Trail Notes
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Dunnet head to Golspie - 170km
Pictish Kingdom: Cait
The route begins from the most northerly point of the British mainland at Dunnet Head, before returning to Thurso and beginning the journey south — you can’t come this far and not visit the lighthouse and cliffs! It’s an easy 20km road spin out to Dunnet head itself, assuming you’ve arrived in Thurso by train. There is a campsite at Dunnet Links, around halfway between the two, and various accommodation in Dunnet village.
Make sure to top up food supplies back in Thurso, as the next section is the remotest of the route, with the next shop being 110 km away in Helmsdale. Initially the surface is tarmac, using quiet lanes to reach Reay (a stone’s throw from Dounreay nuclear power plant), and then a short section of the scenic A836 before you turn south down Strath Halladale on singletrack road. There are multiple roadside chambered cairns and brochs on this section, all marked on the 1:50000 Ordnance Survey maps.
After a short ride up the glen, you leave tarmac and enter the Flow Country section. The Flow Country is a vast area of 200,000 ha of blanket peat bog — it’s remote, exposed to the weather and, surprisingly, the riding here is some of the best on the route! Local sandstone has been used to create a network of estate tracks used in managing the land, and they provide a smooth, fast-rolling surface that even skinnier gravel tyres will be quite at home on. Despite the peaty surroundings, the tracks are well-drained and generally dry, so you can concentrate on the expansive views across to the distinctive shapes of Scaraben and Morven on the North Sea coast. Water is plentiful, and there are frequent camp spots throughout this section beside the rivers, and a night out in such a quiet spot is recommended.
A heads up: the Flow Country section comes to and end at Braemore, from where we follow the Berriedale Water down its narrow glen to the coast. This avoids spending unnecessary time on the A9, but the first 4km of the glen are quite rough and boggy, which you may or may not find helpful to know beforehand. The good news is that it’s short, and immediately followed by good camp spots and some beautiful riding out to Berriedale itself.
From Berriedale, the route inevitably takes the A9 for some 20 km towards Helmsdale. In peak Summer season (July and August) this section of road can be reasonably busy, particularly in the middle of the day. However, as an upgraded, modern road it’s wide and has good sightlines, so it’s relatively easy to be visible and feel safe. If you’re really unkeen, travelling early in the day after a camp up the Berriedale Water would make sense. The road also passes Ousdale Broch, which is well worth stopping at to admire the monumentally thick drystone walls that made up these Iron Age towers.
Helmsdale is home to welcome services, from accommodation to meals and a small shop. After riding up Strath Ullie on singletrack road, we cross the river and begin a steep gravel climb that transitions to moss-covered tarmac, climbing the shoulder of Beinn Dhorain and dropping into Glen Loth. Keep an eye out for the standing stones lower down in the glen. After a short spin along the coast to Brora (and maybe a hot chocolate in Cocoa Skye café), the off-road section to Golspie is a blast, using long-forgotten roads and finally a section of flowy singletrack to drop in to the north end of the village near the entrance to Dunrobin Castle. You can’t miss the enormous (and controversial) statue of the Duke of Sutherland standing watch from Ben Bhraggie above the town — he was one of the charming individuals who played a role in the Highland Clearances of the 18th and 19th centuries.
Golspie to Inverness - 160km
Pictish Kingdoms: Cait, Fidach and Fortriu
We leave Golspie through Loch Fleet nature reserve, before crossing The Mound at the mouth of the loch, and climbing Strath Carnaig on a mostly deserted lane. After dropping into Bonar Bridge (which has a shop, café and restaurant), we head away from the coast and begin another long, mostly off-road section to Evanton, 65 km away. After the initial tarmac, we pass Glencalvie Estate with its amazing treehouse, and climb on a surprisingly smooth bit of gravel onto the shoulder of the Ben Wyvis massif. The next section traverses Strath Rusdale, Loch More and Glen Glass to finally follow the incredibly deep, narrow incision of Blackrock Gorge to the village of Evanton.
Dingwall is reached from Evanton via the old ‘high road’ above the new A9, which gives great views over the Cromarty Firth and its shoals of floating North Sea oil rigs. Dingwall is also the largest town since Thurso, so it has plenty of services. From there, we take the new Peffery Way, which links Dingwall to Strathpeffer via a disused railway line. The local community has worked incredibly hard to create this new off-road link, and it shows in the new gates and carefully maintained track. As a reward, stop by the deli in Strathpeffer village square for a breather. Shope and cafés are frequent along this section, so food and water are unlikely to be a problem.
Backroads take us south to Muir of Ord and then Beauly (where there’s a campsite nearby) and Kirkhill, before one final climb (albeit a big one) up the Aird stands between us and Inverness. This is fairly demanding, and after beginning on tarmac becomes a forest track among stunted spruce trees that give the riding a remote, Scandinavian feel. Once on top, we join the final, flowing section of the Great Glen Way to traverse Dunain Hill and descend to the Caledonian Canal and then the River Ness itself, which we follow towards the hump of Inverness Castle standing on its mound. The city centre is compact, and it's relatively easy to find everything you need. Unless you’re treating yourself to a night indoors, you will need to head out of the city to find camping.
Inverness to Ballater - 170km
Pictish Kingdoms: Fortriu and Ce
From Inverness, the route traverses eastwards along the Moray coast, and on a clear day you can see your progress so far all the way to Morven and Scaraben. After weaving through the suburbs of Smithton and Culloden, we pick up fast forest tracks that head east to Cawdor, where we pick up a meandering section of riverside singletrack beside the River Nairn, following it all the way to Nairn and the sea. This section can be slippy after wet weather, and gets a little overgrown in late summer, but is generally worth the slower moving speed. If you really want to get to Nairn and have that ice cream, an obvious road detour exists to save some time.
From Nairn, the route enters the expanse of Culbin Forest and its dune system. This huge area of sand is ever-changing, and a storm in 1694 shifted so much that it buried the entire village of Culbin — only the chimney of the manor house remains poking above the sand’s surface. The current forest of Scots pine trees was planted in the 1940s to stabilise the area.
Forres is another good place to stock up on supplies, as the only other shop between here and Ballater is Tomintoul. The long climb away from the coast begins on the Dava Way, another disused railway line, before heading into the moorland and forest that then drops down to the Spey at Knockando. After another section of railway line on the Speyside Way, we follow the Avon on a mixture of lanes and rough farm tracks — pay close attention to the GPS on this section. After spells of very wet weather it might be worth taking the road on the east side of the River Avon at this point, although in summer it’s generally fine.
Tomintoul is a small ‘planned’ village founded in 1775 by the local landowner, in the hope that a permanent settlement would reduce the amount of cattle theft and illegal whisky distilling in the area. It has a few cafés, pubs and a shop, as well as accommodation. We leave the village by continuing up the Avon as it flows out of the high Cairngorms plateau, before leaving it at Inchrory and heading east to the River Don at Corgarff Castle. The route to Ballater uses the remains of one of Major Caulfield’s military roads from the 18th century, climbing on a rough but firm trail to join the A939, before we drop into Deeside and Glen Gairn on the final spin to Ballater.
This section also contains plentiful wild camping spots away from settlements, but as it encounters more hill grazing areas it’s worth giving thought to clean water supplies and carrying a filter or other purifying treatment.
Ballater to Dundee - 130km
Pictish Kingdoms: Ce and Circind
The route from Ballater to Edzell is almost entirely offroad. The Deeside Way from Ballater to Aboyne takes things easy beside the river for 20km, which is a good point at which to make sure you have plentiful supplies, as the next section crosses one of the ‘Mounth Roads’ across the hills to Angus (45km to the next shop/café in Edzell). The Fungle Road is one of several historic routes that criss-cross the high plateau of the southern Cairngorms, and marks the high point of the route at around 600m above sea level. That might not sound much to folks from more elevated places, but the weather can be significantly less friendly than it is at lower levels, and often deteriorates rapidly. Make sure to follow the singletrack around the south-west of Birse Castle, rather than following the estate track.
Dropping into Glen Esk gives a welcome break from any weather that’s around, and the riverside trails on the west side can be made a little faster by sticking to the tarmac on the east side, if time isn’t on your side. After Edzell, lanes take us through Brechin and on towards the coast again at Arbroath (where you can get your smoked haddock or ‘Arbroath Smokie). Camping gets a little trickier in Angus, but just on the southern side of Arbroath the dunes provide a peaceful spot once you’re a little way out of town, without being too far away to nip back in for a coffee and some breakfast in the morning.
The final stretch to Dundee follows the coast on a fast cycle path, with the entrance to the Firth of Tay on your left and the Tay bridges ahead once you round the corner at Broughty Ferry.
Dundee to Edinburgh - 115km
Pictish Kingdoms: Fib and Gododdin
Once across the Tay Road Bridge via its central cycle lane, we arrive in the Kingdom of Fife (or ‘Fib’, to give it its proper Pictish name). Sandwiched between the firths of Tay and Forth, Fife is as good an example as anywhere else of Scotland’s different histories lying side by side. The first hill climbs the side of Norman’s Law, a prominent lookout that’s crowned by an Iron Age hill fort. A mixture of singletrack on the Fife Coastal Path, farm tracks and lanes takes us on toward another hill fort on top of the prominent Lomond Hills, but not before passing near to the old royal palace at Falkland. From the traversing trail that runs across the Lomonds we begin to see the more modern Scotland: the coal mining towns of south-east Fife, the shipyards at Rosyth, and the unmistakable, rust-red silhouette of the Forth Rail Bridge. Thanks to the construction of the new road bridge, cyclists can use the old bridge to cross the Firth of Forth, with plenty of traffic-free space to check out the views back to the Fife coast, and onward to the finish point at Edinburgh Castle, which sits on top of the dark hump of Castle Rock above the rest of the city.
Camping in Fife is trickier than it is on the rest of the route, due to the amount of agricultural land and the corresponding lack of fresh drinking water. There are spots where it’s possible, but make sure to stick to the Scottish Outdoor Access Code. There are several paying campsites, guesthouses and B&Bs in the various towns and villages.
The remainder of the route on the south side of the Forth is one of the most pleasant ways you could imagine to ride right into the centre of a country’s capital city. Rather than follow the busy A90, the cycle route takes the coast around Hound Point, passing right underneath the massive riveted girders of the rail bridge and passing through North Queensferry (where I dare you not to stop for a break once you see the menu on the ice cream shop). It then takes you through Dalmeny Park, opposite Cramond Island, before heading up the River Almond a wee way and heading east on disused railway line that delivers you to Haymarket, just a few streets away from Princes Street, the Mound and the final approach up to the castle itself.
Once you’ve arrived, Waverley Station is just down the hill and around the corner, so onward travel is simple (make sure to book a bike spot when you book your train ticket, unless travelling on one of the commuter trains).
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