Anyone here from highlands scotland?

Soni

Hi, we are going to the highlands in a couple of weeks time for 1 week, we go each year and stay in whitebridge near loch ness.

I'm originally from Scotland born in Perth but moved south when 6 years old, still have family there hence why we go each year, however don't spend enough time in the area to know any cycling routes.

This year I'm raking my road bike, Anybody know any good climbs near to where we are staying? I know you have the cairngorn mountains in aviemore but a bit of a drive from us, from what I can remember its pretty flat where we are staying?

Looking for a 30-40 mile loop of road section to take in some climbs?

Cleat Eastwood

I'm not but if I was I'd tell you.

There are a few haggis munchers on the forum, stick it in the tour/expedition bit as well

meanredspider

Well the opposite side of the loch has a Munro(over 3000ft) or two IIRC. Slochd summit to the NE on the A9 is a good climb. Honestly, you can set off in just about any direction and find hills. Go onto Garmin Connect and look up rides people have done. Be aware to that the wind is likely to howl down the Great Glen (usually from the SW end) and can be more challenging than any climb.

holmeboy

Havent cycled this area but know that Scotland is a beautiful place to cycle and explore. Buy a map of the area and plan a few places to head for on you're bike, and then , when you get there, pick up a few leaflets from the local tourist centre and find some interesting routes. There are 3 climbs in the 100 greatest cycling climbs book, 2 off which I've done. the Cairnwell (6/10), The Lecht (10/10) and the Cairngorm (6/10). None of them should be that far away from you.


Haggis Muncher? Like it but don't have it every day

Cleat Eastwood

holmeboy wrote:

Haggis Muncher? Like it but don't have it every day

i love it, having it on hallow een.

campbellrae1

If you are in Perth head up through Glen Shee, big climb up to 665m or so. Will more than likely be above the snow line at this time of year as well:-). Would make a nice out and back to Braemar from somewhere like Blairgowrie, maybe 60-70 miles, otherwise it's quite a long ride from the town, 100 miles I think. You could always just drive further up the rod to the Spittal of Glen Shee and do the out and back from there, not far, 30 miles but two 350m gain climbs and some epic descents, managed to top 60mph easily last time along there! Really nice ride!

There are also loads of rides through Fife, maybe pop into an LBS when your up for some advice, there's one on Princes Street in the town centre, not sure about others!

Personally I would avoid riding on the A9 at all costs around Perth, it's very busy but I guess that's perspective.

Also, if you head east from Perth itself there are some nice hills between there and Dundee to the north of the A90 and out to the Sidlaw Hills. That's probably your best bet in terms of 30-40 miles straight from Perth without driving.

They are the first to spring to mind, many many more other than that!

meanredspider

Yup - ride to the Lecht - 68 miles taking in Slochd on the way - you'll know you've done it.

meanredspider

Oh - and track down Unixnerd - this is his part of the world

Soni

Sorry guys think I have confused matters, I was born in Perth but we are going to be staying in whitebridge by loch Ness, quite a drive from Perth let alone ride it!!

meanredspider

Oh - and finally Essoch hill is one my colleagues use as a benchmark climb if you wanted to build it into a route up past Dores. The Dores Inn is a fantastic place to stop for a drink/coffee with a fantastic view down the loch.

meanredspider

Soni wrote:

Sorry guys think I have confused matters, I was born in Perth but we are going to be staying in whitebridge by loch Ness, quite a drive from Perth let alone ride it!!

Don't worry - I know where you are staying

jam5ie76

I cycle a lot in Glen Earn, which heads WSW from Perth and has the Ochil Hills to the south. They only rise to about 1000ft but its up and down all the way through them and the climbs can be 10/12%. You'd get a pretty decent 40 miles heading down there from Perth although to make a loop of it would involve crossing the A9 which, as has been mentioned, isn't a road for bikes and IMO should really be classed as Motorway.

meanredspider

He's NOT staying near Perth

jam5ie76

meanredspider wrote:

He's NOT staying near Perth

yeah re-read the OP and got that after I hit post. Still it's the thought that counts??

Soni

meanredspider wrote:

Yup - ride to the Lecht - 68 miles taking in Slochd on the way - you'll know you've done it.

Hi mate, this one is near the A9, so think i might give that one a miss, as they'll probably be busy roads?

I'm looking for some narrow, quiet hills with possibly some hairpins/switchbacks if possible...

Looked up the other one you suggested i.e., The Dores Inn, found this site, just trying to find the route you are referring to....as can't seem to find Essoch hill, is it known as this?

http://www.lochnesswelcome.co.uk/sectio ... asp?sID=37

Also, you mention some munros over the over side of the loch? Just looking at Google Maps, are these on the A887 going through Levishie?

Soni

Actually, i remember Dores, its just before you come into Inverness, i remember we sat alongside some bungalows on the right hand side of the road on the way to Inverness eating fish and chips the last time we were up there!

Soni

Most of the roads around the area seem to go through the mountains instead of up and over......i'm just wondering if i might be better off driving over to Aviemore with my road bike in the back and then leaving the car somewhere and riding the Cairngorns? Can you ride up and over? I know they have a railway up to the top and you can drive half way up? But can you ride up to the top?

Soni

he he he, just been looking at Google Maps in the Cairngorns, there is only somebody skating up the blinking road!!!

Check it out here:-

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=dores&h ... 56,,0,0.29

Soni

And somebody else!

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=dores&h ... 56,,0,0.29

Soni

Is this the highest you can ride in the Cairngorns? I notice the road just stops in a carpark, you can't go up and over? I notice another cyclist in the carpark looking at his map!

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=dores&h ... 83,,1,2.44

bompington

Soni wrote:

Is this the highest you can ride in the Cairngorms?

Well technically you're not quite at the top in that view, you're at the overflow carpark for the ski centre there and the main car park's another mile or so and 100m higher. But it is indeed just a road to the ski centre and your only road from the top is the (quite entertaining) freewheel back down, unless you were on a mtb or possibly a cross bike in which case you could follow the track to the top station at 1170m - but snow could be an issue, we've already had snow down to below 600m last week. It is a nice scenic road, and a good climb.
There are surprisingly few big climbs in the main bulk of the highlands, you just don't get alpine style climbs: it's a combination of topography - the main routes follow the few broad valleys that cut through the hills - and population / land use - there aren't a lot of places up in the hills proper for anyone to go. If you want a circuit rather than point-to-point then it's also going to be a huge one - for example you could head SW along the great glen then back east via Spean Bridge and Loch Laggan, then back up the A9 - a nice little 140 miler there. The A9 is not a nice road to cycle on, best to avoid - it has a cycle path the whole way that sometimes uses the old road or local lanes, but is often poorly surfaced and frequently interrupted built path that no self-respecting roadie would use.
In the east you have ones already mentioned like Glenshee and The Lecht, both nice roads but a long way from your base - and the "huge loop" factor certainly applies here.
If you are able to drive to a decent ride head for the west coast where the valleys are steeper and occasionally the only way is for roads to climb out of one and into the next - it's about 80 miles from you to the foot of the Bealach na Ba, which has to be the closest thing there is to a proper alpine climb this side of the continent: it gives a nice 40-odd mile circuit over the pass, along the coast (infamous for a series of heartbreaking smaller climbs just when you think you've done all the work) and back.
If none of that works, the roads around Loch Ness don't have big stand-out climbs but are hilly and scenic enough for anyone really, just look at an OS map and you can see where to go.

Have fun and don't forget to factor the weather in your plans!

PS your skaters are in fact cross-country skiers training on roller skis

meanredspider

Soni wrote:

meanredspider wrote:

Yup - ride to the Lecht - 68 miles taking in Slochd on the way - you'll know you've done it.

Hi mate, this one is near the A9, so think i might give that one a miss, as they'll probably be busy roads?

I'm looking for some narrow, quiet hills with possibly some hairpins/switchbacks if possible...

Looked up the other one you suggested i.e., The Dores Inn, found this site, just trying to find the route you are referring to....as can't seem to find Essoch hill, is it known as this?

http://www.lochnesswelcome.co.uk/sectio ... asp?sID=37

Also, you mention some munros over the over side of the loch? Just looking at Google Maps, are these on the A887 going through Levishie?

Sorry - if I'd spelled it right (Essich) you'd have done better.

If you were to do a loop that took you to Dores then onto Inverness picking up the distributor road (b8082 - Sir Walter Scott ) then turn up the B861 to Inverarnie you can probably loop back around.

On the other side of the loch near Abriachan there's a good climb that picks up the Great Glen Way. As Bompington rightly says, there aren't so many epic road climbs. If you want climbing up here, an MTB is what you really need. The roads tend to avoid the peaks but there are hundreds of miles of MTB tracks. And if you want a switchback climb, Be'ach is definitely where you need to go and follow the challenge route. There's YouTube video of that climb (speeded up iirc)

Soni

Thanks meanredspider and Bompington for your suggestions, sounds just like what I'm looking for!!!

I've found this on Google regarding the route, it mentions pushing the bike when the climb gets tuff...what type of gradient are we talking about here? I live in north Kent literally right on the north downs, I have lockyers hill (25%), birling hill and vigo hill just 5 minutes ride sway, so do a bit of hill climbing, sounds like that route will.climb for a hell of a lot longer but at what geadient roughly would you say?

Soni

Ps if you guys are available then you are more than welcome to join me!

meanredspider

Soni wrote:

Ps if you guys are available then you are more than welcome to join me!

Thanks. Bizarrely, I'm going to be down in England a lot in the next couple of weeks

BTW - as a kid I cycled a lot around Canterbury and Sittingbourne

Soni

Sorry this is the link i found on google (forgot to post it!!)

http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/comms/s ... ardinal=10

And this site has fantastic images of the route, i'm definetely going for this guys, thank you both very much for your fantastic recommendation!!

http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/a ... index.html

Soni

meanredspider wrote:

Soni wrote:

Ps if you guys are available then you are more than welcome to join me!

Thanks. Bizarrely, I'm going to be down in England a lot in the next couple of weeks

BTW - as a kid I cycled a lot around Canterbury and Sittingbourne

Isn't Canterbury and Sittingbourne boring to ride around? Flat isn't it and very industrialised from memory? There are a few country lanes around the area, but from memory very flat and not that appealing.

Are you bringing your bike down? If so then head for the North Downs

meanredspider

Detling Hill always struck me as pretty steep when I was 12. There's actually quite a few hills to the south of Canterbury (and we're talking 30 years ago so not so industrialised).

I'm flying down one weekend for parents' golden wedding anniv. Then I'm trailering my racecar down to Rockingham the following weekend.

thegreatdivide

I just asked about the Bealach Na Ba over on the Tour & Expedition forum - excellent timing!

Soni

thegreatdivide wrote:

I just asked about the Bealach Na Ba over on the Tour & Expedition forum - excellent timing!

You thinking about doing it then? Come along with me and we can push our bikes up together!!

thegreatdivide

Sadly I won't be up there until next year :-(

It looks fantastic - good luck to you Soni!