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Prestwick to Tain
| sorbs | 25 Dec 16:53 |
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Joined: 02 Dec 2009 Posts: 4 Bike: | I am in the very early stages of organising a trip for a bunch of (mainly) non-cyclists from Prestwick - Glasgow - Inverness - Tain in July. I expect the trip to take about 5 days using the Great Glen route. However, no one in the group has any real experience of the route, I know a lot of it is off-road, but I don't know if it is suitable for road and hybrid bikes. Can anyone give any advice about this route? |
| Big Stuff | 29 Dec 06:27 |
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Joined: 29 Dec 2009 Posts: 3 Bike: | Hi, I am a male 64 yrs of age and I would be interested in any details of your ride. My son who is a serving soldier and I intend to do Prestwick to John O Groats in June. I am cycling about 100 mls per week at the moment on a Claude Butler Hybrid. |
| sorbs | 06 Jan 16:33 |
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Joined: 02 Dec 2009 Posts: 4 Bike: | Hi Big Stuff, As I said I am in the early stages of organising this ride but I hope to have the route and dates finalised by next week. Once I have some 'firmer' details I will let you know. |
| Big Stuff | 14 Jan 13:36 |
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Joined: 29 Dec 2009 Posts: 3 Bike: | Hi, that woul;d be brilliant many thanks. Tom |
Ogwen 
| 14 Jan 18:46 |
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Joined: 14 Jul 2009 Posts: 7 Bike: My Profile | I cycled from carlisle to Thurso last summer following the national cycle routes.It was a bit long winded but gave excellent cycling. Get hold of the maps and guide from sustrans. to give some idea of the time taken: Day 1 Carlile to Dumfries Day 2 Dumfries to Creetown (more or less) Day 3 Creetown to Ayr. Day 4 Ayr to Lochwinnoch Day 5 Lochwinnoch to Aberfoyle day 6 Aberfoyle to Killin Day 7 Killin to Newtonmor Day 8 Newtonmore to Inverness Day 9 Inverness to Lairge Day 10 Lairg to Tongue Day 11 Tongue to Thurso I camped on all but two nights and my bike which carried everything is a run of the mill Raleigh hybrid |
| My Latest Route: Nov 2009 Gort to Kinvarra Via Kilmacduagh | |
| CtheCyclist | 28 Jan 17:23 |
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Joined: 28 Jan 2010 Posts: 2 Bike: | Hi Ogwen I'm planning to cycle from Glasgow to Thurso following the same route you did. Can you tell me if there was a lot of traffic on the A roads up North? The Sustrans map (which is 10 years old) says they're quiet, but I also read that the road along the north coast was 'much improved' which is generally a bad sign for cyclists. |
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Ogwen
| 29 Jan 18:57 |
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Joined: 14 Jul 2009 Posts: 7 Bike: My Profile | The road from Tain to Bonar Bridge was the busiest stretch, after that they were quite quiet. From Tongue to Thurso the roads busier it seemed. Its a great ride and I am thinking of doing the whole thing again! |
| My Latest Route: Nov 2009 Gort to Kinvarra Via Kilmacduagh | |
| CtheCyclist | 01 Feb 18:15 |
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Joined: 28 Jan 2010 Posts: 2 Bike: | Thanks for that. We had a bad experience in the Outer Hebrides last year - after days of wonderfully quiet roads, we ended up having a nightmare for the 25 miles into Stornoway where the lovely single track roads turn into a major highway and everyone goes mad it seems. |
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Ogwen
| 05 Feb 11:35 |
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Joined: 14 Jul 2009 Posts: 7 Bike: My Profile | The only really unpleasant part of my trip was the from Inverness to Lairg. I decided to go via Dingwall instead of Cromarty and the ferry. To make matters worse I got it into my head that it would be a good idea to follow the A9 to Alness! I was a nervouse wreck after a couple of miles and got off the A9 and back onto the cycle route at Evanton. My advice would be to go via Cromarty. the roads are quiet, there is a good campsite at Fortrose and the ferry ride from Cromarty breaks the journey and is relaxing too (went that way in 2007). |
| My Latest Route: Nov 2009 Gort to Kinvarra Via Kilmacduagh | |
| sorbs | 10 Feb 15:49 |
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Joined: 02 Dec 2009 Posts: 4 Bike: | Ogwen & Big Stuff, Ogwen - Many thanks for the route info. Big Stuff - Sorry it's taken me so long to get back to you. Our route is more or less finalised and it is: Day 1 Prestwick to Balloch Day 2 Balloch to Killin Day 3 Killin to Blair Atholl Day 4 Blair Atholl to Grantown on Spey Day 5 Grantown to Tain We will mainly be following National Route 7 but it still needs a bit of tweaking as as it stands the last leg is over 70 miles and we need to be at Tain by about 3pm. There will be 10 cyclists and we will stop over night at campsites however we will have the benefit of a couple of support crew who will set-up the tents and prepare the food! |
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Ogwen
| 11 Feb 12:42 |
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Joined: 14 Jul 2009 Posts: 7 Bike: My Profile | There is a great campsite about two miles before you get to Dryman but if you push on there is another good one Cobeland, just before Aberfoyle. At Killin there is another good campsite a couple of miles to the east of thetown on the A827 overlooking the loch. I camped there the first time I cycled the route. Let me know if you need anymore info. |
| My Latest Route: Nov 2009 Gort to Kinvarra Via Kilmacduagh | |
| sorbs | 13 Feb 13:37 |
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Joined: 02 Dec 2009 Posts: 4 Bike: | Many thanks for the campsite info I will get the lad responsible for booking the sites to contact them. |
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