I was fairly lucky with the weather, it was early June 2012 and it felt very 'alpine'. I was cycling a few miles north at the Kinlochewe junction a year later and spoke with a cyclist who had ridden up there that morning, and she said that it was snowing! So be prepared for any weather up there!

redefined_cycles wrote: ↑Fri Aug 06, 2021 2:01 pm

Glad you've just endorsed that summit for me there Jeff... as it's the Belach ne Baa that I'm primarily going for (plus a few climbs around the Cairgnorms that needs fetching)

I don't know if you've done Great Dun Fell up the Radar Dome but I found that much harder than Bealach na Ba. Both done on a Surly ECR with 3 inch tyres and full load of gear.

woodsmith wrote: ↑Fri Aug 06, 2021 2:32 pm

redefined_cycles wrote: ↑Fri Aug 06, 2021 2:01 pm

Glad you've just endorsed that summit for me there Jeff... as it's the Belach ne Baa that I'm primarily going for (plus a few climbs around the Cairgnorms that needs fetching)

I don't know if you've done Great Dun Fell up the Radar Dome but I found that much harder than Bealach na Ba. Both done on a Surly ECR with 3 inch tyres and full load of gear.

Yup.. done that. Stopped finally when I couldn't see owt and was in the clouds (and knackered). Then felt my ride up tge rest of the way hoping I'd noy fall off an edge somewhere.

Good comparison and appreicated. Might go back there soon actually... thanks

top of Bealach Na Bar last september. feckin vaguely exciting descending on 3'' tyres.

I forgot to add a couple of picture too, Ton, looking happy as always mate!







I also remember stopping and speaking to someone bikepacking the NC500 quite some time ago. I was in awe, I remember saying "I'd like to do something like that, but I'm just so scared..."

After doing this recently I would say...

The first 100km is very average. Nothing special and pretty flat. The scenery is nowhere near as good as it gets and traffic is heavy on A roads in places.
From Loch Caron to Kinlochewe is nice, although Bealach na ba I would do really, really early in the morning. I was there for 9am and it was still busy with traffic and cars having to stop to let others pass really disrupts the flow.
Applecross to Sheildaig is quiet and beautiful. Then a busier singletrack road to Kinlochewe, but still nice. Getting to Ullapool is scenic and wider road so fewer traffic issues.

From Ullapool is where things start to improve and especially the scenic options, especially Lochinver north which was absolutely stunning almost all the way to Tongue.

From Tongue, take the alternative route directly south. The "full" NC500 version to JOG and then south to Inverness was the worst section and I didn't really enjoy it at all. Nothing like the scenery of the Western areas and traffic builds more and more the further south you go.

A new KOM has just been set on the Bealach na Bà.

That's a pretty serious time. Isn't Andrew Feather a multiple National Hillclimb champion?

Two minutes off the previous KOM. He must have done it either very early or very late in order to avoid traffic.

Nominative Determinism?