This went past on facebook this morning https://www.facebook.com/events/1566312016716583/ but there's been nothing else about it I've seen? So I'll put it in here as people like to book time off etc :)

"8th September - 16th September. Provisional date only. The Central Belter is a new bikepacking route through Central Scotland, connecting the Capital Trail, Highland Trail and Cairngorms Loop. This will be the first ride on the loop, and with the Cairngorms Loop mass start the next weekend, provide a great opportunity to combine both. More details and registration soon."

I'd be interested to see how much good riding there is between Edinburgh and Tyndrum tbh, as there's a lot of road but I don't know of many off-road paths other than the Sustrans and perhaps the West Highland Way

I think it sort of curves up stirling way... Hang on http://markusstitz.com/central-belter/ has a gpsies link http://www.gpsies.com/mapFolder.do?id=76617

Should have put that in first post, whoops!

Yorlin wrote:I think it sort of curves up stirling way... Hang on http://markusstitz.com/central-belter/ has a gpsies link http://www.gpsies.com/mapFolder.do?id=76617

Should have put that in first post, whoops!

My in laws have an old caravan in a field up at Killin that we use regularly during the summer, the third stage of that route looks perfect to get me from home to the caravan and back

Rats he beat me to it - been working on my own route from Fife north into Perthshire and a bit of speyside. Oh well will be interesting to see his route.

htrider wrote:Rats he beat me to it - been working on my own route from Fife north into Perthshire and a bit of speyside. Oh well will be interesting to see his route.

I'd like to see your route Phil. Local knowledge should always take precedence. And your Glen Lyon based HT start is fantastic.

I agree with Ian - the Glen Lyon start to the HT is excellent: wild, yet rideable.
So good I went back and did that bit in August after doing it in May in the event.

ianfitz wrote:

htrider wrote:Rats he beat me to it - been working on my own route from Fife north into Perthshire and a bit of speyside. Oh well will be interesting to see his route.

I'd like to see your route Phil. Local knowledge should always take precedence. And your Glen Lyon based HT start is fantastic.

I'll try and drag it into some semblance of a GPX file and post it in routes in the next wee while. Plus I might try and ride it in April as a warm up for the Highland Trail....

I rode the Grangemouth to Linlithgow section of this tonight on the way home from work, it seems a bit disjointed to me and there's unnecessary off road bits that feel like they've been added in just to keep it off road. Saying that I did ride it backwards, I think I'll have a crack at it the right way round next week and see how it rides.

Marcus has ben posting routes on his GPSies page as he explores them

I have just updated the description of the GPSies track group. The actual start date has changed to 9 September, a mix up on my side, Saturday is better to start. As for the route, it'll be a surprise, there's excellent off-road riding in the West Lothian area, and the route in the South will be extended as well, so it won't be a straight copy of the Capital Trail, it'll extend into East Lothian and further down. Some sections in the GPsies folder will be in, but I will use the same approach as on the Capital Trail, riding as many paths I can find and then selecting them based on how they fit into the route. And there'll be a number of places along the way to discover, castles, distilleries, historic sites etc. So, I would recommend waiting for the finished route, which is a big effort to create as it is not planned on a map or a desktop, every section of it is ridden at least once. I post videos of the process on here https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLuhgD ... Wj0lSQIlMA and also keep on working on this site http://bikepackingscotland.com/

Enjoy, Markus