The Pictish Trail - more Scotlandshire for you.

[Bearbonesnorm]

https://bikepacking.com/routes/the-pictish-trail/

[boxelder]

Looks promising- and rail accessible
Teaser video? [url]https://youtu.be/zRSb3QTOTSs[url]?

[fatbikephil]

Saw that and passes only a couple of miles up the road from me. Could be the return route from a jaunt up the GNT.

[Moder-dye]

Actually passes maybe 600m from my house

[Cheeky Monkey]

Looks promising- and rail accessible
Teaser video? [url]https://youtu.be/zRSb3QTOTSs[url]?

What the actual fcuk

[voodoo_simon]

Not sure why but I can see the Edinburgh to Inverness section proving to be popular

Looks stunning and even got a history lesson from the (official) trailer too

[yourguitarhero]

Looks good - have done a few parts before.
Also like the fact that it's not a Markus Stitz one as his idea of a nice route and mine are very different!

[voodoo_simon]

Looks good - have done a few parts before.
Also like the fact that it's not a Markus Stitz one as his idea of a nice route and mine are very different!

A few people have said this recently, what’s a Markus Stitz idea of a ride?

[yourguitarhero]

I think of his rides as "masochistic".
I like a bimble.

[godivatrailrider]

Anyone who chooses to ride around the world on a singlespeed is a little different.
Markus turned up at SSUK when we ( Godiva Trailriders) ran it the first time, in 2016

[yourguitarhero]

Hey, I don't hold it against the guy - everyone has their way of doing things.

Hiwevery, there is a sense that almost all the published routes around Scotland are his ones, they're becoming ubiquitous in a way.

So, I like to see ones from others whose route choice/style aligns more with my chakras dude

[voodoo_simon]

Hey, I don't hold it against the guy - everyone has their way of doing things.

Sorry, wasn’t trying to single you out. Just curious really as never ridden one of his routes, so wasn’t sure!

Sounds like his routes were like mine from a few years ago, every mountain bike ride had to contain hike a bike* or it just wasn’t ‘proper’, nowadays I’m much more into old school/classic rides that you can bumble along


*one hot bank holiday, a route contained hike a bike up to realise that it was going to be hike a bike down - think my friends lost their humour at that stage

[fatbikephil]

Vid was good, always nice to see my local trails on the telly . Also goes past my pals place by the River Spey, must get onto them so they can get their cafe business going.

[Squirrelking]

rail accessible

Doing a lot of heavy lifting there.

Class 158's have basically no provision for cycles, the best you can hope for are a couple of ex-catering trolley cupboards. No, that's not an exaggeration. That's your ride from Inverness Northwards. If you're unlucky it's your ride all the way, if you're really unlucky it's a 170 to Inverness. You can book in advance but you're still at the mercy of some eejit flinging bags in there.

Pretty sure there was a YouTube video doing the rounds of Lee Craigie stuffing a bike into one to make a point.

Here are the provisions:

Train class Reservations required Number of cycle spaces Tandems /Larger cycles such as cargo cycles allowed
158 Yes 4 No
170 Yes 2 No
Inter7City Yes 6 No

https://www.scotrail.co.uk/guide-travelling-bike-train

You also have Azumas running to Inverness with whatever provision they have.

Oh and on top of all that it's an all day run for me from Largs and I'm only an hour from Glasgow.


Not trying to put a downer on things but it's important to manage expectations. It would be nice if they had a 153 from the West Highland line doing the run as well, those buggers have 20 bike slots!

[ripio]

Overnight ferry from Aberdeen to Orkney, then ferry to Caithness, is an option for getting to Dunnet Head.

[Polisherman]

We looked into the theory of getting a train from Manchester to Thurso. No possibility of taking a bike, so seems lime a bit of a non-starter. Is it due to a number of the trains actually being buses. I'm not a prolific public transport user, so know little about these things!

[Dean]

We looked into the theory of getting a train from Manchester to Thurso. No possibility of taking a bike, so seems lime a bit of a non-starter. Is it due to a number of the trains actually being buses. I'm not a prolific public transport user, so know little about these things!

10:21 Manchester to Haymarket on TransPennine, (only 8 minutes to change trains though) 13:35 Haymarket to Inverness on ScotRail and 18:31 Inverness to Thurso 22:20 seems to run most weekdays. Sleeper from Preston works as well (and is dead cheap if you don't book a room).
https://i.imgur.com/P3imeRH.png

[Mart]

Oh goes right past my parents house (at about the halfway point)

[Boab]

Oh goes right past my parents house (at about the halfway point)

Goes about five miles away from where I grew up in Dalgety Bay. Although diverting to visit the parents seems a bit daft when there's so little of the route left. Would prolly get to Edinburgh, then turn round and go back, which seems equally daft now I type it out... Quite tempted, as that photo that was the inspiration looks amazing.

[Leerowe76]

Looks promising- and rail accessible
Teaser video? [url]https://youtu.be/zRSb3QTOTSs[url]?

What the actual fcuk

WOW what you said wtf, do you collect the drugs at the start or on route

[Mart]

is that Javi?

[postierich]

Heading Up on the 8th of May after a weekend of enduro riding @Glentress going to drive to Perth to catch the train to Thurso if anyone fancies the ride and some beers in Edinburgh

[Blackhound]

A tour of the Badger Divide up to inverness and then pick up the Pictish trail back to Edinburgh looks nice. Maybe Great North Trail back to Glasgow for a loop looks likes a nice trip.

The Northern bit looks great as well, maybe a second trip for the sections of Pictish / GNT missed out in SCotland.

[touch]

We looked into the theory of getting a train from Manchester to Thurso. No possibility of taking a bike, so seems lime a bit of a non-starter. Is it due to a number of the trains actually being buses. I'm not a prolific public transport user, so know little about these things!

Anything via Glasgow will include a bus on most train planners. Coming from the south you'll arrive at Glasgow Central and heading north you'll be leaving from Glasgow Queen Street. It's only 5 mins ride between stations but the planner will include a bus for you.
Try separate tickets for Manchester to Glasgow then Glasgow to Thurso and see if that helps.

[Moder-dye]

Good luck with that train to Thurso from Perth. I looked and it's anything between 8 and 14 hours with one change, assuming there's no delays or bus sections on the day. I guess atleast you'd have you camping gear for on it

I have a friend near Brora and getting public transport there from where I am is enough to put me off visiting. Probably be better riding to visit