Scotland
I had always wanted to visit Scotland but constantly said to myself that, being from the UK, I could always visit it whenever I wanted to. When I was ready for another bicycle trip, and having already visited the vast majority of European countries, Scotland at last became my destination.
Amsterdam – Hoek van Holland (train)
Hoek van Holland – Harwich (ferry)
Harwich – London (train)
London – Edinburgh (train)
From Edinburgh, I made my way north across the Forth bridge towards Pitlochry and the Cairngorms National Park. I was immediately struck by just how beautiful the country was, even at this early stage. The weather was fine and jagged hills and swathes of forest were visible in all directions.
After camping by Loch Tummel, I headed to Blair Atholl to begin my wander through the Cairngorms, something which I had thoroughly researched beforehand. All of this research told me one thing: that it was impossible to cycle all the way through the national park to a place called Glenfeshie but, not wanting to listen to the naysayers, decided I would try in any case.
The first few kilometres were amazing as I cycled over compacted gravel through a lush, green valley. As the valley closed in however, the path ascended and it became increasingly difficult to maintain any speed at all. Undeterred, I began walking, always slowly, up and down the side of the valley as the water below began to draw further from view.
After a few more kilometres, the path disappeared and the hard part began as I shuffled and stumbled my way through the tall grass and boulder strewn ground. It was tough.
As the daylight dwindled, I decided to set up camp by a small river and had the whole place to myself. It was was truly wonderful.
I was in the middle of nowhere and knew that I still had another 15+ km’s to walk but upon awakening, I was so utterly excited, I couldn’t wait to get going.
The landscape here felt quite desolate. Trees were few and far between and the ground quite boggy, There were quite a few river crossings too but, due to it being summer, these weren’t a problem at all. The next 15 km’s took almost the entire day to navigate through and it really was a tough introduction to the highlands. As hard as it was, I was happy that I had managed it.
There was just one minor obstacle to my reaching the Glenfeshie and that was two almightily rivers that stood in my way. The first one just necessitated the removal of all my bags and making 4 separate crossings with my trousers nearly perched around my waist. The second crossing was much harder due to the height of the water and the current too. How I managed to keep everything dry I’ll never know, especially since one of the bagged was dropped and the finale saw me scrabbling up a ridge above the water. I had at last made it to the beautiful Glenfeshie however.
From Glenfeshie, I cycled north to Inverness and then north again before turning north west for no other reason than it looked as though sparsely populated and interesting on Google satellite view. It tuned out that I was correct and it was absolutely breathtaking. The only problem was that I lost my way when I was approaching Scourie two days later and ended up cycling through a rather large Scottish estate. I even caught the local earl emptying his bins!
From Scourie, I cycled south and decided to take a 10km track off the main road towards Loch n Seaelga and when I was finally greeted by this, I knew I had made the right decision. After setting up camp, I wandered off into the surrounding hills but it became apparent that I wasn’t alone. Yes, I had finally entered the world of the midge….
The temperature for the previous week or two had been nearing 40 degrees and as these pests don’t much like the sun, I had had a midge free trip so far.
When I returned to my camping spot, it felt as though I was under attack. There seemed to be no defences against them and I had come prepared. I had found such a beautiful and peaceful spot right next to the Loch and yet it was unbearable. With my tail firmly between my legs, I began to pack up and headed back the same 10 km’s I had travelled earlier and found another spot that was mostly midge free.
I continued south – following the coast somewhat all the way to the Isle of Skye. Here I took a boat across to Mallaig and continued south to Lochailort. Here, I turned off the main highway and was pleasantly surprised that I now had most of the road to myself and the caravans and mobile homes had become a thing of the past. The sun was shining again and the scenery was fantastic with every bend revealing yet another, quite astonishing view. Wow, what a country.
I floated down a beautiful valley on the A861 and promptly arrived in Loch Linnhe. I hadn’t had one problem camping on this trip so far but with that being said, I had always camped somewhat off the beaten track and away from prying eyes. Knowing that camping wasn’t illegal in these parts though, I tried a more brazen tactic here and so simply camped on the beach. There were no midges about and I had the entire beach to myself. Cycling really does allow you a sense of freedom not afforded to the car traveller in my humble view.
The next day, I caught another boat across to Corran and then continued east past Glencoe and the three sisters towards Inverarnan. At Tarbet, I elected to take the the smaller A814 towards Faslane due to hearing horrendous stories about the A82 which runs down the western edge of Loch Lomand and before I knew it, I was arriving in Glasgow.