You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
I've got five days off work next week and the plan was to cycle from Barra to Lewis. I was going to get the train from Gleneagles (local station) to to Oban via Glasgow then cycle from Castlebay to Stornoway. Then cycle from Ullapool to Inverness and train it back down. Due to the late planning, Scotrail say all trains are fully booked for bikes on both the Gleneagles leg and the Oban leg.
I can drive to Oban but don't have time to cycle back down from Ullapool to get the car. I'm thinking next steps are to see if I can get a lift to Oban then risk it and try and get a bike space from Inverness on a late evening train or try a different route.
Any other ideas? If this route isn't going to work in the time I have then maybe a loop via Tarbert and Skye from Oban?
I work for a bike hire/bike taxi service based in Inverness. We regularly do the Ullapool-Oban run for folk doing the OH. It's expensive for a solo rider but we do encourage folk to share to reduce the cost. Of course it then depends when you want to travel.
Oh - and have you checked accommodation on the islands?
As Scotroutes says - accommodation can get booked up quickly
Cheers. Travelling would likely be late afternoon on Friday 1st June. The ferry gets in at 16:30. Although at a push I could probably be in Ullapool on the Thursday. No accommodation booked. I'll have my tent with me.
Thread hijack alert! Sorry.
@scotroutes: I need to look into a one way transfer from the Isles of Glencoe Hotel to Nairn in September for the Rat Race Coast to Coast. How best to contact you?
Fully booked 1st June. Could you do Saturday 2nd, morning ferry? We already have a group of four doing Ullapool-Oban at that time.
Website is here
https://www.tickettoridehighlands.co.uk/cyclist-transport.php
Transport around the RAB C2C might be a problem as we usually end up providing loads of hire bikes and as we deliver them to Cawdor and pick them up from Fort William our vans can be unavailable. Best to go through the link above. Bike hire might be an option too though. It makes the logistics easier for you and would be a lot cheaper than a taxi for one.
Mods - please let me know if I'm breaking any rules here. I try not to advertise but these are responses to inquiries.
Thanks Scotroutes. Unfortunately I need to be back home on the Saturday morning. I'm thinking of altering the route to make it more chilled. Basically I've got Monday to Friday next week. Me, the bike and a tent. Nothing booked and plans can be adjusted to suit. I've never been to the Outer Hebrides so If I can include at least some of the islands in my route that would be great.
EDIT - I should mention i'll be on a tourer rather than the mountain bike and I can use my car to get to a starting point.
Cool. Be aware that the Mallaig - Lochboisdale ferry isn't running at the moment so that's one potential route off the cards.
I'd caution against trying to fit in too much. I cycled the length of the OH a few years ago and was very aware of feeling rushed. I've had to return a few more times to pick up all the stuff I missed. In fact I'm off to North Uist for 10 days next month.
I can recommend the campsite at Balranald.
We've done a tour from Oban as follows: Ferry to Castlebay, ride up the Isles to Tarbert; ferry to Uig; ride across Skye (main road isn't nice) to Armadale; ferry to Mallaig; ride to Kilchoan on Ardnamurchan; ferry to Tobermory; ride to Craignure (we did a loop of the island but you can ride direct); ferry to Oban. You could shorten it slightly by riding Mallaig to Lochaline and getting the ferry over to Mull from there.
Thanks Whitestone. Can you remember how long that took your and roughly what daily mileages you were doing? The problem with all these routes is fitting in with the ferry timetables so I will likely be either sitting waiting on a ferry or rushing to make one 🙂
Day 1 will be mainly sitting in Oban or on the ferry to Barra so it's more like 4 days of cycling around the ferries.
Day 1 was ferry to Castlebay then ride round to B&B on north of island.
Day 2 was ferry to Eriskay then rode up to Sollas on N. Uist into a strong headwind 🙁 .
Day 3 was ferry to Harris, rode to Tarbert along the Gold Road, ferry to Uig, rode to Portree.
Day 4 was Portree to Sligachan via west of the island then Broadford and down to Armadale and ferry over to Mallaig
Day 5 was Mallaig to Kilchoan and ferry over to Tobermory
Day 6 was circuit of the west part of Mull and down to Craignure
Day 7 ferry back to Oban.
The longest days were day 2 because of the headwinds, we did about 60 miles from memory but had a few cafe stops, and day 5 - the roads were very up and down and you couldn't maintain pace as every dip seemed to have a hidden corner so you couldn't maintain momentum to get up the hill that immediately followed!
We were in touring mode so not rushing but it was a credit card B&B/hostel tour rather than camping.
@MrGrim with that timescale I'd maybe consider a loop from Uig. Out to Lochmaddy. A couple of days in the Uists, ferry to Leverburgh and a couple of days in Harris before the ferry back to Uig. I prefer the West coast of Harris but you'd have time to ride both.
Thanks Scotroutes, I’ve filled in the form anyway but note your comments. Trying to avoid bike hire as just prefer being on my own bike. Cheers for the helpful info.
with that timescale I’d maybe consider a loop from Uig. Out to Lochmaddy. A couple of days in the Uists, ferry to Leverburgh and a couple of days in Harris before the ferry back to Uig. I prefer the West coast of Harris but you’d have time to ride both.
Thanks for this. I've decided to head on the Sunday night and camp at Broadford before catching the early(ish) ferry from Uig to Lochmaddy and go from there. I've added the Balranald site to the list. Hopefully the weather is kind!
Mr Grim, we're driving from Braco to Benderloch on Saturday 26th, no space in car but space on boot rack for a bike? Would just leave you the challenge of getting to Oban by train or bus then collecting the bike, I could try and find somewhere secure en route to lock it if you supply me a lock, or you could find your way to Benderloch, or I could sneak out to deliver bike to you as you get off train at Connel Ferry.
Give it some though anyway, would be later in the day before we rolled into Benderloch
Oh, could also offer bike space on car on return leg, we're driving back from Benderloch on Sunday 27th.
Thanks for the offer, that's really generous of you. I've booked a campsite in Skye for the night before the Uig ferry and thinking about it more and more I think my original route would have been too rushed especially hitting Ullapool and then trying to make it to Inverness and get a bike space on the train back down. It'll turn a trip of just stopping when I want and making the most of the scenery into trying to hit a timetable.
What are your plans in Benderloch? Hope the weather is kind to all of us!
I did the Hebridean Way last September. I left Glasgow around 9 on the train to Oban and arrived with 30-40 mins to catch the ferry which is 5 hours to Castlebay. I didn’t have much more time than to cycle down to the start and find somewhere to camp.
Fortunately the weather was really shit and I was on my way by 5am which meant I caught the vatersay ferry at 7-ish. By 3.30 I was about an hour short of Banranald and cycling uphill into a headwind. But at least it and stopped raining...
next day I cycled to Tarbert (missed the Harris ferry by 10-15 minutes...). Did the last 80-odd miles to the Butt the next day, camped (another short night as the wind got up and kept pulling my pegs out of the sand). Cycled back to Stornaway for the midday ferry
and that’s pretty much your five days (not much hanging around).
uig ferry and round trip makes sense to me, I think you’ve made the right choice.
Aye, I think I've learned less is more on these sort of trips, veteran of a few hiking trips which have just seemed a little too much like missions to be enjoyable...
We're stopping off in Benderloch as my mum's house is there, it's just the first stop en route to Harris funnily enough! We're staying on the south coast for a couple of days but just doing a short drive each day as we have our 9 month old with us, and when he gets bored in the car seat he gets loud! Am dreading what happens if we get stuck indoors in the rain but best not think about that...
Enjoy the tour!
I did an almost identical trip to whitestone with an added couple of days on lewis - it took us 13 days. I think 5 days is too short to do the outer Hebrides. I'd be thinking about oban to mallaig via mull, ardamurchan etc
I'll be heading through Gleneagles on my way to Oban on Monday Morning (28th). I need to be there for 09.30 so you should be in time for the ferry if that's any use? PM if that's of use.
scotroutes
...In fact I’m off to North Uist for 10 days next month.
I can recommend the campsite at Balranald.
For a bit of local colour you may be interested in my sister's book (fiction based on fact about the abduction of Jessie of Balranald.)
We did something similar to whitestone on tandems.
Saturday - ferry from Oban to Barra, arrive late.
Sunday - over to Erisaky and up to benbecula
Monday - over north uist to bernaray and the ferry to leweis, up the golden road to tarbert
tuesday - early ferry to uig, down to armadale via the quirang and portree
wednesday - fery to mallaig and down to glenuig
thursday - down to Kilchoan, ferry to tobermory, ride to Salen.
friday - loop of Mull and over to Oban
You could cut that much shorter - get the ferry from lochmaddy to Uig rather than going up to tarbert, get the loachline ferry to mull rather than Kilchoan as suggested up there, skip the loop of Mull - even skip Mull entirely and get the corran ferry and head down the (admittedly not very nice) A828 road
I just did 5 days Oban to Oban, listed it in the show ya your adventure racing/bikepacking thread basically
oban to Lochboisdale ferry then Eriskay to berneray and ferry to leverburgh
leverburgh to Callinish via Gold Rd
tarbert to Uig then to mallaig via ferry
mallaig to kilchoan
kilchoan Tobermory craignire Oban
definitely doable but there was a bit of ferry chasing
Make sure you check Calmac as they have ferries all over the place at the moment. Mallaig - Lochboisdale is back on tomorrow until early June then off again and some other ferries have amended timetables. The App is quite useful.