tour of soth west highlands

dazza3512

finally settled on a route for my up and coming scottish trip in sept, train up to glasgow from newcastle on the 11th arrive 1.30 ish,set of to balloch/aberfoyle,camp for night,next day callender/killin/crainlarigh/tynedrum,camp next daytynedrum/clencoe/ballycullish/oban,camp.next day oban/talinuiltlochnarhead camp next day tarbet to dunoon,last day dunoon to glasgow train home.
anybody done this route ?

priory

my sig points to a tour which included dunoon to oban then ballachulish to fort william.
If you look in my photobucket albums there is also 2010 which includes dunoon to tarbet then lochguilphead then oban, which i recommend .
Glencoe is a fast main road. Much cycled, but you should be prepared for that.
The midges will be out in force I guess, so you may have to jump straight into the tent unless the wind is up.
Sept might be less so.
Kilmelford village store is a posh cafe which does really good cake and food, not very cheap, but good and startegically placed between lochgilphead and oban.

I could not understand your route home from oban.

TerryJ

dazza3512

Cheers terry, will look at the photos on my main computer. My route from oban is baisically the reverse of yours following the ncn route where possible. Just hope I get some decent weather

ColinJ

I was impressed with the sections of the NCN route between Ballachulish and Oban that I rode in June. Part of it takes the route of the old railway line, but the road was upgraded to use sections of the disused line years ago so Sustrans is having to find alternatives through woodland and so on.

I rode up with a friend to take a look at Castle Stalker (as featured at the end of Monty Python and the Holy Grail). On the way back, we detoured on a lovely quiet road round to Port Appin. From there you can catch a small ferry across to Lismore with your bike for about £1.50 and there is a nice seafood restaurant called the Pier House which is worth a visit.

priory

excellent cake and coffee also ( but not cheap, we did not find any truck stop caravans, just think of the money you save camping)

castle stalker view cafe

portavadie yacht marina cafe

fish and chips top quality at oban fandc rest on george st

where are you camping before tarbet?

dazza3512

cheers for the photos terry,looks like you were very fortunate with the weather,Wild camp in drymen on first night,campsite in tyndrum 2nd night,wild camp near oban 3rd night,4 th night will be lochgliphead campsite, last night near dunoon,not sure were,but will need somwhere with a shower, ready for the train home,as i am travelling first class(special offer)and i don,t want to be stinking

priory

OBAN has campsites to the south which I imagine are fully equipped, and that means you could spend an hour in town having very good fish and chips and a pint. Wild camping would ,I imagine ,mean staying above oban along the main road south somewhere in the region of the town tip, though not too close, or in glen lonan which is a steep hill up and down away from town.

For bandb we found the sutherland very good, book it ahead if you are doing that.Or there are hostels.

I expect to get wet at times during the week but yes, we have been pleased with the weather and not been stressed by it in june.

DUNOON Riverside leisure centre has a public toilet in the south east corner approached from outside . You put some coins in a turnstile and are admitted to clean and modern toilet and handbasins area where I had a good stand-up wash with soap and a sock (appropriately called a Glasgow Shower by some people) rendering me fit to mix with normal people.
If that facility was closed you could go for a swim instead and shower first in the changing rooms.
I think I remember a campsite at the top of holy loch.
There is a platform which seems to be a badgers' play area about 200yards to the south of the view -point north of tignabruich . Our tents went there and very comfy it was. no water there. spectacular view. midges+++ like most places in june.

LOCHGUILPHEAD campsite can get boggy. pitch above the dips. supermarket with nice buns etc round the corner.
on the way down from oban there is a museum at kilmichael worth a look about the scots/ ulster medieval civilisation of dalreada. good cake and coffee there . have a peep in the church and at the old gravestones in the hut .
Much cake also along the quay at tarbet.

Terryj

dazza3512

Cheers for the info terry,excellent stuff,have camped at oban a few years back at the puffin dive club site,might stay there again,lowly views of kerrara,wash at dunoon sounds great,then nice slow trip from greenock to glassgow,if everything goes to plan I may have time to make it to edinburgh to catch train from there,following towpath forth to forth,but we will see,anyway cheers again matey

Wallace1492

An alternative you may wish to consider is from Oban to Claonaig, then ferry over to Arran. Camping available at Lochranza and Brodick, then next day ferry to Ardrossan and train to Glasgow.

Lovely scenery, and relatively quiet roads. Plus you get to see Arran, and that is far better than Dunoon, believe me!!

dazza3512

cheers wallace, will give your suggestion of a different route from oban some thought :P

Tusher

Tyndrum to Dalmally is a lovely road to cycle, but the camp site at Crunachy (Bridge of Awe) is now for caravans only. Fantastic coffee shop in Taynuilt called the Robin's Nest, and it's worth taking an hour to go down and see Loch Etive from the Taynuilt piers.


Connel post office shop does great filled rolls, but the Glen Lonan road into Oban is preferable as the Dunbeg corners aren't fun when you have cars, lorries and campervans revving behind you, all late for the ferry. The Glen Lonan road is narrow in places and the surface isn't great, but it is quieter and a lovely road into Oban. I've never stayed myself, but Oban Youth Hostel is recommended. Failing that, I would rough camp in Glen Lonan.

Avon Skin So Soft- buy a couple of bottles (and they'll be for sale in the Green Welly, Tyndrum and other shops, and then cover any exposed skin in the stuff. The midgies can't get through it to bite you.

I would also be tempted to head north from Oban towards Appin and then Ballachulish before heading DOWN the Coe road and back into Tyndrum. The Fort is, in my biased Argyll opinion, not worth visiting.

The roads will be busy, but it's quieter now. Loads of motorbikes use the Tyndrum/Glen Coe/ the Fort road. You'll see them all at Tyndrum.

Enjoy your trip- hope you find the weather fine.

dazza3512

hi guys,just a quick update for those that may be interested,the weather conditions at the beggining of the week were forcast to be horrendous as you must all be aware,cycling through the tale end of a hurricane was not somthing that i was looking forward to,so after some very carefull consideration and a good bollocking off "her who must be obeyed", i was told that i could not go to the highlands if i wanted to stay married with children.so an alternative route was required as i had taken time of work etc and did not want to waste the oppertunity,so i decided to do the second half of the ncn route 1 , as i had done the part from berwick to newcastle las t summer,so i set off fron s/shields on sunday morning for wooler.wind was bearable but steadily increasing as the day went on.i camped at wooler sun night.woke up mon mor to gale force winds, set of with no particular end destination in mind,just see how the day panned out,passed through yetholm,kelso,sekirk into tweed valleygale force head wind all the way,pulled into walkerburn as light was fading,and camped by river,hurricane force winds throughout the night,trees down etc,st of tue to edinburgh,arrived 1ish to be met by more gales and rain,i had had enough by then as i was not really enjoying it as i had my head down most of the way,so i came back on the train,much to the approval of the wife and kids,so there you have it,all that planning and prep,train tickets wasted, but at least i am alive to travel the highlands at a later date.

Tusher

Was thinking of you earlier this week, dazza. Ironically, the further north you went, the less the winds, but the rain was pretty torrential, and that would have been miserable.

Next year.................

dazza3512

thanks for your kind thoughts,tusher,like you say "next year".


cheers :P