Western route through Scotland
Western route through Scotland
Can anyone pass on recommendations for roads to avoid and take when cycling up the western side of Scotland to JoG? I haven't fixed my route, but my last stop in England will probably be in the Penrith area, and had thought to stop in the Kilmarnock part of Ayrshire. I have booked accommodation at the SYHAs: Inveraray and Ben Nevis, and am probably going to book a bed at the Independent YHA at Evanton near Dingwall. Any thoughts on routes and a place to stop between Penrith and Inveraray would be greatly appreciated.
western route
Did Jogle last year in June and loved the west coast route-going your way would highly recommend the following.
Penrith-Carlisle-Gretna-Annan-Dumfries-Dalry(nice pub and B&B at the Porridge House)-Carsphairn-Ardrossan-Isle of Arran-Tarbert-Lochgilphead-Kilmartin-Oban-Benderloch and on to Ben Nevis
The Isle of Arran is beautiful and worth staying on for a day to cycle round and the ferry rides add to the whole experience. There is plenty of accomodation on the Island. After leaving Arran the west coast route is truly outstanding. Make a detour from Lochgilphead along the Crinnan Canal cyclepath to Crinan and then rejoin the west coast route at Kilmartin where there is an interesting museum with an excellent cafe.
A further recommendation would be that when you leave Evanton go North via Bonar Bridge-Lairg-Altnaharra-Syre-Bettyhill. This may be longer in miles but is comparatively flat, traffic free and the Strathnaver Valley was probably the best part of the whole journey. Stayed B&b on whole trip and had little trouble finding them.
The jump from Penrith to Carlisle is a bit of a pain-I just closed my eyes and flew along the A74 to get it over with- but you can go round. After that the journey from Gretna on is good because as you will see on the map there are minor roads running alongside the main roads most of the way.
Penrith-Carlisle-Gretna-Annan-Dumfries-Dalry(nice pub and B&B at the Porridge House)-Carsphairn-Ardrossan-Isle of Arran-Tarbert-Lochgilphead-Kilmartin-Oban-Benderloch and on to Ben Nevis
The Isle of Arran is beautiful and worth staying on for a day to cycle round and the ferry rides add to the whole experience. There is plenty of accomodation on the Island. After leaving Arran the west coast route is truly outstanding. Make a detour from Lochgilphead along the Crinnan Canal cyclepath to Crinan and then rejoin the west coast route at Kilmartin where there is an interesting museum with an excellent cafe.
A further recommendation would be that when you leave Evanton go North via Bonar Bridge-Lairg-Altnaharra-Syre-Bettyhill. This may be longer in miles but is comparatively flat, traffic free and the Strathnaver Valley was probably the best part of the whole journey. Stayed B&b on whole trip and had little trouble finding them.
The jump from Penrith to Carlisle is a bit of a pain-I just closed my eyes and flew along the A74 to get it over with- but you can go round. After that the journey from Gretna on is good because as you will see on the map there are minor roads running alongside the main roads most of the way.
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RaasayWarden
- Posts: 91
- Joined: 9 Jan 2007, 8:36am
You can avoid most of the A82 north of Fort William by using the offroad "Great Glen Way". Several sections are usable only by unladen MTBs so a route might be:
B8004/5 Banavie to Clunes, GGW to Laggan Bridge, A82 to Bridge Of Oich, GGW (towpath) to Fort Augustus, B862/B852 to Inverness.
The last is up a b****y great hill but you face one if you take the normal route by turning left at Drumnadrochit.
North of Inverness NCN 1 is the (unhurried!) way to go but any roads other than the A9 will do.
B8004/5 Banavie to Clunes, GGW to Laggan Bridge, A82 to Bridge Of Oich, GGW (towpath) to Fort Augustus, B862/B852 to Inverness.
The last is up a b****y great hill but you face one if you take the normal route by turning left at Drumnadrochit.
North of Inverness NCN 1 is the (unhurried!) way to go but any roads other than the A9 will do.
RaasayWarden wrote:You can avoid most of the A82 north of Fort William by using the offroad "Great Glen Way". Several sections are usable only by unladen MTBs so a route might be:
B8004/5 Banavie to Clunes, GGW to Laggan Bridge, A82 to Bridge Of Oich, GGW (towpath) to Fort Augustus, B862/B852 to Inverness.
The last is up a b****y great hill but you face one if you take the normal route by turning left at Drumnadrochit.
That's what I did. The B862 out of Ft Augustus is VERY steep but there's a terrific long downhill back to Loch Ness, and then it's fairly flat all the way to Inverness. I found that the GGW was a bit too rough in places for my 28mm tyres, but the towpath sections were fine.