One for the route planners
I can't see any other way faster then just doing this by the roads?
anyone else considering it?

Chose your own route passing through the following points​​:

Start: Inverness Castle: 57.475918, -4.225477

Mandatory parcours: from Inverness to Dingwall along Sustrans route 1

CP1: Telephone box and post box (The Craigs); 57.881628, -4.576174

CP2: Torridon telephone box: 57.549351, -5.515973​

CP3: Applecross Inn (kudos to those who find and post the lat/long of the post box near there): 57.432745, -5.816003

CP4: Arnisdale post office: 57.134483, -5.569177

CP5: Dalavich post office: 56.263314, -5.280957

CP6: Brisbane street post office (Greenock): 55.949831, -4.768082 [ferries are allowed as long as they run perpendicular to the coast i.e. you are crossing a strait]

End: George Square, Glasgow: 55.861159, -4.250149

You'll be wanting Applecross TIC: 57.4334671, -5.8135760

(Found using a combination of http://dracos.co.uk/made/nearest-postbox, Google Steet View, and OpenStreetMap.)

CP1 (The Craigs) to CP2 (Torridon) is definitely a lot quicker off road on a gravel route.
Also CP4 (Arnisdale) to CP5 (Dalavich) is quicker off road, don't know the path at all but from the map i'm expecting some hike-a-bike.

My rough route plan is around 420 miles. If you stick to roads only, it'll be more like 470miles.

Whats your path from cp4 to 5 as Im sure off road will be slower there?

They've changed the checkpoints? I've a train ticket for Inverness indended for this but not bothered about a gravel route. If I was, I would have gone for their xduroScotland ride later in the year

robbie wrote: ↑Sun May 05, 2019 12:37 pm Whats your path from cp4 to 5 as Im sure off road will be slower there?

Pretty much due East. Up Glen Arnisdale, onto a small section of the Knoydart trail and over to Kinloch Hourn.
Using this route, the distance to Invermoriston is 35 miles, on road only, it's 53 miles. I'm guessing (but I dont know what the path is like) that this section will be quicker off road but if you drag gravel tyres around just for that part, it's probably not worth it.

That's a small off-road link i'm planning, I'm not doing the entire route from CP4 to CP5 off road.

jamiep wrote: ↑Sun May 05, 2019 3:23 pm They've changed the checkpoints? I've a train ticket for Inverness indended for this but not bothered about a gravel route. If I was, I would have gone for their xduroScotland ride later in the year

The checkpoints are different from last year.
A road route will be longer but when you consider the off-road sections are going to be a lot slower and there's probably some hike-a-bike involved as well as the fact your going to need to drag the off-road tyres over ~400 road miles, I don't think the actual time difference will be very significant.

touch wrote: ↑Sun May 05, 2019 4:26 pm

robbie wrote: ↑Sun May 05, 2019 12:37 pm Whats your path from cp4 to 5 as Im sure off road will be slower there?

Pretty much due East. Up Glen Arnisdale, onto a small section of the Knoydart trail and over to Kinloch Hourn.
Using this route, the distance to Invermoriston is 35 miles, on road only, it's 53 miles. I'm guessing (but I dont know what the path is like) that this section will be quicker off road but if you drag gravel tyres around just for that part, it's probably not worth it.

That's a small off-road link i'm planning, I'm not doing the entire route from CP4 to CP5 off road.

Just seen this, Fraser the Arnisdale to Kinloch hourn Path is a cracker but hardcore. The road will most definitely be quicker.....