Scotland C2C - Kennacraig,Inveraray,Dalmally Crianlarich, Comrie,Crieff,Perth, St Andrews.

[island girl]

Hi, planning a Scottish Coast to Coast for 2019 for my Ladies Cycling Group. Intend to go:

1) Kennacraig to Inveraray via A83

2) A819, Then A85 to Dalmally. Right at Tyndrum A82.

3) Left at Crianlarich onto A85, Lochearnhead, A85 Comrie, B827

4) South Crieff Road to Crieff, New Fowlis, St Davids, Balgowan,

5) Perth, Abernathy, Newburgh, Cupar, St Andrews.

Looking for advice on whether to avoid any of these roads. Does anyone know of quieter back roads ? Is this route Scenic ? in fact anything that would help ?

[rotavator]

I have cycled on the A82 and A85 which are fast, improved roads and it was an unpleasant and at times scary experience (e.g close passes by hurtling wood wagons) that I would try to avoid in future. The way I see it, you only need one idiot who is not paying attention and your cycling days could be over.

However, you may be used cycling on fast A roads in which case it wouldn't bother you.

[LollyKat]

The route is certainly scenic, and 35 years ago I was happy to cycle the A82 and A85, but I wouldn't do it now. Have a play with cycle.travel. The quiet route it gives is 154 miles, but though scenic, is not as dramatic as going via Crianlarich. One option, depending on the time of year, would be to take a ferry across Loch Lomond from Tarbet (via Hell's Glen, B829/8) to Inversnaid then onwards to Aberfoyle. From there you could continue to Aberfoyle and find several routes to St Andrews. Or you could take the cycle path from Tarbet south to Luss and get a ferry to Balmaha. The A811 near Stirling is straight and fast, but not as busy as the A82.

[RobertMcC]

I live on the west coast so my view is a little biased but it is a very lovely area to cycle.

On the western part of your route there are not a great deal of options other than the main roads but depending on the time of year and your tolerance of traffic it can still be fairly quite in comparison to some main roads.July and August tend to be the busiest times due to the tourist traffic.

A few suggestions from me would be

1 Stay on the A83 past Lochgilphead to Kilmartin the take the B840 to join the A819 at Cladich
2 At Lochearnhead stay on the A84 a little longer and take the small road on the south side of Loch Earn, which rejoins the A85 at St Fillans.

The rest seems pretty good for avoiding the busiest of routes although Perth can be a bit of a nightmare if you hit it at the wrong time of day.

If you need any local advise for the west side of the route let me know.

[island girl]

Thanks all for your very positive input. I'm gonna take your advice on board and make a new route. Will show you when finished for further local information. Good stuff