North or south of Loch Ness

Specific board for this popular undertaking.
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gilesclark
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Joined: 27 Sep 2016, 10:01am

North or south of Loch Ness

Post by gilesclark »

Morning All,
Quick question; does anyone have any thoughts on going south (B852 - General Wade's Military Road) or north (A82) of Loch Ness when heading to Inverness.

At a very early planning stage for a "comfortable" attempt in September next year. Looking to complete a 1,000+ miles during the trip and in outline am contemplating running east of the Pennines missing the Manchester, before swinging back to run the Great Glen.

Many thanks for any help.
Best regards
Giles
PH
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Re: North or south of Loch Ness

Post by PH »

Yes, go South, A huge climb out of Fort Augustus then lovely quiet rolling road all the way, with a decent drop back down to the Loch. Worth a stop off at the Falls of Foyers (Cafe at the top is OK) It does commit you to going into Inverness, which you may or may not consider a good thing.
Going north, particularly in peak times, you'll be sharing the road with lots of coaches and caravans.
East of the Pennines isn't the common choice, but it's the one I took (Along with going N to S) For me it added about 150 miles (We went so far east we crossed the Humber Bridge) but missed all the urban areas, had four flat days in the middle and IMO for most cyclists it would be quicker even though it longer.
irc
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Re: North or south of Loch Ness

Post by irc »

100% go south. Vastly quieter roads and better views than the A82 along Loch Ness.

Viewpoint at the top of the climb from Fort Augustus.
Viewpoint at the top of the climb from Fort Augustus.
PH
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Re: North or south of Loch Ness

Post by PH »

irc wrote:100% go south. Vastly quieter roads and better views than the A82 along Loch Ness.

viewpoint.jpg

Snap
ImageThe last downhill by Paul, on Flickr
gilesclark
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Joined: 27 Sep 2016, 10:01am

Re: North or south of Loch Ness

Post by gilesclark »

PH wrote:East of the Pennines isn't the common choice, but it's the one I took (Along with going N to S) For me it added about 150 miles (We went so far east we crossed the Humber Bridge) but missed all the urban areas, had four flat days in the middle and IMO for most cyclists it would be quicker even though it longer.


Thanks PH
LOL I would be lying if flat days weren't an attraction as well as the possibility of quiet routes to the east.

My initial thoughts are not to go quite as far east as you but run up a rough line from Gloucester, Birmigham, Derby, Sheffield...hitting the coast in the region of Newcastle, then running up the coast to Edinburgh. Then onto Perth and hop the Old A9 to Spean Bridge to ride the Great Glen.

As I said very early planning books & maps out all over the place, but for me so much part of the fun. Your photograph is fantastic. I think that confirms at least one section of the route for me.

Thank you so much for your input
Giles
gilesclark
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Re: North or south of Loch Ness

Post by gilesclark »

irc wrote:100% go south. Vastly quieter roads and better views than the A82 along Loch Ness.

Thanks for the picture irc. It's got to be done lol
giles
PH
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Re: North or south of Loch Ness

Post by PH »

gilesclark wrote:My initial thoughts are not to go quite as far east as you but run up a rough line from Gloucester, Birmigham, Derby, Sheffield...hitting the coast in the region of Newcastle, then running up the coast to Edinburgh. Then onto Perth and hop the Old A9 to Spean Bridge to ride the Great Glen.

I live in Derby and there's plenty of nice cycling, but heading North to Sheffield is anything but flat. I'd be tempted to go further East, even if not as far as we did.
My route was Edinburgh>Keilder>Durham>Northallerton>Beverley>Grantham>Daventry>Bath> Back on the traditional route.
rareposter
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Re: North or south of Loch Ness

Post by rareposter »

As everyone else has said, definitely the south/east side. The climb out of Fort Augustus is pretty hrsh but it comes in three distinct phases: up, short descent, up, short descent, up/traverse and the views just get better each time. The descent off the tops is super quick, I think I've had my fastest speeds on every LEJOG I've done down there although equally I remember pedalling down it one year into a stupid headwind!

There's a pub/hotel at Whitebridge and just north of that the road splits. Left (B852) is signposted to Foyers and Loch Ness Trail, straight on (B862) is just signposted Inverness.

Left drops you down a beautiful singletrack road through thick mossy forest right to the loch shore and it undulates beautifully along it. Straight on the road climbs gradually then narrows to singletrack and goes alongside Loch Mhor and then further on another much smaller loch. Both are lovely and there are ways of cutting down from the right fork (B862) down to the Military Road (B852) along the way but they both bring you out at Dores. The descent off the B862 stretch dowen to Dores is possibly one of the best descents on the entire ride, really swoopy with the views opening up over Loch Ness although there's a couple of narrow sections which require a bit of caution. Pick a quiet time to do it, ideally a weekday, the worst thing down there is getting stuck behind a camper van or something.
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fionat
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Re: North or south of Loch Ness

Post by fionat »

We did the A82. It was the most horrible bit of the whole trip - lorries thundering past and no 'escape' - cliff on one side, loch on the other. Drumnadrochit was lovely though. If I was doing it again, I'd definitely do the other side - I drove that way recently and it was beautiful - if you don't mind hills!
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fionat
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Re: North or south of Loch Ness

Post by fionat »

We did 'west' and took in Arran and Mull - and that was the best bit of the trip, so do give that some consideration. It does add on a few miles though - I think we came in at around 1150.
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