I am planning my first tour this summer, and am looking for some specific route advice, and any general advice that is going... My plan is to start in Inverness, down to Fort William (probably staying in Fort Augustus the first night).
From there, we'll head over to the Ardnamurchan pensinsular, take the ferry to Tobermory, spend some time in Mull then out to Barra via Oban, up to Harris, down to Skye, then finish at Kyle of Lochalsh.
From Fort William onwards, I'm happy with the route I've planned, and I've been to a lot of the places camping before (in the car), so know more or less what to expect.
I'm not sure what way to go from Inverness to Fort William though. Firstly, from Inverness to Fort Augustus, I'm not sure whether to take the B862 out of Inverness, or the more minor road that goes through Essich. I have a Bike Scotland book with a few routes to Inverness that take the hillier minor road, but they are all planned for the opposite direction. From the south, it is descriped as steep hair pin bends and a long downhill, which sounds fun, but not sure doing it in the opposite direction would be quite as much fun!
Then from Fort Augustus, I've seen conflicting information about the "Great Glen Way" and it's suitability for touring bikes. Has anyone done this on a tourer? Again, my Bike Scotland book has a route through here that sounds like it would be fine in dry weather, with some on-road alternatives if it's wet. But other places seem to think any of the off road sections along the canal path or through the forest would be MTB only?
Anyone done this, with any advice? Or general tips for my first tour ;-) Planning a weekend mini-tour soon for a practise.
(I'm travelling with my husband, we have 12 nights, and are going to be camping. We are going to take it fairly easy - we want time to spend sightseeing, and are planning a few days off for boat trips and maybe some kayaking and/or climbing. So my plan has a max mileage of 60 in a day, but more often it's under 40.)
From there, we'll head over to the Ardnamurchan pensinsular, take the ferry to Tobermory, spend some time in Mull then out to Barra via Oban, up to Harris, down to Skye, then finish at Kyle of Lochalsh.
From Fort William onwards, I'm happy with the route I've planned, and I've been to a lot of the places camping before (in the car), so know more or less what to expect.
I'm not sure what way to go from Inverness to Fort William though. Firstly, from Inverness to Fort Augustus, I'm not sure whether to take the B862 out of Inverness, or the more minor road that goes through Essich. I have a Bike Scotland book with a few routes to Inverness that take the hillier minor road, but they are all planned for the opposite direction. From the south, it is descriped as steep hair pin bends and a long downhill, which sounds fun, but not sure doing it in the opposite direction would be quite as much fun!
Then from Fort Augustus, I've seen conflicting information about the "Great Glen Way" and it's suitability for touring bikes. Has anyone done this on a tourer? Again, my Bike Scotland book has a route through here that sounds like it would be fine in dry weather, with some on-road alternatives if it's wet. But other places seem to think any of the off road sections along the canal path or through the forest would be MTB only?
Anyone done this, with any advice? Or general tips for my first tour ;-) Planning a weekend mini-tour soon for a practise.
(I'm travelling with my husband, we have 12 nights, and are going to be camping. We are going to take it fairly easy - we want time to spend sightseeing, and are planning a few days off for boat trips and maybe some kayaking and/or climbing. So my plan has a max mileage of 60 in a day, but more often it's under 40.)