More Details
Here they are....some long awaited details to wet your appetites! Wully and I had a closer look at the route today and tweeked it a little, nothing too drastic just a wee road or two which I will try to clarify later.
Day 1 Saturday 25th April 2009
This will be one of the longer days for some depending on where you are coming from. The route will start from the Green Welly shop at Tyndrum and we will head off towards Cairngaan which will be our first compass point (we can arrange rendezvous when I get a final number of people and see where everyone is coming from). However, we don't stop long at Cairngaan, we will push on to the Castle Douglas area where we will spend our first night. Accommodation yet to be agreed and is next on my list.
From Tyndrum to Castle Douglas - 226 miles
Day 2 Sunday 26th April 2009
From Castle Douglas (or wherever we decide to stay the night in that area) we head off towards our second compass point. We head up towards Edinburgh by-pass, stopping on-route at Roslin for a break (good opportunity to check out the chapel I thought). We will reach the end of our day at around St Andrews on the East coast and this is where we will spend our second night.
Castle Douglas to St Andrews - 186 miles.
Day 3 Monday 27th April 2009
St Andrews up to Peterhead (Keith Inch) brings us to our furthest most Eastern point we head along the coast from here to Inverness where we will spend our third night and most likely celebrate before we head North and into the Highlands.
St Andrews to Inverness - 235 miles
Day 4 Tuesday 28th April 2009
Like I said...North we go into the Highlands and on up to Dunnet Head to check out the stacks and reach our third compass point. Then its off to Durness where we will spend our fourth night.
Inverness to Durness - 215 miles
Day5 Wednesday 29th April 2009
Bit of a change here, I would very much like to reach the furthest North West regions of Scotland which means visiting Cape Wrath, I am awaiting confirmation that all military activity will have ceased by the time we get there. I'm told the only way across is by passenger ferry which links us to a mini-bus that takes us along the 12 mile path to the lighthouse at the outermost region of Cape Wrath, however, I am currently seeking a way in which we can get our bikes across and travel the 12 miles by bike (depending on the bike of course), the mini-bus will of course be available for those who don't have a suitable bike or for those who would just rather take the bus! If anyone has any contacts up there with a boat that could accommodate some bikes the help would be appreciated.
Anyway, I have allowed till midday before we leave Durness. Those who don't fancy Cape Wrath can continue on to our next destination which is Applecross.
Durness to Applecross - 212 miles (long day)
Day 6 30th April 2009
Down the famous Applecross road we go where we head off to the Kyle of Lochalsh and the Skye Bridge.
This shouldn't take us long as it isn't too far so we should have a good half a day to explore Skye.
Applecross to Skye - 75 miles (plus exploration of Skye)
Day 7 1st May 2009
From Skye we take the ferry to Mallaig and head off towards the Ardnamurchan point and our final compass point. I thought about taking us across to The Isle of Mull from here via the Kilhoan ferry then down to Craignure and across on the ferry to Oban, but I think the 2 ferry fares would not be pretty so i've opted to head back to the corran ferry, up to Fort William, through Glen Coe (spectacular scenery for the end of the trip and apt I think) and back to the Green Welly shop at Tyndrum for tea and scones.
Mallaig to Tyndrum - 130 miles approx
Well thats roughly it, you now know the route and the stop overs, I appologise for the spelling mistakes
and if i've missed anything out but it is past midnight and so i'm hurrying a bit (kids to get to school in the morning!)