The Scottish Ride

[chillmoister]

Good day gentle folk of this parish.

I'm in the early stages of planning an off road "cycle touring / bikepacking / <insert current trend>" trip to Scotland next Autumn .....after all/most of the midges have gone. I'm interested to receive any ideas, thoughts etc for a 5 -9 day trip.  The loose criteria being:

1. a circular route ....or one that is easy to return to the start point
2. a much off road as possible with as little "hike a bike" as possible
3. suitable terrain for hardtail mtb's with light weight camping gear
4. A route that may be challenging but not a complete beasting day after day
5. a route with one or more Bothies to stay in would be nice
6. maybe places to pass through to refuel with food and beer.

my initial idea was the Great North trail for Fort Augusta to Cape Wrath but due to the return logisitcs / my time contraint I think it will have to wait until I have stopped working.  I also thought of the Cairngorms Loop ...but maybe the inner loop section might be a bit of a slog.

thoughts please

[FifeingEejit]

Hm, grab a copy of hennikers 101 off road routes and work out what can be linked up?

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[fimm]

https://bikepackingscotland.com/routes/ might be a good source of inspiration.
I think the Cairngorms Loops might not fulfil your criteria of minimum hike-a-bike, but I have not done them myself.

[Deano]

Mevves start in Inverness or Glasgow, borrow the Badger Divide route for a bit and knock up your own route back?

https://www.trailforks.com/route/the-badger-divide/

[chillmoister]

thanks folks!