Scotland routes / off tarmac

er-minio

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To kill some time I'm planning a couple of travel options in the hope it would be possible to move relatively freely by August.
I always think about going to Scotland (last time I've been there I was just a wee lad) during summer, but the "call" of the seaside is stronger. Us southern europeans are wired like that :D

Considering international travel, if all, might be tricky in the months ahead this might be the time to go tour a bit Scotland on my own. The other option is Cornwall, but for that I might open a separate thread.

I found some information here: https://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php/494965-Summer-2019-UK-and-Scotland/page3 and in some other posts, it's easy to fetch major routes online generally, my question here is very specific for some help in finding non-tarmac/off road routes to follow, in order to add something interesting to tour.

I'll be loaded with panniers and I'm relatively inexperienced once the asphalt ends :D but as long as the tracks are as wide as a GSA with panniers and not vertical... I think it would be ok. I've done some bits of the TET in Spain and the Parpaillon last summer traveling with the GS loaded, and that was pretty much ok. So anything similar (wide gravel) would be amazing.

I haven't been able to find much online, but if you guys have any pointers towards any known off-road routes or areas to explore, I can then start planning the rest of the trip around those.

Thanks in advance (sorry Wapping :D ).
 
we did a three day off road trip a few years back where we went all through Tay forest then from Calvine we road the cycle path up the A9 to Dalwhinnie, at Dalwhinnie there is a path that goes over the river just as you enter on the right hand side, through the small gate takes you down a long landy track to Loch Cuaich.

From there past the loch another rough landy track takes you away over the hill back to the A9 not far from Newtonmore.

After that we went to Loch Laggan and rode off road all the way to Courour Station (think Trainspotting) down towards Loch Trieg and then back again via a different track to Roybridge. We then did the Corrieyarich pass over to Fort Augustus, OMFG, what a job that was on fully laiden ADV bikes.

It was a fantastic couple/three days, completely illegal and only got stopped once but I certainly wouldn't advocate doing it and certainly not on your own,
 
Scottishland is gobsmackingly beautiful marred only by the creatures that inhabit it :thumb Been twice now, once guided by Yodagoat of this parish and once on my tod. No off road though I found some broken road that ran parallel to a reservoir that was pretty scenic. Yoda can probably help with guidance, I'd like to meet up with him again

Disclaimer: Actually they're a good bunch.

If Cornwall, Phil from here (can't remember his user name - I'll try and find it) has extensive off road knowledge and more importantly runs a glamping site near Penzance. He guided me on some lanes using the GSA including along the Cornish coast where Poldark is filmed. I'd recommend that too
 
If you head out torridon way on the Major highways, you may well adjust your definition of “A Road”. No off-road really necessary :D
 
Cool, Cornwall it is then.


I suggest you've under estimated how good the roads/scenery is up here, may I also suggest you re think.

I'm very biased but have done a fair bit of travelling around Europe/Englandshire but if you get the weather, I wouldn't choose anywhere else other than Scotland and riding solo would make it even better.
 
I suggest you've under estimated how good the roads/scenery is up here, may I also suggest you re think.

I know it is very beautiful. But I really wanted to do some traveling on my own on mixed terrain to keep things interesting.

At this point I can revisit Scotland later on and, maybe, by car so I can disregard the weather and be able to do more walking/photography, eating like a pig, etc.
 
Oh fuck. Didn't know this at all.
That's why I couldn't fine any routes.

I really don't want to get into a heated argument with angry Scots. :D

Cool, Cornwall it is then.
Not at all , come right on up here , There is , as has been said , Galloway forest park ( close ish ) to me , and ,, the raiders road , both off road and legal ( for legal vehicles )
There is also huge amounts of single track to loose yourself in ,plenty of quiet areas left up here .
 
By chance, the latest edition 3/2020 of Alpentourer magazine has an article (all in foreign) on Scotland or Schottland, as they call it.

OK it doesn’t (for the reasons explained) have the ‘off-road’ stuff that you’d asked for but for someone unfamiliar with the area but wanting to tour around the country and wanting to avoid chunks of the demonised NC 500 road, because (like it’s sister the B500 in the Black Forest) they have been told “It’s shite, mate and there are more interesting roads, not full of camper vans, motorhomes and cnuts from London” * it might be helpful.

b5979482f94b15fe57a7b2171074355e.png


The gps route (download it as a track and work on it from there, would be my advice) is available from the Alpentourer website:

https://www.alpentourer.eu/tag/gps-daten/

Here’s how:

https://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php/506345-How-to-download-routes-from-Alpentourer-magazine

You might also find something useful (or not) in this thread:

https://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php/444133-Curves-book-Scotland

PS I, who knew nothing about Scotland beyond where it is, really enjoyed my fortnight away in a motorhome, doing nothing more Adventurous (with a capital A) than driving around the NC 500. Bods who don’t like it can take it up with the Scottish Tourist Board, who were no doubt keen to sell the country’s attractions to a wider public. Bods from well outside of the UK visit UKGSer for ideas on touring / holidaying in the UK; threads like this might well give them some ideas.




* Of course it’s not entirely true. But what is true is that bods who tell you that, “There are better roads, mate” (more often than not) will then not go on to tell you where and what they are, their road numbers or anything else, which is about as helpful as tits on a bull. And yeah, the Alpentourer suggestion very probably misses out something ‘Must do’; is all but inevitable. Use this thread or start your own to tell people what it is and why. At least it won’t be the Millau Bridge, without which no tour is ever complete, even if someone is going to Greece.
 
Thanks Wapping.

I wanted to do the Westray to Papa Westray flight too, but it is a bit too far north :D
 
Back on track now.

But we get the message.... off-road riding (without express permission from the man in the big house) is illegal. Doing so without may get you mistaken for a bird and shot.
 
There is (or was) two off road routers through Galloway forest. The other one is down the side of Loch Doon across to the Minor road a few miles south of Straiton.

There is (or was) another Forestry Commission road in the Argyle Forest Park - South of Inverary so not on your route as posted. Last time I rode it (2015) it was a lot rougher than the Reivers road.

There’s a short 2-3 mile very rough road, as good as off road as you’ll find, in the north west between Gairloch and Ullapool. It goes to a stunning beach at an old clearance village called Slaggan. Starts just south of Mellon Udrigle.

I think there may be one other road up in Sutherland somewhere.

I have had some success with getting access to estate roads with a grovelling email to the estate manager.
 
Thanks, do you know the legality of the Galloway Forest routes?

I was plotting my route in Furkot, which has a function to show other routes and when off road is selected I got a few routes in Galloway forest which said they were motorbike routes. There’s a link to the routes which goes to another site (https://gravelmap.com/#9/54.963/-4.3687) but that’s a mountain bike site


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