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The problem with Scotland is there's too much choice. 🙂
I'm thinking of a road trip based around the World Cup DH weekend. Say 4-5 days total, day riding in each place. One of those places must be Torridon, and I'd like to good ride in the Cairngorms and obviously the sunday in Fort Bill.
What else is on the [b]essential[/b] list?
depending where you are coming from, it will take a few days to drive to Torridon, Ft Bill and Cairngorm alone !
Northumberland start.
Cairngorms are about 4 hours from here as a starter, or Dumfries way in a couple of hours.
Last year we went up and saw the WC, then drove on to Torridon for a few days - riding there and a bit further north.
We did the [b]awesome[/b] Beinn Fhada loop from Morvich on the way back.
Then we had another day riding at Fort Bill before returning home. We rode the WC track via the gondola but if doing it again I'd probably check out Kinlochleven instead.
OP - suggest if aiming Torridon area plan to have one or ideally 2 nearby overnights - a lot of longish roads. It's a good 3 hrs up from Ft Bill from memory. Lots of good stuff around Cairngorm for your first/second day and it's sub 2 hrs across from Aviemore to Ft Bill. Bothy Bikes in Aviemore have good ride routes for all weathers, plus a few on here who ride there regularly and could be up for a ride.
So much choice - if you were staying for a bit longer, I'd say go and play at Golspie and Balblair but it's a bit of a hike from Fort William (and you're going past a lot of great cycling to get there). Very doable though - and they are great tracks.
If you're looking for trail centres / smaller loops - definitely check out the Kinlochleven enduro routes and Laggan is close by and a lot of fun. Natural trails - you're spoiled for choice and the advice above is pretty much what I'd offer.
Tour de Nevis route would be a fun day out in the hills if you're wanting a longer xc-type ride from Fort William (and it takes in some great scenery).
Fisherfield.
I've some decent Cairngorm routes if you're stuck.
Why've I never heard of Fisherfield before? Google image results are awesome!
I'll just pop this here for you perusal then...
http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/the-great-wilderness-a-big-mountain-adventure-in-nw-scotland-blog-pics
What sort of riding do you actually want, is the question. Big scenic rides, mad tech, interchangable trailcentre?
Fort bill usually reopens the day after the race... Red tends to open as normal and the dh a bit later, nice sequel for the racing if you're up for it.
Kinlochleven riding is fantastic, but I hear the trails have taken a bit of a beating from water damage- haven't been for a while. But it's probably my favourite place to ride in scotland, especially in the wet, riding the river...
Fisherfield is mainly a through route (it's part of the HT550) but there is a loop on the northern edge from Dundonnel to Shenaval. The technical stuff is between Carnmore and Shenaval. Alastair Humphreys did a video
showing part of this including the river crossing.
Another wilderness ride would be the Bealach Horn loop but you are a long way north for this one and it includes quite a bit of hike-a-bike. It's in one of the Vertebrate guides.
Being Scotland, you could of course ride anywhere but that doesn't mean you can or should.
Edit: corrected Alastair's name and provided the link to the video
What sort of riding do you actually want, is the question.
Big Scenic Rides - Yes. Major factor. Possible multi-day rides if it gets to places otherwise out of reach that are worth it.
Mad Tech - Increasingly
Trailcentre - meh. Maybe in passing to break a drive up.