The Lochs & Glens cycle route North ( otherwise known as Sustrans NN7C ) stretches 214 miles from Glasgow to Inverness traversing some of the most beautiful highland scenery in the country.
Phil and myself decided to follow this route for our cycling holiday in the summer of 2006. Neither of us are practiced cyclists ( myself especially having only been out my bike twice in the year leading up to this holiday ) and hadn't been on any cycling holidays before so we decided to follow the Sustrans guidelines and split the journey into 8 days where we would cover between 20 - 30 miles each day. We were both fairly confident this distance wouldn't kill us and allow sufficient time for sightseeing and stopping off at any interesting diversions we came across.
Having studying the suggested sustrans itineray it became clear that the two days negotiating the Drumochter pass would have to be completed in one day due to a lack of accomodation anywhere in the middle.
Planning Our Journey
We began to plan our holiday as a vague outline a good 6 months prior to our anticipated leaving date, the first practical step we took was to buy the sustrans Lochs & Glens cycle route ( North ) which I ordered from the sustrans website.
Dumbarton Castle
Sustrans are a civil engineering charity which is trying to build a UK wide cycle network which incorporates as far as possible traffic free roads and paths. To this end their route favours B roads and cycle paths with occasional off road sections. Often this route is not as direct as the A roads but it is a lot more pleasant and fun to cycle down recreationally.
The major decision was which way to do the route, I had read that the prevailing westerly wind favoured travelling from Glasgow to Inverness rather than vice a versa. Taking this into account and also the fact that we were planning on carrying for another week we decided to travel from Glasgow to Inverness.
We were going to travel by rail so the next stage was to book the train tickets which I did through Virgin trains website. By booking a good while in advance I was able to ensure I got cheap ticket deals for the days we wanted to travel on. The first problem we ran into is that you need to book spaces on the train for your bike and you can't do this on-line, or it seems over the telephone so I had to go to Birmingham New Street and do it in person which rather defeated the point of booking the tickets on the internet.
Using the sustrans map I booked up most of our accomodation over the phone and the internet based on where the map said we should end up on each day. We had to combine two of the days cycling suggested by sustrans over the Drumochter pass because I couldn't find anywhere to stay around Dalnacardoch where the sustrans day ends. This created one 50mile day which was slightly further than the 30 miles or so we would do on the other days.
We were planning on staying in B&B, Youth Hostels or cheap hotels and therefore cutting down on the amount of equipment we would need to carry with us, this plan proved to be entirely practical with quite a lot of choice of accomodation on most days.
Equipment
Our BikesThe most important equipment on a cycling holiday is obviously the bicycles you will be taking. Phil took his Giant mountain bike and I bought a Raleigh Venture ( a basic touring cycle ) off e-bay. Neither of us had any problems with our choice of bikes and the only technical hitch we experienced was my chain breaking on the way up a particularly vicious hill.
We both had a rear rack with two pannier bags and in addition to this I also had a Dawes bar bag. My two rear panniers held 30litres and the bar bag could fit in another 10litres and was very handy for carrying snacks, my camera, maps and other things handy to have close to hand.
I was planning on travelling as light as possible but in hindsight I could have easily got away travelling even more lightly. Since this wasn't purely a cycling holiday and we wanted to spend some days looking around generally and have some nights out along the way I also took some extra clothes for this purpose.
Clothing
- 3 pairs cycling socks
- 2 pairs normal socks
- 2 pairs padded undershorts
- 2 pairs boxer shorts
- 2 T-Shirts
- 1 long sleeved thermal base layer
- 1 short sleeved shirt
- 1 lightweight fleece
- 1 lightweight jersey
- 1 anorak
- 1 pair of shorts
- 2 pairs of lightweight trousers
Other Equipment
- Camera
- Sustrans map
- Rough Guide To Scotland
- Small torch
- Washing & shaving kit
- Travel towel
- Sunglasses
Tools
- 4 Allen Keys
- Spare brake & gear cables
- Puncture repair kit
- Bicycle pump
- Oil
- Multi purpose spanner
The Journey
The thing I was concerned about was to do with the size and steepness of the hills. Cycling through the Highlands suggests a certain amount of going up. In fact although there are 3 or 4 fairly steep hills they are quite short and well spread out, the route in the main follows the course of glens and lochs rather than attempting to go straight over the ( numerous ) mountains. The route begins and ends at sea level so an optomistic way of viewing things is that you will be going down just as much as you go up, it's just the downs happen a lot more quickly.
The weather was in the fact the main challenge on our holiday, having just missed the brief heatwave during August 2006 we experienced a lot of very windy and rainy days. Cycling for 3 or 4 hours in torrential rain is probably not the most fun you can have on a bike but in general the increased "drama" of the scenery and sense of having a real mission on your hands is sufficient to get you through the day with a smile still on your face. In this kind of weather I think it's impossible not to become soaked to the skin regardless of how waterproof your mac might be but the key is to have something which even if it's not really keeping out the rain can keep out the wind.
{{flickr_m:223230218}}Rain over Loch VenacharAnother concern I had was how easy it would be to navigate the route but happily this is really not a concern at all. The entire route was amazingly well signposted, every turn off and almost every junction is clearly signposted with additional signposts every so often just to reassure you that you are on the right track. On almost every occasion I thought to myself "Hmm, I wonder if this is really the right route" I would see a signpost within 30 seconds.
I am really not at all fit and had only been on my bike twice in the previous year for anything over 5 miles so I did wonder if I may be biting off more than I could chew. In fact I found it was possible to cover the 30 miles or so in around half a day leaving plenty of time for mucking about and sightseeing during the rest of the day. Travelling by bike is really an excellent way to travel, you can go a fair distance quite easily and still take in your surroundings and get out onto smaller paths and tracks through lovely scenic areas.
Further Reading & Maps
I have created google maps for each of the days rides as recommended by Sustrans along with markers for interesting or useful things to see along the way such as museums, pubs and some accomodation options. You can access these by using the links at the bottom of this page.
I have also posted all my photos from my holiday on flickr which you can see by following this link for my Scottish Cycling Holiday.
There is also a complete day by day account of my own holiday which you can also access from the links at the bottom of this page.
