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Heck. Complicated family holiday logistics mean I am cycling from Inverness in the direction of Durness while everyone else gets driven to the holiday house. Then my dad will drive back and pick me up, however far I’ve got (nowhere near Durness!). I reckon I’ll be pedalling for about 5 hours, so they may as well be pleasant. Needs to be on the road so my dad doesn’t drive past me! Which route would anyone recommend?
Alness, B9176 over to Bonar Bridge, A836 to Lairg, continue on A836 past Crask Inn to Altnaharra. Take the minor road that goes to the west of Ben Hope to join the A838 at Hope. Turn left and follow the A838 to Durness.
I don't think you have a lot of choice but to go up the main road to Ullapool. IIRC any other route is a very slow drive
Once accross the kessock bridge you can divert onto a minor road that takes you to muir of ord and Marybank and pick up the main road there to avoid the worst of the traffic.
Edit - the route above is much more pleasant that what I suggest however
Whitestone has the right answer if you want an enjoyable safe ride.
Thanks, the slowness of the drive doesn’t matter, my dad drives super slowly anyway! Heck. Now I need to find things like lights and puncture kits. Heck!
Alness, B9176 over to Bonar Bridge, A836 to Lairg, continue on A836 past Crask Inn to Altnaharra. Take the minor road that goes to the west of Ben Hope to join the A838 at Hope. Turn left and follow the A838 to Durness.
This. Cafes at Ardgay, Bonar Bridge, Lairg(The Pier) and you might find food at Altnaharra Inn depending upon arrival time. There's another on the West Side of Loch Eriboll.
No shops past Lairg btw.
does the The Crask Inn still serve beer? can't recall its current status.
Crikey! I thought the Scots contingent would slate it! There's really only one big climb - the one out of Alness, the rest isn't necessarily flat 😉
Or up the Black Isle, then the Cromarty ferry. Then to Tain and Lairg etc.
does the The Crask Inn still serve beer? can’t recall its current status.
Yes - and cheese toasties. Very friendly place ( this was last summer)
That's my territory. This route is not the most efficient or fastest, but you might like it because it has good scenery and there's nothing I'd regard as a hard climb.
Over the Kessock Bridge out of Inverness
Dive down to sealevel and follow the shore along to Redcastle (along that stretch are the remains of fish traps and near Redcastle, a crannog out in the sea)
From Redcastle head up through Kilcoy and you'll end up on the road to Dingwall. There's a cycling track on one side of that. Follow that towards Dingwall, but turn right towards Corntown near the bottom of the hill.
This will take you along the north shore of the Black Isle. You'll come to the A9, but just go straight across it and follow the signs to Cromarty. You'll get good views across the Cromarty Firth, and eventually be going along the shoreline. You'll pass through Jemimaville, famed for the great naval battle of Jemimaville in WW1. There's decent cake to be had in Cromarty.
At Cromarty take the ferry across to Nigg and follow cycle route 1 to Tain. I recommend diverting slightly to the Anta factory & shop near Fearn because there's even better cake. If not you can refuel at Harry Gows in Tain, basic bakery cafe, but good.
From Tain you'll be back on the A9 for a bit, but there's a decent hard shoulder and the drivers are ok. I'd pick continuing over the Dornoch bridge because it's nice to stop in the middle and admire the view. Follow the A9 a wee bit further and turn left to Clashmore on a road that takes you to Bonar Bridge.
From there the choice is simple, head north to Lairg and pick whichever road suits you - probably Cycle Route 1 towards Tongue, where it's a left turn towards Durness, but if you have availed yourself of sufficient cake stops, your dad should have found you by then. 🙂
Tain is the last decent cake stop until you get to Altnaharra (IMO). As you come whistling down the hill, you'll see a B&B with a hand drawn sign leaning against a post saying tea & cakes (or similar). It's the perfect preparation for the rest of the ride, and highly recommended by me and my hungry audax mates.
I can do you a gpx if it appeals.
Edit: a bike with dropbars may be worthwhile even if you intend bimbling. You can run into substantial headwinds the further north you go - it's all those ruddy great fans all over the hills causing it I think.
thanks tj -- know the folk that took it over. wasn't sure what their plans for it were, though.
Chippy in Lairg is great, black pudding, white pudding, even red pudding!
Up here it's important to grab food when you can, or carry sufficient.
Last time I rode to Thurso from Dingwall, I set off without breakfast because I could get something at Ardgay or Bonar Bridge. Not wise.
Got to Ardgay too early.
Bonar Bridge, the food van wasn't there and still too early.
At 50 mile got to Lairg and the great cake shop/cafe my mate had been using to encourage me on wasn't open either. Cleaned out the Spar of its stock of dubious curled edge sandwiches.
The scenic route with boats in sounds great but I’m not getting off the train until 5pm so time and light are not on my side! Will stick to the route Whitestone suggests. May build my bike on the train to save faff time. Oh heck.
Of such things adventures are made! 5pm arrival gives you about 5 and a half hours of workable light up here at this time of year. Enjoy 😁
Just a quick thought - you could catch another train from Inverness to Lairg, and start from there?
When is this happening??
With a late start Whitestone's route is best.
Once you're past Lairg there's a lot of emptiness and it will be getting dark by then. Which is a shame because that's when the best stuff starts.
Have you considered overnighting in Inverness? I'm sure a couch to surf could easily be found, and an early morning start would mean you get a good ride in beautiful country.
On the other hand if it's a full moon and a clear night, it will be magic. 🙂
Cromarty take the ferry across to Nigg -
I have never, ever seen this run when I've rocked up with a group - so check first.
When is this happening??
Tomorrow! I have to get there tomorrow, my sister is only going for the weekend so a Saturday start no good. Looks like it should be dry...oh heck.
Getting a train further north may well be a good option.
OK...so from the Kessock Bridge, should I do the National Cycle Network detour via Dingwall rather than attempt to ride the A9 to Alness? The A9 looks horrible on streetview. I'm imagining bank holiday caravan hell. Or is it a brief hell?
Will be riding that Genesis Fugio that's on girt.cx if anyone is interested.
No train until 18.30 🙁
Go via Dingwall. Avoid the A9 at all costs!
Alternative thought:
If your father is going to be driving to pick you up anyway, why not go via Ullapool?
Then you will be riding towards the setting sun and some great sunset pics. If you get to Ullapool before dark then head north towards Ledmore Junction. There's some nice climbs that way, but not brutal.
It's all good road so you should be able to knock off a decent average. Guaranteed spectacular scenery especially with the sun setting over the Minch.
Train from Inverness to Ardgay at 1712.
Or train from Inverness to Garve at 1754, then head up to Ullapool. It avoids the worst/busiest parts of this road anyway.
Limited bike space on the trains, but can usually squeeze on.
I've got a GPX of the best way out of Inverness on a bike and then the route to Dingwall which keeps away from the A9 and traffic, but doesn't cost time. (It's the route I use between the 2 places.)
Where do I send it?
@epicyclo thanks! Have DMd.
I'll also investigate the Ullapool option. I want to cover as much ground as possible and give my dad the least driving possible while not riding horrible death on a stick roads!
There's a rather stiff westerly here on the black isle today and it looks a bit blowy tomorrow too, so maybe factor that in too!
I would definitely take the NCN instead of the dual carriageway A9, note that after the Kessock bridge you don't need to drop down into North Kessock, the path is now parallel to the A9 before rejoining what was the old A9 for a bit which is very quiet and nice to ride. The NCN goes a couple hundred metres from my house so I will look out for you 🙂
That was hard. Maybe tomorrow it will seem like it was more fun than it seems now. Wore the wrong shoes and had cold feet from Muir of Ord. Everything hurts. I thought about crying on a number of occasions. I did moan out loud in pain for substantial parts of the last 17 miles. 60 miles should not hurt that much. Now excuse me while I weep into this mug of tea.
Good Highland weather for type 2 fun...
stwhannah
...60 miles should not hurt that much...
On my way back from Gairloch and Kinlochewe yesterday I was thinking of you because that wind was a wee bit nippy and the wrong direction for going to Ullapool.
Hopefully the pain will fade and you'll remember the views. 🙂
Still, now you're in Durness, and if the weather's good it's a great place to have a gravel bike.
The HT550 riders will be passing a wee bit south from you this week.
Welcome to the Highlands.
Pop in to Cocoa Mountain for a mug of hot chocolate and the pains will magically disappear.
I did moan out loud in pain for substantial parts of the last 17 miles. 60 miles should not hurt that much.
Welcome to my world...
The adventure wasn’t over. I got to Ullapool barely able to stagger into a bar and order a cup of tea. Started to recover after about 45min, figured my dad would be there in another 15min after the bar shut. I went along to the garage to wait for him...half an hour later I’m shivering and he phones. He took a wrong turn in the dark (and after many many hours of driving), and rang to say he was another hour and a bit away. I headed off to the ferry terminal where the harbour guys took pity on me and opened up the heated waiting room, where I lay on the flippy down seats (there’s going to be some amusing cctv footage of my head being folded into the rather strong flippiness!) and proceeded to shiver violently for an hour and a bit until my dad appeared with car and heated seats. Then he’s so tired he’s going to fall asleep driving so we have to stop on the road for him to nap...eventually got to Durness at 5am.
Today my left knee really hurts. I’m not overly taken with the cocoa mountain hot chocolate, but I think perhaps a few more of their truffles might help.
But kite flying on the beach, it all seems totally worth it. Wow.
‘Epic’!
Couple of steps away from all going rather wrong there!
“Humour = tragedy + time” 😀
I'm now now getting a kicking from my wife for not advising you to wear warm gear and eat up big.
My big sin was not warning you about the hills just before Ullapool. In my defence I thought you'd enjoy them like I do because of the way the view opens up when you get to the tops.
Feeling guilty... 🙁
On the other hand if you'd headed north past Lairg, it could have been seriously dire.
@epicylco don’t feel bad, your directions were spot on and I’m old enough to make my own mistakes! The shoes were a misjudgement - I’ve not ridden to work in my winter ones for a few weeks, but then that’s a much shorter ride. I looked at them and thought ‘nah’. I did have the right layers otherwise - though I nearly didn’t as I’d spent all day being cooked on trains and had that ‘I can’t imagine ever being cold again’ thing as I set off - luckily I wore the leggings I nearly left behind. And I stuffed my face full of chips in Muir of Ord, and still had plenty of food with me. The hills were ok really- it was the timing of my light running out right on the top where it was exposed and then the long cold descent after that really ruined me. That and the fact I’m perhaps not as fit as I was this time last year!
I had a few bits of safety net to get through before it went really wrong. Emergency blanket, another layer, more food. Glad I didn’t have to use it (or ride in the proper dark on my own. It was very quiet apart from all the deer).
good work! When it started raining I thought I should have offered to drive you part of the way but it sounds like you one of those little adventures which is nice to look back on if not take part in! It's not usually like this in May up here honest...
bigjim
...It’s not usually like this in May up here honest…
You didn't look over the Lenaig 2 weeks ago then. The Ben was completely covered in snow... 🙂
bigjim
...It’s not usually like this in May up here honest…
You didn't look over the Lenaig 2 weeks ago then. The Ben was completely covered in snow... 🙂
I reckon this time of year is dangerous because we expect warmth, but if it's damp and the wind is blowing across the mountains, melting the snow it gets really chilly.
I've rescued experienced cyclists on that Ullapool road who were suffering hypothermia in 8-10ºC temps because of wind chill.
It's why I always say for up here - dress for the mountain, not the bike. It's ok being dressed for the bike when there's potential shelter every mile or so, but that's not often the case once you venture west or north of the Black Isle.
Right now I'm worrying about the HT550 riders.
Had a chap in this morning doing the HT550 who had had a bad night bivvying and woke covered in frost/ice..... he was from Aviemore so easy to get caught out!
Woody
...woke covered in frost/ice….. he was from Aviemore...
Presumably he was complaining about heatstroke then... 🙂
Had a chap in this morning doing the HT550 who had had a bad night bivvying and woke covered in frost/ice….. he was from Aviemore so easy to get caught out!
Martin? I think he has enough body mass to stay warm 😉
Martin? I think he has enough body mass to stay warm
He wasn’t a wee lad 😉