Scotland Cycling Holiday - Route Planning II

Dun Telve, one of the Glenelg Brochs (Oct 2008)

Well, we're not letting the grass grow under our feet!

I was a little concerned that I had done quite a lot of experimenting with routes, calculating mileage, agonising over elevation gain and gradients, without conferring much with Adam. Was I leaving him out? He loves trip planning as much as I do! So I expected we'd need to spend a few evenings poring over maps and data before arriving at a consensus. But no. Last night, Adam had a look at the routes I'd prepared so far, asked a few questions and suggested a few things, then looked over my shoulder while I played around ridewithgps a bit more... then said "that's great, let's go with that".

As part of my planning, I have been researching accommodation options for each location identified as a possible overnight stop. Lots of towns seemed to be booking up for June already! Accommodation options in slightly remote or unusual overnight locations are still looking good, but in more popular places such as Portree (where we need 3-4 nights' accommodation), many B&Bs, guesthouses and smaller hotels/inns are already saying they are full on the dates we are considering.

Be that as it may, we had a route. So I set off making bookings where I could online, and sending enquiries on the rest. I am stunned -- very pleasantly so -- to already have nearly everything confirmed!

So without further ado, here is our plan. It will of course be subject to change between now and the Grand Departure and even during our holiday should we encounter the unexpected.

Days 4 and 10 will involve virtually no cycling. Days 6, 7 and 8 are interchangeable -- we'll just see what we feel like doing on the day and maybe even come up with something entirely new.

Day 0

Overnight sleeper from London departing Euston at 2350 for Glasgow.

Day 1

Arrive Glasgow 0821, change to local service arriving 1113 at Connel Ferry station. Connel Ferry is the stop before Oban. Getting off there instead of going all the way to Oban will save us about 15 minutes on the train and 45 minutes of cycling).

Cycling:  Connel Bridge to Salen on Ardnamurchan peninsula

B&B:  the Salen Hotel

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/3858719

Day 2

Cycling: from Salen to Ardvasar on Skye

Route takes us via Arisaig and Mallaig, where we'll catch the ferry to Armadale on Skye, from where it's just a short diversion to overnight in Ardvasar.

Our main sightseeing stop along the way will be -- tides permitting -- Tioram Castle where the waters of Loch Moidart and the river Shiel meet. This will add approx. 7 km and 2 hours to the day.

B&B: Hazelwood B&B

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/3858730

Day 3

Cycling: from Ardvasar to Elgol, which will be our base on Skye for two nights

Route is far from direct, as we have to go all the way to the "backbone" main road, to Broadford and then a narrow bumpy but very scenic road out to Elgol via Torrin.

No major sightseeing stops planned but everything is worth looking at!

B&B: Rose Croft

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/3859037

Day 4

Sea excursion day. I'd like to go across to the foot of the Black Cuillin, where it's possible to hike in to Loch Coruisk and out again before being collected by boat again for the return to Elgol. It would then be great to book an AquaXplore excursion further out to sea around the "small isles", as we'd be sure to see all sorts of birds and sealife, including migrating whales and -- if we're especially lucky -- dophins.

B&B: Rose Croft.

Day 5

Back on our bikes, to move our "base" up to Portree.

B&B: Braeside B&B

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/3859036

Days 6, 7 and 8

Exploring the northern end of Skye...

B&B: Braeside B&B

out to visit the Talisker distillery

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/3859043

out to Dunvegan to see the castle ruins and have a really nice lunch!

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/3859045

out around the northern end of the island

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/3859086

Day 9

Cycling: We leave Portree for the mainland, sticking by necessity to the main road til just after Broadford, when we will turn off to Kylerhea, where we'll catch the tiny community-run turntable ferry to Glenelg on the mainland.

B&B: Maggie Cameron B&B

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/3859103

Day 10

I've opted to have a whole day based in Glenelg! This is a very remote spot, cut off from the rest of the world much of the year. We'll go up the glen to see two Iron Age brochs, Dun Troddan and Dun Telve. We'll have time to relax and watch birds and wildlife, perhaps cross back over to Kylerhea to see the sea otters.

B&B: Maggie Cameron B&B

Day 11

Cycling:  The day kicks off with the vertiginous climb on the Old Military Road from Glenelg over the mountain to Dornie. We'll then follow the A87 through several glens and alongside several lochs, including the particularly pretty Loch Garry, calling it a day when we reach the Great Glen at Invergarry.

B&B: Ardgarry Farm

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/3859108

Day 12

Cycling: All that remains is a 40km meander down the Great Glen on (possibly bumpy!) side roads, to reach Fort William in time to catch the train homewards.

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/3859123

And there you have it. I admit that I tend to like going back to places that I've been before -- if I liked them the first time -- to get to know them better. This will be my fourth touring holiday covering parts of the Scottish Highlands and Islands and yes, this itinerary will take me back to some familiar ground. But where there are intersections with my previous travels, we'll often be approaching from a different direction. Where there's overlap, we'll be travelling in the opposite direction. And of course, we'll be on bikes, not in cars. So while locations may be familiar, the viewpoints will be different.

Now I'm starting to think about what to pack. Will two panniers be enough? Or too much?!