Can you suggest really good mainly off-road cycling routes in Scotland for 2-5 day trips?
pgs0

West Highland Way (Glasgow to Fort William)- ~2.5 days? Fair bit of 'hike-a-bike' but also some good riding and stunning scenery.

Also some friends of mine did the Scottish Coast to Coast (not sure of the exact route?) and rated that pretty highly.

Circuit of the Cairngorms 3 / 4 days.

I did a good route from Fort William to Melgarve bothy (near Laggan) via the Corrieyairack pass, then to Loch Ossian YH though there is lots of good bothies around there too, then back to Fort William via Kinlochleven and the west highland way. There was some great riding. Some photos from the trip…

Really enjoyed a 3 day route earlier this year:

Day 1: Aviemore (Glenmore Lodge)to Braemar via Abernethy Forest, Tomintoul, Loch Builg.
Day 2: Braemar to Blair Atholl via Linn of Dee, Glen Tilt.
Day 3: Blair Atholl to Aviemore (Glenmore Lodge) via Dalnacardoch Lodge, Gaick Lodge, Drumguish, Feshiebridge, Loch Gamhna, Loch Morlich.

Swayndo and myself travelled light by phoning accom ahead and asking about laundry facilities. With all the light layers now it drys really quickly anyway.

You could build on that route with an extra day in Braemar (see Stuartie C for advice on a Lochnagar loop etc) and day 5 round Aviemore with a must do route down Lairig Ghru.

cheers

any chance any of you guys have any gpx files for these routes?

Coast to Coast

Ft Bill – Spean Bridge – Laggan – Aviemore – Tomintoul – Ballater – Edzell – Montrose.

Fantastic remote riding including a Munro. Some road sections but not too much.

Just do it!

Slight hijak psj0

tiggs121, that sounds brilliant. Pencilled in for next year already

How long did it take you and how much baggage did you have?

Sorry Willy, dont have it but there are all marked paths and some road beside A9 etc.

cheers, Gav

Last time I did this sort of trip we were camping so went for the mainly doubletrack / sustrans routes. Beautiful scenery and easy riding.

Callender / sustrans up glen ogle / old railway to Crianlarach / WHW to Glen coe / kinlochleven, then east to Loch Trig / corrour / Ossian then out to Laggan via lochan na hearba / Dalwhinnie / Glen Garry to Kinlochrannoch.

Mainly offroad – a few road bits to link up and mainly doubletrack of varying qualities

Newtonmore to Plockton in four days a few years back, we did not use a GPS, one could probably do that route in less time as well, depending on whether. Some fantastic riding, especially around the Five Sisters, took in the Corrieyairack pass as well, and easy to get back from Plockton to Newtonmore by train via Inverness (book tickets for bikes in advance).

Picture from Kintail here

That should read 'weather', of course…

Ooooo… Nice picture Sven!

Is that the descent from the Gates of Affric into Glen shiel?

I'll be passing through that area next year on a tour, hadn't planned on stopping or detouring, but beginning to think i should…

I think it is… We stayed in this remote Youth Hostel in Glen Affric overnight and than had this fantatsic downhill to the road along Loch Duich. Sven