Cycling UK Forum

If you come back via Ullapool you don't need to cycle as far as Dingwall -- the nearest station is Garve. Another possibility would be to take the ferry to Uig, cycle down Skye to the bridge then get the train from Kyle of Lochalsh.

But alas, the unreliability of trains is always going to be a worry. That said, I've found Scotrail quite good. Once when I was going to Thurso, a breakdown made us miss our connection at Inverness. The staff laid on a bus with a trailer for the bikes, and we caught the train up at Brora.

Trains are Oban, Mallaig or Kyle, or cycle from Ullapool to either Lairg or Dingwall/Inverness.
IIRC, the Ullapool ferry gets in late enough that you couldn't make the train the same day.

The trouble with trains, in my view, is that the weekend is prime time for engineering works on the line, in which case it will probably be a replacement bus service that doesn't take bikes.
That's not actually happened to me, but when returning from Aberdeen to Cheltenham after visiting the Shetlands, I did have a scheduled 3 hour transfer time between Glasgow Queen Street and Glasgow Central evaporate to an announced 2 minutes, partly due to being an hour and a half late leaving Aberdeen, and partly due to problems on the line into Queen Street. Fortunately the driver told us what was going on in time for me to abandon the train at Springburn and cycle to Central, which gave me a comfortable 10 minutes to spare. It did rather put me off trains.

I've taken (twice) the "dump the car in Oban" option, with the tour being ferry to Barra, cycle up to the Butt of Lewis, return to Tarbert, ferry to Uig, cycle to Armadale, ferry to Mallaig, cycle to Kilchoan, ferry to Tobermory, cycle to Craignure, ferry to Oban. The second time, I didn't go much past Tarbert, and spent 3 days on Mull.

22" should be plenty low enough.
The only steep climb you've got to do is Clisham (4 miles after Tarbert). The other steep roads are mostly on dead end roads on the east coast, like the one to Rhenigidale hostel.

mercalia wrote:

Mike Sales wrote:Traveline declined to give me an itinerary from Swineshead Lincolnshire to Stornaway, or even Ullapool. Perhaps because it takes over twenty four hours.

the version i posted at the start of this thread does - took some time to think about it
so maybe that the one to bookmark not the later link?


Thanks, Mercalia.
Maybe it should have thought for a bit longer. That itinerary starts by taking the K59 in the wrong direction, then takes the same bus in the correct direction back to Swineshead and on to Boston!

I am planning a cycling holiday in the Outer Hebrides, finishing in Stornoway.

At the end of it, there will be 4 of us, with bikes, wanting to get from Ullapool to Glasgow on a Sunday in June. When we were planning this last year, we were relying on timetables for a bus with a cycle trailer that would have taken us from Ullapool to Inverness, but that service has been cancelled and I am looking at alternatives. Cycling from Ullapool to Inverness would be too much for us or would take more time than we have - we are pretty feeble cyclists compared to most of the people on this forum.

I know about a couple of cycle taxi services (https://www.tickettoridehighlands.co.uk ... nsport.php and have written to mtbflo). I am also looking at one way hire of a van or a minibus, but I was hoping that someone here might have some better suggestions or know about other cycle taxi services.

We have booked accommodation in the Hebrides and finding out at the last minute that the transport wasn't going to work out was a bit of a blow. If you have any advice (apart from don't make that mistake again) it would be welcome.

Thanks,

Billy.

Looking for up to 4 people to share costs of transporting bikes from Ullapool to Inverness on Friday 4th August 2017.
Meeting Stornaway ferry in Ullapool at 4.30 pm.
(The D and E bike bus is not running this year, and public bus leaves Ullapool an hour and half before ferry gets in)
Anyone wishing to share please contact me.
Thanks Nickie

The normal bus will take a bike or two, if you ask nicely. They get put in the luggage compartment under the bus. Me and a friend did this last week.

I presume you're aware of the summer bus service that will carry bicycles if given 24hrs notice.

http://www.decoaches.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Service-804-Timetable3.pdf

Depending on the time of your train, you could get the bike bus to Dingwall.

I would have thought that with two weeks available, a circular tour, starting and finishing in Inverness, would have been doable. The route south from Bettyhill, via Lairg, Bonnar Bridge and Dingwall, is really very nice, and unless you are desperate to see JO'G you could save a few miles by heading south directly from Betty hill, or even Tongue.

Your best route out of Inverness, if heading for the Applecross Peninsular, would be along the south shore of the Beauly Firth to Muir of Ord and then A835 to Garve and A832 A890 to Lochcarron.

I presume you intend to head up the west coast from Applecross, via Ullapool, to Durness. If you are pushed for time the bus service between Inverness and Durness goes via Ullapool and they will hitch up a bike trailer if you give them 24hrs notice. You could also save some time by making use of the train service between Inverness and Lochcarron. That might prove more useful if you did the trip in an anticlockwise direction. The Bealach na Bà , which is very worth doing, is slightly easier tackled from that direction, but in my view the road in to Applecross from Shieldaig is just as tough.

PH wrote:You used to be able to take a bike on the buses, but I remember reading that they'd stopped doing it last year, though I can't remember if that was all the buses. Might be worth looking into.
There's a bus and trailer service from Ullapool to Inverness and of course a train from there to Oban, but it's probably no quicker than cycling.
If you wanted to ride back but not repeat too much of your route, you could cross to Skye from Tarbert, ride through Skye, train from Mallaig or ride down to Ardnamurchen, ferry to Mull, short ride in Mull, ferry back to Oban. I did this a few years ago though on that trip I didn't go further north than Tarbert

There isn't a direct train from Inverness to Oban. You need to go via Perth and Glasgow. Usually 2 changes.

You used to be able to take a bike on the buses, but I remember reading that they'd stopped doing it last year, though I can't remember if that was all the buses. Might be worth looking into.
There's a bus and trailer service from Ullapool to Inverness and of course a train from there to Oban, but it's probably no quicker than cycling.
If you wanted to ride back but not repeat too much of your route, you could cross to Skye from Tarbert, ride through Skye, train from Mallaig or ride down to Ardnamurchen, ferry to Mull, short ride in Mull, ferry back to Oban. I did this a few years ago though on that trip I didn't go further north than Tarbert

mnichols wrote:Great video and photos, and an amazing coincidence. I was just logging on to ask some questions about cycling The Hebridise, so here goes:

Is the Hebridian Way as shown in Mark Beaumont's video a good route?

What is the best way to get there/back with a bike?

I was thinking of combining with a bit of cycling around Applecross, so is there a ferry from Ullapool?

Are there plenty of small hotels and b&bs? I normally use Google maps and booking.com unless you know a better website for The Hebridise?

What are the roads like? Road bike or cross bike?

Thanks... Great video...

There are quite a few posts in this touring section about the Outer Hebrides. The whole 'Hebridean Way' thing is just branding applied to a very obvious route. It is difficult to go wrong with so few roads. That said it's worth diverting off the main route and exploring the golden road and other side roads.
Ferries are from Oban to Barra, Uig (Skye) to Tarbert(Harris), Uig to Lochmaddy, Mallaig to Lochboisdale and Ullapool to Stornoway.
All ferries including the ones that link the islands are operated by Calmac and there is no extra charge for bikes. Check out their website.
You should really have some idea about where you want to be looking for accommodation. Communities are quite scattered and tourist information is hard to find. If you want to use B & B's I would suggest you plan ahead and pre-book. It is possible to travel the length of the islands using hostels. Check out the Gatliffe Trust (no booking) and independent hostels.
Don't expect cafes and shops galore. They can be few and far between which in my opinion adds to the appeal of the islands. Make sure you are stocked up with food on a Saturday particularly on Harris and Lewis because there are very few shops open on a Sunday.
There is a bike bus operated by D & E Coaches that runs from Inverness to Durness that picks up and drops off at Ullapool in the summer months (but timings don't always tie in with ferries). Oban can be reached by train but bikes need to be prebooked.

It's all good, at least the bits I've done over the years and I've still plenty on the to do list. Some of the highlights for me have been a night on Iona after the day trippers have left. The road out to Ardnamurchan Lighthouse (The most Westerly point on mainland UK) is pretty dramatic, best done with a trip to Mull to avoid a return on the same road. That is a feature of much Scottish touring, some of the best places are out on the coast with only one road there. For example on Lewis there's Hushinish, Rhenigidale and Bhaltos are all worth the ride, but it'll be the same ride back. If you go to Harris, do ride a circuit, the East and West sides are so completely different they could be a thousand miles apart.
With your planned mileage I wouldn't try and do too much, IMO it's better to see one area well than just glance at a lot. Below the route of my Island hopper from a few years ago, starts with a train journey to Fort William which is worth doing for itself and it ends with the bus/bike service back to Inverness from Ullapool.
Have a great trip.
http://cycle.travel/map/journey/32257

I can't add much to the advice already given. Springtime is my favourite time for visiting Scotland. With long hours of daylight, minimal midges, and often quite settled weather (no guarantees here though). It's also possible that there is less pressure on accommodation at this time of year.

Oban is a good starting point for any tour of the west of Scotland and it may be worth using public transport to travel there from your point of arrival in the UK. From Oban there are ferry links to both inner and outer Hebridean islands and all are worth exploring. The west coast north from Oban to Cape Wrath, including the Applecross peninsular, is wonderful and could be combined with the islands as part of an extended tour. Also worth noting that there is a bus service between Inverness and Durnes via Ullapool which will accommodate bicycles in a trailer if given 24hrs notice. This could be useful if you're pushed for time but you would need to check timetables as it's a summertime only service.

http://www.inverness-durness-highland-bike-bus.co.uk/Service%20804%20Timetable.pdf

Whatever route you decide on it's worth building some flexibility into your plans to cope with the changeable weather. Winds can be extreme in Scotland, especially on the outer islands, and a plan B which reverses your direction of travel or alters the schedule, is a good idea. This will need a more flexible approach to accommodation but given the time of year it shouldn't be a problem. A tent and sleeping bag is always a good insurance policy though.

I've spent a lot of time studying this route although having cycled the roads to/from Tongue, Thurso, JOG, Inverness, on numerous occasions. I am concentrating more on Applecross to Durness where there is sparse accommodation/shops/facilities etc. and it will probably be the hilliest section of the NC500. It will also be the most rewarding for you and if you can stretch to 50 miles a day and a 7-day tour you could make Inverness to Thurso in 7 days where you have train arrivals and departures.

For example: Inverness to Lochcarron; LC to Torridon (via Applecross); T to Laide; L to Ullapool; U to Scourie - a longer day!; S to Tongue (via Durness); and finally Tongue to Thurso: that will give you a good 7-day tour. Or, I believe there might be a bus from Tongue back to Inverness that you can take your bike with you?

I can't help you with accommodation as I have planned on camping for my trip - I am setting off at the end of next week, but for once will not be taking my iPad, so I'm not expecting to be on line or emails - I'm trying to save weight to get over the Bealach with my heavier tent etc. - I am intending to extend it to the Orkney's and Shetlands as I've never been there before and seldom get the chance.