LeJog A82 alternatives anyone?

barney69

Hi,
I'm doing Lejog end of August on my own and unsupported over 10'ish days using the West route up to Erskine / Lomond / Fort William then across to Inverness.
I've read horror stories about the A82 especially around Lomond and Loch Ness.
Does anyone with local knowledge have any alternatives that would a) be quick b) not add too many miles.

Thanks in advance for your help.
Regards
Nigel

bompington

Well, err, no: the reason it's such a bad route is that all the traffic has to go that way - there are no practical alternatives.
Your only choice must be to wind up through the Trossachs - lovely but definitely a few extra miles, maybe 25-30 at a guess - or come up the centre and A9, i.e. not west route at all.
...or to man up and take the A82... after all you have a better than 50% chance of surviving, and think of the drafting off all those tour buses :twisted:

barney69

you have a better than 50% chance of surviving, and think of the drafting off all those tour buses

Think I will man up :-)

Cheers

raybo

I recently rode the A82 from 5 miles south of Fort William to Spean Bridge, about 8 miles north of FW. I turned off on A89 at Spean Bridge and the ride from there to Kingussie was fabulous, though a full day of sunshine didn't hurt.

It was some of the most intense riding of the entire month I rode in the UK. There is no shoulder, though, there is a bike path for a couple miles out of FW.

If you are going to ride the A82, I'd strongly suggest a rear-view mirror. I ride with one and a number of times in the short section I rode, I saw a huge lorry coming and pulled off the road to let them pass.

Ray

Blacktemplar

MTFU

Seriously, it's not as bad as everyone makes out, though to be fair I ride in traffic a lot so am used to it.

The worst section is probably from the roundabout at Bolling to just past Cameron House. The traffic is fast and there isn't a huge amount of room at the side. After that it's fine - even the narrow twisty bit after Tarbet - the buses just slow down for you (mostly). You can avoid some of it by cutting through Alexandria, but as Bompington says, there aren't really any sensible alternatives that don't (a) take a longer route and/or (b) a more dangerous one.

We rode it as part of our LEJOG on Thursday last week, and had no problems all the way up to Fort William.

trailstar

actually... Theres a lovely road that missus out a large chunk of the A82 from Glasgow right upto Arrochar. However from there you'll still need to hop back on the A82 to ride up to Fort William, but it definately misses out the fastest section of that bit of road.

If you are coming from Erskine over the Erskine bridge, come off the bridge at the bike path.. and head back down the the Clyde River into Old Kilpatrick. Then ride along this road and you'll see a bike path that will take you to Dumbarton. From here you can then ride along towards Helensburgh.. and then round to Arrochar.

This misses out the entire A82 section along the side of Loch Lomond (which in my eyes is the worst section.

I ride this regularly as part of a 70miler i do.. great roads and not stressful. Awesome views as well! Depending on when you are doing it i'd happily meet you and ride along that section too

Heres a map my ride that shows the alternative route -

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/38456036/