While living in Scotland several years ago, I travelled around the west coast and some islands of Scotland by bus and hitching. I only scratched the surface of places that I wanted to see, and had spoken to fellow travellers who had cycled the inner and outer Hebridean islands which left me with a desire to come back to cycle tour the islands and west coast.
Five years on and as part of a recent trip to the Netherlands Anna and myself decided to head over the water to Scotland to catch up with some family and finally do that west coast bike adventure. We chose a mapped route from the Cycling Great Britain Lonely Planet that we could access from Glasgow, allow for some detours, would take us nearly two weeks to ride and end up in Fort William in the highlands for a fix of mountain biking at the site of the 2007 World Championships. We would travel to six islands, and weave our way up and down the west coast and highlands of this wild country. Enjoy the ride.
The Isle of Arran
Our adventure started with a short ferry trip from the mainland to Brodick on the Isle of Arran. With large gannets flying past we soaked up the views of Arran fast approaching. They call Arran ‘Scotland in miniature’ because it has the highlands, great open glens, lots of woolly black-faced sheep, a whisky distillery, standing stones, castles and 18 golf courses. It also has a local creamery selling great cheeses, icecream and oatcakes.
The riding was relatively easy to start our trip, following the coast around the flatter end of the island, past small holiday towns on the coast, many a golf course and some ancient hill forts. We braved the rain for a mile walk through sheep country to find the Machrie Moor standing stones, an impressive collection of standing stones and stone circles marking ancient burial grounds. Some of the sandstone slabs were four to five metres high, balancing precariously from the grassy field. The place was windswept and in many shades of grey with the rain coming in sideways and views of distant mountains clad in the purple and brown of the heather.
We found a beautiful little campsite in amongst some woods next to a creek flowing out onto a rocky beach and the Kilbrannan Sound. After our usual visit to the local pub, to source some clean water for the night in return for the purchase of a can or two of the local ale we set up camp. An early lesson for us camping in the west of Scotland in summer, sheltered campsite in amongst trees equals no breeze, equals midgee hell (note. the midge is a small sandfly that seeks out human blood and makes camping or spending time outdoors in the evening a nightmare). We ate our dinner that night swatting midges, and watching seals at play in the sea.
The next morning we rolled around the corner to Lochranza which has its own castle overlooking the harbour, as well as a Whisky distillery, but at 9am it was hard to get anyone’s attention for a quick taste or tour so instead we headed off to catch the next ferry back to the mainland and the Kintyre Peninsula.
The Mainland – Kintyre to Oban
From Kintyre to Oban we travelled for a day or two with a Kiwi couple on the same route as us. We enjoyed views out to the inner Hebrides islands of Islay and Jura and are amazed at a set of standing stones in a paddock with sheep grazing around them. Anywhere else this would be a major tourist attraction, but here just another field of sheep with a farmer doing his jobs for the day. It was castles, hill forts and standing stones and burial cairns through historic Kilmartin Glen followed by a long stretch of road following the edge of the longest loch in Scotland Loch Awe, a full nineteen miles. At this stage my knees were starting to give me problems, a result of borrowing Anna’s brothers touring bike, and a poorly adjusted seat-post. Unfortunately even after adjusting the seat-post the damage had been done and the knees would not recover until after the trip.
We ended up camping by the side of Lock Awe with the Kiwi couple after the place that was marked for camping in our guide book was no longer in business. Luckily the new owner allowed us to pitch down by the water on a grassy clearing. Another example of good old Scottish friendliness that we experienced on many occasions throughout our ride.
We parted ways with our riding companions and took our own pace for the ride into Oban which took us over Glen Lonan (or Glen Lonely as the locals call it). Hairy and horned Highland Cows grazing with calves metres from the road, more scraggly black-faced sheep, high mountains, rain, wind, seven cattle grids to rattle us, and a flowing single-track road over bubbling creeks next to miles of stone walling. This section of road also formed part of the National Cycle Network, a series of back-roads, canal tow paths and shared use trails which wind there way around the country linking villages, towns and major centres away from the busy highways. We rolled into Oban on a high, re-stocked supplies, and jumped on a ferry across to the Isle of Mull.
The Isle of Mull and Island Boat Trips
When we arrived on the Isle of Mull we decided to take a detour from the mapped route and head over to the western tip of the island to Iona rather than sticking to the flatter and shorter east coast road.
The ride up to Glen More (the only way west to Iona) was a long and sustained climb on single-track road. The rain came in waves of grey and the clouds concealed the true height of the mountains we were travelling between. The road continued to wind upwards bend after big bend following a little ribbon of grey over the mountain passes. We quickly realised that we were in the land of the tour bus, driving people to and from the holy island of Iona (where St Columba brought Christianity to Britain) on packaged day trips from the mainland. Our worst encounter was with a large coach who thought he didn’t have to wait in the passing bays for us mere cyclists, or that there was more than enough room for a loaded bike and cyclist as well as his bus. I veered off the road to the left as this bus careered down the single-lane. My abuse and gestures were warranted but I assume fell on deaf ears.
The amazing climb finally brought us to a pass high up in Glen More with green bald mountains all around and a string of lochs below us in the valley. The snow poles along the side of the road indicated what a place this could be in winter. We stopped for a few pictures and to enjoy the eagles view.
As we headed over the crest of the hill a huge green valley unfolded before us as we began our descent rolling smoothly down the single-track road keeping an eye out in the distance for cars approaching. Scraggly looking mountain sheep grazed freely on the side of the road and ambled up hillsides and across our path as they heard us fly on by…baaa! It was an amazing feeling of freedom as we headed down the grey road towards the sea. Waterfalls cascaded off the black rock high above us and we cruised around endless flowing corners, hooting and enjoying the wind and rain on our faces.
We found a picture perfect postcard campsite just off the road, with our own herd of highland cows and cave to shelter from the weather….and did I mention the loch views? We even had a rampaging bull to liven up the evening entertainment as we sheltered in our primitive cave out of the wind and rain.
After a day trip to the Isle of Iona and back, and a dinner of Haggis, Neeps and Tatties at Bunessan we headed north up the west coast of Mull. This ended up being one of the most spectacular sections of coast riding we had ever done. Huge black cliffs breaking off the side of cloud covered mountains dropping into Loch na Keal only interrupted briefly by a single-track road, that we were travelling on! Our plan was to get to the Ulva ferry in time to join a boat trip. When we got there, there was an old boat shed, the boat trip had left half an hour previously.
So we shared another sandwich lunch in the shelter of the boatshed on top of some crayfish pots, and then pushed on through to Tobermory over some amazing hill climbs, but being rewarded with more coastal backdrops, rolling single-track roads and long descents.
At one vantage point after a quick call of nature a car speeds into the car park with two large camera wielding tourists hopping out and snapping away photographs. ‘It doesn’t get any better than this spot’ they tell us in between clicks. We agree with them to be polite but we have had these views for the past three hours on the road, and we have also smelled the flowers, the sheep, and felt the rain on our faces and the sun on our back. They don’t say goodbye or wish us well on our journey but keep snapping. We laugh to ourselves as jump on our trusty loaded bikes ready for another steep climb ahead. It sums up the difference between travelling by bike and by car, and we keep on pedalling in the humid Scottish sun.
We end up hooking up with Treshinesh Islands boat trip the next day, which was almost a rest day off the bike, although still managed 18 miles return to the tour operators place (so much for rest days). The boat took us to the Isle of Staffa and then Lunga which is home to huge colonies of sea birds that nest on these offshore islands during the summer months. After leaving the boat and climbing the cliffs the scene was a nature wonderland. Blue skies, yellow and white wildflowers, lush green meadows, sea cliffs and thousands of sea birds flying, circling, darting, fishing and ducking in and out of burrows. Puffins flew from their burrows to the ocean feeding grounds with their bright orange beaks, and smart black and white suits. Some stood proudly at the entrance to their burrows within metres of us with small fish hanging from their beaks, while others leaped from the cliffs dodging the heavy air traffic of other birds. We felt like we were in some life of birds documentary and half expected to hear David Attenborough’s voice narrating over the top of the screaming birds.
The next morning we rode into the quaint seaside village of Tobermory with its multi-coloured painted shopfronts, harbour views, fish and chip van, dolphin centre and of course it’s own whisky distillery. Unfortunately it was the first day of a month long downtime where the distillery shuts down, apparently from tradition when there was no grain available for that period of time. That meant no tour for us but we still managed to buy a nice 18 year Tobermory single malt which Anna tucked away in a rainproof bag on the back of her pannier rack.
Then it was off to the harbour to another ferry journey across to the Ardnamurchan peninsula known as the ‘empty quarter’ and then to follow the ‘road to the isles’ to Mallaig and the Isle of Skye. It is along this section of the road that many ancient stands of oak still occur as part of the old Caledonian forests and it was spectacular riding along the side of lochs under the cover of these old giants.
The Isle of Skye and Mallaig
Our west coast and islands tour came to an end when we arrived in Mallaig again on the ferry after two and a half days on the Isle of Skye. Skye was beautiful but we found the double lane roads, greater traffic and less cyclist friendly holiday motorists a bit too hard to deal with after the previous nine days or so of quiet single-track roads and friendly faces. As a result we didn’t get as far on Skye as planned but still managed to camp in some friendly families front yard (as both of the campgrounds in Broadford described in our guidebook were no longer there), visit the Tallisker whisky distillery and a short walk in Glen Sligarchan with the Cuillin Mountains as a spectacular backdrop. Mallaig was a very typical port town in Scotland so we were more than happy to board the train that afternoon bound for Fort William and some different kinds of adventures.
Fort William
I had previously lived in Fort William five years earlier for a short stint and had volunteered at the first World Cup downhill round they held that year at the Nevis Range facility. So I was keen to check out some of the XC trails in the forest which had been built since my time there.
After a short ride out to Nevis Range we hired some mountain bikes to hit the world famous ‘Witches Trail’of Leanachan Forest. After a few false turns we were on our way, although a few steep single-track climbs made us wonder if we were on the right track, but yes we were, it was just a section we learned to hate aptly named the ‘Lazy K’. We rode the world cup course taking on ‘Nessie’, ‘the Cauld-run’, and ‘Hole in the wall’ with some interesting use of old stone walling. We also discovered a load of new single-track built for the upcoming World Championships. This was what we had come for…flowing single-track through pine forest, bermed boardwalk runs, tricky rock gardens, wall rides and armoured steps. There had obviously been a huge investment in the new trails for the upcoming event, and the trails were fast, technical and loads of fun. With mist and cloud covering the hill peaks we rolled around in mountain biking paradise, lap after lap of purpose built flowing trails that the best in the world would be riding come the world championships in September (The World Championships were held at Fort William from the 3rd to the 9th of September 2007).
It has to be said, XC trails aside (which we had almost exclusively to ourselves the two days we rode) the main pulling power of Nevis Range is the World Cup downhill course. Beginning in the alpine fields above the winter snow line, and fed by an enclosed gondola car and dropping nearly 1000 vertical metres over five minutes of trail, this is a world class downhill ride. The gondola station had a rock festival feel to it with long hair, baggy khakis, tattoos and big downhill rigs the order of the day. A funny mix with the grey nomad car tourists who just wanted a nice peaceful gondola rise up Nevis Range and the few lycra clad crew here for the cross country trails. Nevis Range does go to show that if you build a world class facility, they will come from all over the country, continent and the world to ride these famous downhill runs and XC trails.
But back to the XC trails...The amazing thing about Nevis Range is that it is on the west coast of Scotland in one of the wettest parts of the UK (more than three times the rainfall of Adelaide hills), yet the trail design was such that the trails weren’t boggy or adversely affected by the amount of water they soak up. This was achieved through building raised tread trails with large drains either side, using boardwalk over sensitive peat bog, the free draining quartzite based soils, plenty of grade reversals, and the use of large rocks and rock gardens on potentially boggy sections. Trail flow was also of importance minimising braking and maximising cornering fun and speed throughout. The trails were a real showpiece in sustainable trail design.
Fort William has come a long way in five years, with the small town embracing the outdoors becoming the ‘UK Outdoor Capital’, with more adventure shops you can poke a stick at and putting itself on the mountain biking map with a world class facility and networks of single-track. In fact Scotland itself has over twenty two purpose built trail facilities over the whole country including the 7Stanes projects and a network of mountain bike centres that could be the envy of the world. Recently IMBA (International Mountain Bike Association) hailed Scotland as a ‘Global Superstar’ for their dedicated biking trails with high quality build and design. If you are keen on mountain biking Scotland then a great free resource is the ‘Scottish Mountain Biking Guide’ put out by Visit Scotland www.visitscotland.com/adventure which outlines all of the trails in detail, how to get there and some riding tips.
Fort William was the end of cycling journey for the moment, so we packed up our tent in the shadow of Ben Nevis and rode off to the train station to reluctantly load our bikes and gear for the five hour west highland rail trip back to Glasgow. A train carriage with hanging space for six bikes per carriage, and bikes travelling for free (with booking), Scotland once again delivers in making it easy getting around the country with two wheels.
The west coast and islands ride was visually spectacular journey and took in some amazing scenery, coastlines, islands, lochs, plenty of castles, ancient burial grounds and wildlife. The riding was difficult at times with some hill climbs with a loaded bike taking all morning, followed by a twenty minute flowing descent. Despite the long climbs the hardest sections were the ones that appeared flat on the map, but instead followed the edge of lochs or coastline and consisted of small ups and downs with no respite for miles. The weather was wet (not surprising) and humid in amongst the oak forest but also got bitterly cold over the high passes with the wind and rain. We never rode more than 45 miles (approx 70km) in a day due to the hills, winding roads and headwinds. We free camped where we could, punctuated by hot showers and picnic benches every few nights at paid caravan parks.
Overall, we rode 450 miles (approx 725 km) over twelve days, ate Haggis, drank several drams of whisky, followed in the footsteps of St Columba, got charged by a bull, stood next to countless standing stones, caught six ferries, got eaten alive by midges, watched puffins on offshore islands, climbed Ben Nevis (Britains highest mountain), rode the World Championships XC course and most importantly, had no flat tyres between us.
Check out Scotland as a cycling destination as it welcomes bikes with open arms and has amazing infrastructure and facilities to boot. Just bring your rain gear …you will get wet! Finally, a big thanks to Arnout for trusting me with his Dutch built Koga Miyata and set-up.
