West Highland 500

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fatbikephil
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West Highland 500

Post by fatbikephil »

Or something.....

500 miles of tracks, cycleways and backroads anybody? I've been playing around with this route for a while based on a few trips in the region over the last couple of years. It covers a reasonable area of the West highlands, Argyll, a bit of the Trossachs and a bit of Perthshire and speyside. Some long sections of good track, forestry and estate, plenty of back roads of varying standards, a fair few sections of cycleway both remote and roadside and a reasonable minimum of main roads. There are a few short sections of rough stuff but no death marches and no hard hike a bike. I've currently got it starting and finishing in Tyndrum and pinching a bit of the highland Trail route but it could be started in a few other places closer to the central belt. Total altitude gain around 14000m. There are 3, possibly 4, ferry journeys required. The possible 4th is at Fort bill where you can catch the infrequent boat to Camusnagaul to miss out a big chunk of the A830.

I've not ridden all of it yet and I plan to do it as a tour next summer at some point. I've not thought about group starts, websites or anything like that although it did occur to me to produce an ITT route which offers some nice cycling, plenty of opportunities for food stops and accomodation and not much chance of making people cry.....

Suitable for any bike with some moderate offroad ability for example a Fargo or similar.

Its in 4 parts as I was struggling with the technology to join routes up.


http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=zohryffyljlkupoe
http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=hojqbwquoguujgcg
http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=itjpazyexeyuttzs
http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=pmhgqufzhjezeuuw
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pushbikemike
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Re: West Highland 500

Post by pushbikemike »

Nice work phil. I would be interested in doing this as tour.
Now can I get enough free time to do this and the borders350. :wink:
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fatbikephil
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Re: West Highland 500

Post by fatbikephil »

Funnily enough the Borders 350 is well up my list for next year, hopefully in April. Will hope to do this route in july (but probably starting from home rather than tyndrum) and provide a definitieve GPX track thereafter.
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Re: West Highland 500

Post by Gari »

Like the look of that. Been spending more time doing "gravel" and back road touring on drop bar bikes with 35-40mm tyres, mainly as my ability to ride really tough stuff and/or HAB is now almost non existent, due to health issues. This is exactly the kind of mix I can cope with and really enjoy.
Great job.
ScotRoutes
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Re: West Highland 500

Post by ScotRoutes »

There's a couple of bits of that I've not done and some I've only done "in reverse". I do love all that stuff out by Acharacle and Kilchoan and the route between them is great. A little bit of HAB but not enough to put you you off doing it.
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Moder-dye
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Re: West Highland 500

Post by Moder-dye »

Nice one :-bd
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Re: West Highland 500

Post by fatbikephil »

ScotRoutes wrote:There's a couple of bits of that I've not done and some I've only done "in reverse". I do love all that stuff out by Acharacle and Kilchoan and the route between them is great. A little bit of HAB but not enough to put you you off doing it.
I did wonder about that bit as I've only seen it on Geograph but I figured even if all of the marked singletrack was unrideable it would be worth it. I keep thinking of further additions - there really is a lot of scope for reasonable track / wee road touring in Scotland which I think is a bit of an untapped resource plus I keep wondering if any of the tracks built for the Beauly Denny line would make any links (ie the ones that haven't been removed)

Defo work in progress but I plan to ride it next summer
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Dave Barter
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Re: West Highland 500

Post by Dave Barter »

Do you want me to stitch it all into a single GPX for you?
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fatbikephil
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Re: West Highland 500

Post by fatbikephil »

Dave that would be ace as the tech was defeating me (bikehike and Anquet do not appear to allw you to do this) plus I wasn't sure about the ferry crossings but I guess it doesn't matter as these could be stgraight lines across the relevant bits of water.
Cheers
Phil
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Re: West Highland 500

Post by ianfitz »

htrider wrote:Dave that would be ace as the tech was defeating me (bikehike and Anquet do not appear to allw you to do this) plus I wasn't sure about the ferry crossings but I guess it doesn't matter as these could be stgraight lines across the relevant bits of water.
Cheers
Phil

Here's a whole one - https://ridewithgps.com/trips/12035756

Bikehike will do this for you. Options menu bottom left - merge files - load the next one
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fatbikephil
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Re: West Highland 500

Post by fatbikephil »

Nice one thanks Ian
Still finding my way with bikehike so thanks for the tip on merging routes.
So whose up for a group start then?! Just joking, I'd rather make this a gravellish alternative to the NC500 with less trunk road riding. Plus I may change the start point to Pitlochry for a bit of a change and a better train service to the start.
Phil
boxelder
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Re: West Highland 500

Post by boxelder »

A left turn from Melgarve and down Glen Roy would be a useful 'shortcut' (avoid the evils of seafood pizza in FA?) :wink:
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Re: West Highland 500

Post by fatbikephil »

I did wonder about that as you can get to Fort bill all off road via the East Highland way and the trails through leanachan woods. The corrieairyack has to be in though!
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Re: West Highland 500

Post by ScotRoutes »

The inclusion of the Camusnagaul ferry as an official alternative would certainly offer some intriguing tactical opportunities in the event of a group start, especially if adopting the rule of "no pre-booking".

For the unfamiliar, it's a tiny motor boat with room for half a dozen bikes (strapped to the sides) and only has 3-4 scheduled sailings per day. Having said that, the guys are quite flexible and have been known to make additional journeys on demand.

Image

Turning up a few minutes late, or at the wrong time of day, could leave you with a long, unplanned main road detour though (unlikely to be slower, just less pleasant).

I've been thinking of trying to incorporate the West Loch Awe Timber Haul Route into some sort of Argyll loop. This might be perfect.

I do wonder if another 500 miler is a bit much though. Alan started a bit less ambitious with the HTR. Is there a shorter, more attainable, route in there?
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fatbikephil
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Re: West Highland 500

Post by fatbikephil »

Plenty of opportunities to knock out some of the loops to cut down the mileage - Boxelders aforementioned alt going down the EHW from Inverpattack to Spean Bridge to avoid the corrie pass; You could miss out mull or leave it in but get the ferry to Oban instead of Lochaline (but this would miss out the pleasant NCN from Ballachulish to Connel) and if you started at Callander or Killin you could miss out Tyndrum. There is plenty of stuff to add in too without hitting any hard trails. That said given that its nearly all easy going (ish) you could do it as a weeks tour without too much undue suffering. I suspect if I do it I'll probably set off from the house, head for Callander and then miss out the tyndrum bit which will still make it 500 or so miles
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Re: West Highland 500

Post by whitestone »

Holy thread resurrection!

This is down to the thread (that I started) on the Wild About Argyll trail and someone referred to this thread.

What's the trail like from Melgarve bothy along the upper Spey to Luib Chonnal and into the top end of Glen Roy? Heritage paths shows "The Soft Road for the Hoggs" heading there then across the top of Glen Roy into Glen Gloy but there's very little info about that bit, there's only a couple of shots on geograph.org.uk for example which don't look that encouraging (for the Glen Gloy bit).
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fatbikephil
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Re: West Highland 500

Post by fatbikephil »

Cheer Bob
Not sure of that trail but I know people who did it yonks ago and pronounced it OK but they couldn't really remember what ti was like.....
You'll just have to try it and report back!
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JoseMcTavish
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Re: West Highland 500

Post by JoseMcTavish »

That stretch isn't too bad - went that way in reverse about ten years ago:

Leaving Luib Chonnal:

Image

Rough and ready singletrack most of the way:

Image

Image

Image

Eventually peters out a wee bit before Shesgnan:

Image

I remember a boggy tramp up to the house (Which was being renovated) and then it was back to an easy estate track from Shesgnan to Melgarve. Maybe not the most current route report though!
Last edited by JoseMcTavish on Fri Apr 13, 2018 11:15 am, edited 1 time in total.
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fatbikephil
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Re: West Highland 500

Post by fatbikephil »

Good one - defo worth a punt at some point I'd say
boxelder
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Re: West Highland 500

Post by boxelder »

I think this now tops my 'Must do rides in the UK' - with shortcuts. Have you toured/ridden it yet Phil?
I'd look to start in Dumbarton (rail access) and use NCN7 to Drymen; cut across the east end of Loch Lyon (missing Tyndrum); miss Corrieyarrick/FA with a Laggan Dam/Tulloch shortcut (planning gravel bike and remember the east end of Glen Roy from Melgarve being MTB terrain); Leanachan Forest to FW and and Camusnagaul ferry; then follow the route as planned.
5 days/4 nights?
May even go for this month if I can wangle it and the weather plays fair.
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Re: West Highland 500

Post by fatbikephil »

boxelder wrote: Thu Sep 02, 2021 12:22 am I think this now tops my 'Must do rides in the UK' - with shortcuts. Have you toured/ridden it yet Phil?
I'd look to start in Dumbarton (rail access) and use NCN7 to Drymen; cut across the east end of Loch Lyon (missing Tyndrum); miss Corrieyarrick/FA with a Laggan Dam/Tulloch shortcut (planning gravel bike and remember the east end of Glen Roy from Melgarve being MTB terrain); Leanachan Forest to FW and and Camusnagaul ferry; then follow the route as planned.
5 days/4 nights?
May even go for this month if I can wangle it and the weather plays fair.
Andy, having planned it, I never did it - I wanted to do it in the sun after the HT2015 washout but never got lucky with my weeks off (this continues) then kind of forgot about it. Funnily enough I have a week off in September and I'd vaguely thought of picking some of it as part of a tour ending up on the Solway Coast. Also Marcus Stitz gazumped me with his 'Wild About Argyle' route which pretty much does this plus some other stuff. I'd say what you are planning should work on a gravel bike - look forward to the report!
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