Planning a bit of a solo adventure.
i have ridden GT/Inners/ a ton but thats about the extent of my Scottish experience.
Thinking of taking a week, Riding Dunkeld Monday, Ballater Tuesday, Torridon on Wednesday, back down to ride Glencoe on Thursday then a good old thrash round the Golfie on Friday.
ill do a mix of sleeping in the van and staying in camping pods or the odd guest house where possible. just driving to the next destination in the evenings.
Anyone done similar? care to share any do's/don'ts or alternative riding spots i should consider?
Not really sussed out how i will feed and clean myself yet either...
don't drive so much. Pick an area or two and ride there otherwise you spend all your time driving
As above. Less driving more cycling.
Pick one area and stay there.
Just so you get an idea of how little riding that might mean. Torridon to Glencoe is about 3hrs driving on a good day.
You're doing the equivalent of asking about riding dalby, Cannock chase, bike park Wales and Surrey hills in a 4 day trip. Can it be done? Yes. Will it be fun?
no because all four of them places are toss 😀
nah, i could live with that i had noot been to them before. Im just thinking i can tick off a few classics in one hit. i dont mind driving 3hrs in an evening - wont have much better to do...
i could give Inners a miss to stretch it out a tad
I’d swap Torridon for Aviemore, then your plan makes more sense.
Torridon is not a place to ride on your own.
Plus don’t underestimate how long it takes to get anywhere once you’re north of Perth.
Could also add in an evening loop of Glenlivet on your way from Ballater to Aviemore.
Yeah, that is a bit of a mad plan. Ballater is 3 hours from me and I live in Edinburgh, to then go on to Torridon after that would mean a lot of driving. And there's a week's worth of riding in Torridon alone. Scotland will still be here in ten years' time, you can come back!
If you've ridden GT and Inners and, presumably, Golfie a lot I'd sack them off and try and see something new. Everything at Dunkeld is better than the stuff at Golfie anyway.
Maybe something like Dunkeld, Ballater for two days (maybe Lochnagar, though it's not one I'd recommend you do alone, or Glen Callater, Ben Avon or Heartbreak Ridge), Aviemore for a couple of days (Sgor Gaoith, Ben Macdui, the Burnside trails) then head to Laggan (both the official trails and Laggan Brown) for the last day before going south. Then you could come back and do the west coast justice another time.
Stay east in the Cairngorms and ride Aviemore way instead of Ballater.
Drop the Golfie if you get up there a fair bit anyway, slot in an extra day on the west side after Torridon instead.
This will keep the distances quite manageable, IME. Especially if you do a bit of a drive to get somewhere in the AM - ride for six hours or whatever - then drive on to the next spot (or part way) in the PM.
There was a recent thread on Dunkeld with some excellent trail advice BTW.
Also alot of campsites are booked solid, you may find that an issue currently.
Torridon is not a place to ride on your own.
This very much depends on your skill set. If you've got good riding AND hill skills it's less of an issue. I've ridden Torridon and the likes solo a few times and would do so again without qualms but that's not for everyone.
Stay east in the Cairngorms and ride Aviemore way instead of Ballater.
Pretty sure Aviemore is western Cairngorms and west of Ballater.
Does "So you're planning a Scottish Road Trip?" need to be made a sticky?
Might go something like:
Scotland is quite a big place and there's actually quite a lot of it North of the Central Belt (it's not just some Mercator projection trick like Greenland!). Combined with small rural roads travel time can be quite slow when accessing the more remote reaches
Apologies for being tongue in cheek OP. Seriously though Ballater to Torridon would be around 3hrs on small twisty roads, I'd be knackered doing drives like that each night after big days riding.
Pretty sure Aviemore is western Cairngorms
Stay East, in the Cairngorms, and ride Aviemore way (rather than go West)...
Do the commas make it clearer?
Stay East, in the Cairngorms, and ride Aviemore way (rather than go West)…
Do the commas make it clearer?
I mean obviously I know where he meant to ride but this is STW, I came here to be a pedant...
They said stay East, in the Cairngorms and ride Aviemore instead of Ballater (which suggests Ballater is neither in the Cairngorms or the East...). I know they meant drop Torridon too but that's not what they wrote! I'll shut-up now
Sorry I worded that really badly, but yes - I was suggesting Dunkeld > Aviemore > Torridon > west coast > Glencoe > home
The "west coast" bit could be Applecross, Skye, maybe the Beinn Fhada loop from Morvich.
Alternatively, there's enough to go at for the same period of time just based in Dunkeld and taking day trips north and west.
ok thanks. yeah looking on the map a Dunkeld / Ballater/ Aviemore / Laggan lap of the Cairngorms does look a much more manageable loop..
If you're in Laggan, it'd be really silly not to go for a day on the Gondola at Nevis range.
