Highlands Tour in August

[The Mechanic]

Three of us, Son, DinL and I are touring the Highlands first week in August.  The route we plan is as follows:

Ballater to Tomintoul (Afternoon start so only a short leg but includes Tom Dubh and the Lecht))
Tonintoul to Beauly
Beauly to Crask Inn
Crask Inn to Durness via Cape Wrath
Durness to Lochinver
Lochinver to Dundonnel
Dundonnel to Torridon
Torridon to Dornie via Applecross and Bealach na Ba - yikes!
Dornie to Spean Bridge.

I am getting the train back to Aberdeen from Spean Bridge as I have to get back to work but the other two are going on for another week.  It looks like a brill route but I think it is a bit hilly.  Hope the weather is OK for the crossing to the Cape Wrath track.  It would be a shame to go all that way and not get to the lighthouse.

Is the Cape Wrath Fellowship still going?  CTC site seems a bit vague on this.

[Wowbagger]

Stock up well on midge repellant.

[Polar Bear]

Which way are you going from Crask to The Cape?  The route I did required going through Durness to get to the ferry for the Cape.

Oh, and +1 to what WB said. 

[The Mechanic]

Polar Bear, that is the way we are intending to go.

[teethgrinder]

Crask Inn to Durness via Cape Wrath

It takes the best part of a day to do Cape Wrath. Make sure that you know that you have plenty of time to get there and back before the last ferry. I hear that the road to Cape Wrath is a bit rough, so don't expect a fast ride there and back. I've never done it myself though.

Torridon to Dornie via Applecross and Bealach na Ba - yikes!

I rode the climb eastwards out of Applecross in June. I struggled quite a lot, but I was riding a 53/17 fixed. I had a bit of a shock when I looked on multimap and saw how many arrows it had on the OS map.

I also did the Drumbeg road. I thought it was much better than the road to Applecross. I rode all that road too on my 53/17, going anti clockwise.

[The Mechanic]

Thanks for the info TG.  I have ridden the Bealach na Ba twice from Tornapress but never from Applecross.  The whole peninsula will be a different experience for me doing it the opposite way.  Also looking forward to the Drumbeg road.  Lots of chevrons on that road according to the OS map.

[The Mechanic]

Any recommendations for mossie repelant, other than the "stay at home" variety?  I have used Avon Skin so Soft with some success in the past but a recent Which test reckoned it was useless. 

[tlottrike]

Re the Cape Wrath road - It is rough and when I did it on a trike I found what with the grass growing in the middle of the road (about six inches to a foot high) and the width of the tarmac wasn't sufficient to take my two rear wheels so I alternated between bumping along with one wheel on the grass or on the verge. Also as you get nearer to the end of the road the headwind is quite some fink!

As the road just follows the terrain some of the wee climbs are hell of a steep. On one of the climbs I snapped the chain   All in all it took me about an hour and a quarter to cycle the ten miles.

Be warned the ferry man is very laid back chap and he also does life boat duty and as a result can be called away at short notice. When I arrived he was sitting in the boat with a group of four american tourists and a couple from Yorkshire. The Americans asked the ferryman, not unreasonably when was he setting off? To which he looked at the sky looked back at the americans and said "not yet as the van driver wouldn't be back yet". They asked when would the driver get back, "depends" says the ferryman. Americans start to look frustrated, and ask "can you radio the van driver with your radio?". Nah says the ferryman "The van driver doesn't switch his radio on as he doesn't like to be interrupted when he's telling stories to the passengers in the van". With that the ferryman laid out full length on one of the benches in the boat and went to sleep. The yanks waited a bit more but disgruntled they headed off. The ferryman having had a nice half hour kip woke and announced he would take us across.

Halfway across the firth he switches off the outboard motor and asks for the fare. A tad disconcerting, if we didn't pay would we have been thrown overboard? I can't remember what the price was for a passenger but I do remember he charged me a full fare plus half again as the trike had an "extra wheel compared to a bike".

By the time I got back from the lighthouse to the quay I just missed the ferry by about five minutes   So I had to just sit there and wait. My wife and kids had been to the beach but I had told them I should be back by about 3:00pm but as it was I had to sit there for another couple of hours until my wife had persuaded the ferryman that I would be waiting for him! As someone else said allow a day to get to Cape Wrath and back.

As for mossie repellant I use Skin so Soft to.  It sort of works but if there are thoosands of the buggers then pedal faster and learn to ride without breathing and with yer eyes closed   I actually had to use this technique at various points when cycling from Corran ferry round to Glenfinnan as I came off the ferry at prime mossie time.

[alves]

On the Lochinver to Dundonnell stretch, there's a very attractive coastal route via Inverkirkaig and along L Lurgainn with good views of coastal scenery and Stac Polly, not to be missed, great scenery but lumpy and distinctly single lane with passing places.
Also, you probably won't have the energy after the B na Ba but the coastal route via Plockton and Kyle of Lochalsh is also pretty and v.v. lumpy if you'd like a detour.
Food recommendations:
Lochinver has a good pie shop.
Good chip shop attached to pub in Ullapool on seafront.
Good cafe just after Dundonnell going West.
The pub grub at the Torridon Hotel is good. They have very nickable beer mats made from recycled tyres which now grace our coffee table
There's a very good Bistro at Lochcarron for lunch if you miss the very good seafood at the hotel at Applecross or pass the also v.g. seafood cafe just beyond Kishorn on the A 896.
The Cluanie Inn on the A87 does a good lunch and has a very good range of Malt Whiskies and real ales.
Its really amazing how the standard of eatery has improved in the NW over the last few years.
Have a great trip. The midges may not be too bad if you aren't camping and don't have to stop for punctures or photos!

[Jaded]

Agree on the Lochinver southwards bit - I hope to do that in a few days, as part of a 100km loop from Ullapool anticlockwise. Very scenic, but not as lumpy as the bit from Kylesku to Lochinver.

Lochinver Larder is the pie shop. It is at the north end of the town. It has a restaurant too, good for eating in. Plus you can fill your panniers up with pies for the ride home. 

The chippy in Ullapool is the Seaforth. It is on the road opposite the pier, perpendicular to the 'seafront' road. We had some fish & chips from there last night. Great but a little pricey nowadays.

The hack out of Ullapool to Dundonell is a bit traffcy; check the ferry times and do not go down it just after a ferry arrives. However, whilst it is fast (very fast for a Highland road) there are generally good sightlines. If you get ferry traffic you get big lorries that know the route, camper vans (there's hundreds of them about this year!), a few Europeans, and many locals who also know the road and where you can do 100mph on it. There's no alternative though. There's a climb up to the Braemore Junction, where you turn off right to Dundonell. From there on you are dealing with holiday traffic and locals, in the main.

[Wowbagger]

Deet is as good a repellant as you'll find, I think.

The problem with all of these (I understand) is that when you sweat the repellant washes off. We covered ourselves a few years ago when walking on Ben Eighe but after a while we were still bitten. It was a hot, humid day and for much of the morning there wasn't a breath of wind.



Slioch's reflection in Loch Maree.

[toontra]

Thanks for the info TG.  I have ridden the Bealach na Ba twice from Tornapress but never from Applecross.  The whole peninsula will be a different experience for me doing it the opposite way.

I did it in June from Applecross.  I'd say it's slightly easier that way and definitely a better view on the way down.

As alves says, it's worth the detour to Plockton if you have time.

[teethgrinder]

The chippy in Ullapool is the Seaforth. It is on the road opposite the pier, perpendicular to the 'seafront' road. We had some fish & chips from there last night. Great but a little pricey nowadays.

I took refuge in that pub from the midges that were biting me while I waited in the queue outside the Youth Hostel which was going very slowly. Better to sit in a pub with a pint than to stand outside getting bitten by midges.
The chippy is a good one too. I don't think they are expensive. Same as anywhere really.

[Jaded]

Same as anywhere really.

Yes, that's what I meant to say, but it came out all worng!