Scottish Highlands - Mr Bond

Gazspurs

After sitting in the cinema last week admiring the spectacular scenery behind Mr Bond a small group of us have agreed on a long weekend into the Scottish Highlands.

The roads & scenery look fantastic so we have agreed to take our road bikes on the overnight train from London.

Was just wondering if anyone had done a similar sort of weekend, any advice on where to go, routes to plan.

The idea is to have a hotel (base) for 3 nights & just ride out from there each morning as we want to be taking minimal kit out with us in the day.

Cheers

cougie

I know they filmed in Glencoe - so Fort William might be a good bet if you want to retrace those steps ?

Maybe save it til Spring though ?

amaferanga

I'd get the train up to Alness and spend a couple of days riding around Sutherland. Glencoe may be spectacular, but it's a horrible, horrible road to cycle on busy weekends.

Drumlin

You could base your weekend on the route of the now-famous Snow Roads 300 viewtopic.php?f=40007&t=12888810

jfrankland1991

Overnight sleeper to Fort William and base yourself there. I agree that the Glencoe is an awful road when its busy despite the beautiful scenary. However, there are still some quiet roads to be had in the area. The possibilities are Neptune's Staircase and the Great Glen to the north-east, the Corran ferry can take you across the other side of the loch for a nice circular, the train to Mallaig, Morar etc. and also across to Skye. However, the roads can be busy in the area. A train to Oban may also be an option with possible day trips to the Inner Hebrides

declan1

As above go to Alness (I live less than 2 miles away) and definitely cycle over the Struie - a beautiful road. You could go to Lairg, then Golspie and back to Alness in a day, which is a lovely route.

richard_farrant

The scenes where the house was located were actually filmed on Hankley Common, nr Farnham in Surrey...

cougie

Hang on - you're not telling me that it wasn't real ? It must be - cos I saw him jump out of that helicopter at the Olympics ?

thegreatdivide

You could head North West and do the Bealach na Bà. The only 11/10 in the 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs.

http://100hillsforgeorge.blogspot.co.uk ... na-ba.html

mallorcajeff

You could probably have a week in the sechells cheaper than what the train will cost you. I would love to do Scotland looks beautiful

amaferanga

thegreatdivide wrote:

You could head North West and do the Bealach na Bà. The only 11/10 in the 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs.

http://100hillsforgeorge.blogspot.co.uk ... na-ba.html

Probably the best climb in the UK, but a bugger to get anywhere near by train.

thegreatdivide

You can get about 4 trains from Inverness direct to Strathcarron on the Kyle of Lochalsh line. Stay at the Strathcarron hotel, do a loop out and over the Bealach na Bà then collapse (after you've had your dinner) :-)

Monty Dog

I would suggest you go to Oban rather than Fort William as the roads will be quieter and you could even venture over to the Isle of Mull for a day. Whilst Glencoe is spectacular, it's a rotten place to ride a bike because of the traffic.

declan1

thegreatdivide wrote:

You can get about 4 trains from Inverness direct to Strathcarron on the Kyle of Lochalsh line. Stay at the Strathcarron hotel, do a loop out and over the Bealach na Bà then collapse (after you've had your dinner) :-)

You can just get the train from Inverness then change at Dingwall. Kyle is really nice (even though there's not much there) and you could cycle over to Skye (really nice scenery).

Kyle station looking over to Skye:

alihisgreat

thegreatdivide wrote:

You could head North West and do the Bealach na Bà. The only 11/10 in the 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs.

http://100hillsforgeorge.blogspot.co.uk ... na-ba.html

This is the first time (and probably last time) I will say this:

I want to go to Scotland!

Gazspurs

Thanks for all the responses guys, very much appreciated.

Has certainly given us an idea of where to plan jounreys, been doing tome reserach online as well & it does look so beautiful.

As pointed out though, have you seen the price of the train.....WOW! Ive paid less for holidays.

Another idea is to fly from Southampton to Inverness with Flybe but I'm sure we'll get bent over when we mention bikes as luggage.

Might be that we take turns in driving & split the petrol 4 ways, will be looking to do spring/summer next year but outside any kids holiday time.

thegreatdivide

Yeah, I think you should consider the car option. It means you can go from hotel or B&B and ride various areas.

Probably best not to camp though - you will be eaten alive on the West Coast. I took the bike to Lewis and Harris in Sept and rode a superb route through the Harris mountains - it was almost Alpine in spots. Stopped at the top of one particular climb to survey the scenery and within seconds I was being chomped on!

amaferanga

A car or a van would make more sense and you'd be able to get to some of the more remote parts more easily. But it's a bloody long drive from London. You should be able to get some fairly cheap train tickets up to Edinburgh or Glasgow around 2-3 months before you want to go and then hire a vehicle from there maybe.

navrig

If you are going by train I would suggest that you target the immediate Inverness or Fort William areas. The train frequency and speed north and west of both Inverness and Fort William is not conducive to a long weekend from Southampton. You'll spend far too long waiting for or on a train.

You can easily setup some great scenic riding from both Inverness and Fort William.

Driving - head for Oban.

That was always my favourite destination on the motorbike. You can easily avoid Glencoe and the scenery is fantastic. There are at least two hostels in Oban, a decent curry house, a decent seafood restaurant and plenty of pubs.

Flying - Inverness or consider Glasgow then train to Oban but again it will take too long IMHO.

In all reality a long weekend is too short. Take a week and really enjoy it.

sbbefc

Its probably easier getting to the alps from london

cougie

I've been up to Inverness for Adventure Races from here - by Chester. We always broke the journey on the way or else its a long journey.
Even coming back from Glencoe - its 6 hours plus. Scotland is bloody massive. So you'd be talking 12 hours or so from London.
Sleeper train might be expensive but you'll prob save in extra holidays and hotel bills.

If you're doing it though - it should be a long weekend to get value for money. And also a decent chance of some nice weather !

giant_man

scotland is a great place, I went around 15+ years ago, -20 at the time during xmas that year. Staying in a stone cottage right in the Cairngorms. Not a lot of cop for cycling at that time but just a great area.

Omar Little

Have you seen the Rapha Continental video from Assynt? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSUbVx1eu5s

The road in Skyfall where he stops the car for a bit is the Glen Etive road i think - this is a dead end, although to go along it and back is about 25-30 miles of awesome scenary.

bompington

Omar Little wrote:

Have you seen the Rapha Continental video from Assynt? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSUbVx1eu5s

The road in Skyfall where he stops the car for a bit is the Glen Etive road i think - this is a dead end, although to go along it and back is about 25-30 miles of awesome scenary.

My goodness, that is as pretentious and cheesy as it gets... but I'm stoked just watching it! I have cycled some of those roads, and climbed a lot of those mountains. FWIW that bit is a good bit further north than Glencoe, but surprisingly easy to reach from Inverness.
To answer the OP's dilemma, just move to Scotland. You know it makes sense.

thegreatdivide

^ Indeed. Best watched with the sound off.

The Arran loop is quite good too http://www.cycle-route.com/routes/Arran ... -5000.html

navrig

bompington wrote:

Omar Little wrote:

To answer the OP's dilemma, just move to Scotland. You know it makes sense.

No, no, no no, no.

It is dreadful up here and no-one should be encouraged to move here. We prepare the scenery every summer so people enjoy it but the rest of the year it is really horrible. No point in moving to a place where the equivalent of the population of Yorkshire shares a land mass twice the size of Wales.

Silly Old Hector

bompington wrote:

To answer the OP's dilemma, just move to Scotland. You know it makes sense.

Nothing to see here - just move along...............

declan1

Navrig wrote:

bompington wrote:

Omar Little wrote:

To answer the OP's dilemma, just move to Scotland. You know it makes sense.

No, no, no no, no.

It is dreadful up here and no-one should be encouraged to move here. We prepare the scenery every summer so people enjoy it but the rest of the year it is really horrible. No point in moving to a place where the equivalent of the population of Yorkshire shares a land mass twice the size of Wales.

It depends on where in Scotland you live

lotus49

amaferanga wrote:

I'd get the train up to Alness and spend a couple of days riding around Sutherland. Glencoe may be spectacular, but it's a horrible, horrible road to cycle on busy weekends.

Sutherland is beautiful and quiet. It gets my vote as well.

navrig

declan1 wrote:

Navrig wrote:

bompington wrote:

Omar Little wrote:

To answer the OP's dilemma, just move to Scotland. You know it makes sense.

No, no, no no, no.

It is dreadful up here and no-one should be encouraged to move here. We prepare the scenery every summer so people enjoy it but the rest of the year it is really horrible. No point in moving to a place where the equivalent of the population of Yorkshire shares a land mass twice the size of Wales.

It depends on where in Scotland you live

Ive covered a fair bit of Scotland - East Lothian, Edinburgh, Fife (three times), Dundee, Aberdeen, Morayshire, Inverness and back to East Lothian. None of it is worth leaving England. England is a much nicer place to live and a much nicer place for all the Engerland people. It rains here all the time (when it's not snowing or being windy) and the road surfacing is really, really cr4p and not suitable for cycling or motorbiking. You need a 4X4 everywhere in Scotland.

thegibdog

amaferanga wrote:

thegreatdivide wrote:

You could head North West and do the Bealach na Bà. The only 11/10 in the 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs.

http://100hillsforgeorge.blogspot.co.uk ... na-ba.html

Probably the best climb in the UK, but a bugger to get anywhere near by train.

Yep, Great Dun Fell much more accessible and also 11/10 in Another 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs. But not in Scotland.

I didn't find Glencoe that good for cycling, great scenery but not a nice road. Same with the Great Glen, the problem is that there is only one main road through them. I'd head more off the beaten track if I ever go back up there for cycling but it's a really long way away, even from "The North"!