I’ve been thinking for a while if it’s possible to resurrect the Daylight 600. There have been a few posts here lately about riding in/around FT William which kick started me back into life.
I think I’ve come up with something that retains the essence of the event while avoiding the nasty bits i.e. the A82 between Tyndrum and the Ballachulish Bridge.
It’s intended as a calendar event (no earlier than 2025) but I hope to ride it as a DIY x GPS next year. In order to seek to avoid the dreaded west highland midges it would be a mid May event.
My preferred start location for the calendar event is Dunning. Its fairly central and has a couple of railway stations not too far away – Gleneagles & Perth are 10km and 16km respectively. My DIY would start from Gleneagles.
In order to find the line of best fit with the Corran Ferry a 2100 start is proposed, this means that fast riders can catch the first ferry west at 0630 and slower riders will still be in time catching the last one east at 2120.
The new bit features a loop over Langside from Comrie though Dunblane and Dollar before finishing with a ride over Dunning Glen.
An overnight control - possibly with a bag drop - is anticipated at Crianlarich Village Hall around 475km. One of my main objectives is to have riders use the A85 when its at its quietest. Given that folk would have to be away from Crianlarich (heading back) by about 5am that strikes me as a decent plan as civil daylight starts about 4am in mid May. After Comrie its fairly quiet roads other than 2km on the A91 around Yetts o’ Muckhart.
The downsides appear to be
- In the absence of an overnight pop up control or suchlike riders will find that the first shop open is at Dunbeg 178km (though there’s a water tap at Tyndrum)
- 475km is fair old trek to the first proper rest
- It doesn’t feature the Hollywood finish of crossing the Forth a la the Dalmeny version but a hurl down Dunning Glen isn’t to be sniffed at
I’d be interested to hear folks thoughts
The draft route is here -
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/44932534