95%+ of the way with wide road slicks and a bit of walking if necessary? All the photos make it look pretty smooth.

Croix de Fer will fly along the GGW. Perfect bike for it. With panniers, you may well be pushing up a couple of the climbs, but there’s nothing too rough. I wouldn’t choose completely slick tyres but you don’t need full-on knobbly tyres either, something in between would be spot on.

Conti CrossSpeed 35’s (which were standard on a lot of CDF specs) would be ideal

2nd that

Ah. I’ve got a 2013 spec Croix, which had a rather lumpy conti cyclocross tread.

Anyhows… those Conti CrossSpeeds look just the ticket. In the bag! Ta 🙂

ScoobysM8 – Member
Croix de Fer will fly along the GGW. Perfect bike for it. With panniers, you may well be pushing up a couple of the climbs, but there’s nothing too rough…

You definitely don’t need anything fancy on the GGW. Rode it on a singlespeed 20″ wheel bike with skinny tyres.

Is the hight route new?

It turns the GGW from a fairly utilitarian route into something worth doing on merit.

Right folks, I’ve finally had some time to get down to some decent reading and planning.

All of this advice has been stellar – thanks so much.

I’m going to more or less follow the excellent route map kindly suggested; the West Coast route provides plenty of detours or short cuts depending upon mood.

The Loch Shiel detour is a definitely possibility, a bit of dirt track will be a welcome break from the road. The Great Glen Way appeals as a nice easy means of motoring back to Inverness in the semi wilderness.

So, looks pretty much perfect. Last minute suggestions and detours still very much welcome.

Will post any photos and let you know how I find it.

Cheers! 🙂

You seem to have veered off the Great Glen Way at points. Here’s a GPX file of the Great Glen Way (High Level) (Right click…Save as)

It’s also a waste to be passing the Bealach na Ba and not doing Applecross 🙂

scotroutes – Member
…It’s also a waste to be passing the Bealach na Ba and not doing Applecross

Just beat me to it.

It’s well worth doing the loop – over the bealach to Applecross, along the coast to Shieldaig and back. There’s a good cafe at the bottom so you can finish your ride with tea and cake. 🙂

This thread is putting me in a mind to get the big apples on my old inbred and think about some autumnal touring locally 🙂

Just bookmarking. Not been up there for a couple of years.

Aye, def worth adding in an Applecross loop. One part I know I’d love to add in is hanging a south turn at Stromeferry to Dornie. Take the singletrack road out of Dornie above Loch Duich and head up the stunning Mam Ratagan for some amazing views. Then enjoy the descent down through Glenelg. The ferry crossing will be cheap £5? but to add what you’ve just witnessed onto the tour, it’ll be one of the best fivers you’ve spent.

BTW The best part of the Highlands for bike tours is north of the GGW.

Hmm.

You seem to have veered off the Great Glen Way at points. Here’s a GPX file of the Great Glen Way (High Level) (Right click…Save as)

It’s also a waste to be passing the Bealach na Ba and not doing Applecross

Ah. Downloaded. Ta! Although, I’ll be going old school with maps, with GPS backup on my phone. Is the high route clearly marked on trail?

I’ll be making every effort to get over to Applecross 🙂

The Mam Ratagan road leaves the A87 at Shiel Bridge, not Dornie. Take it over to Glenelg (palindromic name place / twinned with a crater on Mars) then the ferry to Skye. Given your planned route it would fit in better Eastbound. Check it’s operating though – it’s still seasonal.

Aye, def worth adding in an Applecross loop. One part I know I’d love to add in is hanging a south turn at Stromeferry to Dornie. Take the singletrack road out of Dornie above Loch Duich and head up the stunning Mam Ratagan for some amazing views. Then enjoy the descent down through Glenelg. The ferry crossing will be cheap £5? but to add what you’ve just witnessed onto the tour, it’ll be one of the best fivers you’ve spent.

Sounds fantastic! Struggling to visualise this on the map though 🙁

Any chance you could lend a brother a hand when you have 5?

😕

The Mam Ratagan road leaves the A87 at Shiel Bridge, not Dornie. Take it over to Glenelg (palindromic name place / twinned with a crater on Mars) then the ferry to Skye. Given your planned route it would fit in better Eastbound. Check it’s operating though – it’s still seasonal.

This would explain some of my troubles perhaps? 😆