Chris and Benee's Scotland Trip

Cycling Western Scotland

We didn't really know where to begin when planning our tour when we had the good fortune to find a resource on the Internet. With the exception of one phone call the day before we left, all correspondences and arrangements for our tour were made over the 'Net. Bespoke Highland Tours based in Glasgow offers self-led individual tours of the Western Highlands and Islands of Scotland on cycle or on foot. We gave them our input about desired tour length, daily mileage, locations, etc. Bespoke put together the itinerary which included local points of interest, folklore, and restaurant suggestions. Bespoke handled B&B reservations, rail and ferry ticket reservations, transfers between the Glasgow airport and rail station, and loaned us appropriate guide books and maps. Had we needed it, Bespoke would have arranged bike rentals and baggage transfer between B&B's.

"Self-led individual tours" means that Bespoke neither leads nor sags the routes, and that you ride only with your own party or possibly with a few others. This concept is no problem for cyclists experienced with map reading and performing minor bike repairs such as fixing flats. It also allows you to spend your time exactly as you wish, without worrying about group time schedules. If any major problems develop while on the road, Bespoke arranges help.

Since we started our ride about 180 miles northwest of Glasgow, we needed to either drive or take the train to our starting point. Since ScotRail is not accustomed to accommodating tandems, Bespoke offered to shuttle the bike and its hardside case to the coast to allow us the luxury of resting on the train after our flight over. The train ride to Oban was spectacular. Driving wouldn't have been the same. The train allowed us to watch uninterrupted as the continuous mountains and lochs passed by. Like Peter Riegert's character in "Local Hero" we were mesmerized with the contrast between Houston and Scotland's gorgeous coast. When we arrived in Oban, we took the bike from the case and sent it back to Glasgow with Bespoke. We then spent three hours in the back yard of our B&B reassembling the bike. The reassembly time was about twice as long as usual due to the fact that Chris had disconnected all the cables (oops, mistake) and also had to install fenders for the anticipated Scottish rain. Then we were off to dinner, during which we both reenergized enough to explore Oban afterward, completing the day by watching the sun set over the water at 10:15 PM.

Every morning we started with a full "English"/ "Scottish" breakfast including eggs, Canadian bacon, bangers, toast, cereal, grilled tomatoes and mushrooms... always enough that we were "popping full." No need to worry about bonking for the next several hours!

Our first ride was 1 mile to catch the ferry across Oban Bay to Craignure. Then 2 miles to tour Torosay Gardens, another mile to tour Duart Castle (HQ of Clan MacLean), and then 3 miles back to a pub in Craignure for lunch. Sure was a leisurely bike tour so far. At 2:30 with 7 miles down we finally headed west for our B&B in Pennygael. With detours to Grass Point and Moy Castle, we ended up with 50 miles for the day. With the late sunsets, we were in no rush to get to our B&B's; however, we did have to allow time to get to a pub or restaurant by 7:30 to order food a couple times.

The routes that Bespoke recommended were great; remote areas, good pavement even on the tiniest of roads, and little traffic. Our roads for the first day were typical of most on the trip. At about 14 feet wide, the "single track" roads were too narrow for cars going in opposite directions to pass each other. However, about every 200 meters there was a wide spot in the road for passing. When cars would approach each other, the car that reached the passing spot first would pull over and let the other drive through before proceeding. On rare occasions when neither driver would stop for the other, there would be a momentary stand off until one car backed up to the passing area. The locals liked to point out that these were usually Mercedes, BMW or Lexus drivers on vacation from other countries. Anyway, we didn't have problems with cars, since there was enough room for a car and a bike on the road. Tour buses were a different story, particularly when we going downhill. While we didn't want to lose our momentum, they didn't want to either, so we would frequently pass each other with just a foot or so to spare at a pretty good clip. It sure makes you work at holding a steady line!

Terrain-wise, this part of Scotland is basically mountains with lochs where the valleys would be. Most of the roads follow the shorelines and are just slightly hilly. However, whenever a road turned inland, the road became quite challenging.

After a full breakfast in Pennygael, we headed out for Tobermory. The hills so far were significant but not too challenging. Being in "Ansel Adams" mode due to vacation, we stopped often for pictures. At one particularly scenic bluff, Benée decided to repack the trunk and proceeded to lay the contents on the road. As she repacked, we learned first hand to appreciate the vast number of sheep in Scotland. And the fact that they can and do roam almost anywhere. And don't care where they do their business. Anyway, at least everything from the trunk was in a zip-lock bag! About midmorning the mist progressed to a light drizzle and eventually worked up to a full scale downpour. We could tell by the gearing required that we were riding up and down some really serious hills. But we missed all the scenic bluffs and beaches along the coast because the mist and rain only afforded us about 5 feet visibility. We were feeling pretty grim at that point. Soaked to the bone, and no towns indicated on our map for about 10 miles. Like a god-send we saw a sign for a tea room. To get to the Boathouse tea room we had to take a "ferry" (actually a tiny boat) over to the Isle of Ulva. We flipped the beckoning placard on the Mull side of the water, and about 10 minutes later the boatman puttered over to get us. We left the tandem on the bank, and huddled in the back of the ferry for our five minute trip. The Boathouse was fabulous. They turned on an electric heater for us so we could warm up. For the next two hours, we sampled every item on their menu, to allow us to linger and dry out. A couple with a sail boat, doing the same thing we were, offered to trade vehicles; another couple suggested that we use the tandem as a down payment on a car. However, when we emerged, the rain had stopped and we finished the ride in low cloud cover with 50 miles for the day. That day was the last drop of rain we saw.

From Tobermory we went to Kilchoan via Ferry, then on Salen, with a diversion to Arnamurchan Point, the westernmost point of the mainland. The lighthouse had an impressive foghorn, which was obviously needed due to the pea soup fog we encountered that day. After a bite at the tea room, we were off to Salen, which is a small fishing port with two small hotels, ending with 34 miles for the day. The "Local Hero" similarities kicked in again here, as the hotel manager at the registration desk would step into the pub and assume barkeep duties, and would later step into the dining room at dinner and assume wait staff duties.

The next day we awoke to sunshine and blue skies, and could see for the first time the beautiful bay by Salen. For breakfast, Benée was adventurous and ordered "Kidgeree", which was a tasty dish of haddock, rice, boiled eggs and mushrooms. Then we were off to Arisaig after a couple diversions. First we visited the ruins of Castle Tioram, which are accessible by foot only at low tide. Then we diverted to St. Finnan's Isle, where Bonnie Prince Charlie embarked on his exile to France, which marked the eventual suppression of Gaelic culture and the beginning of the Highland Clearances. After a mile on dirt road, we "joined up" with a herd of cows going the same way. Half the herd was in front of us and the other half behind, and the two groups wanted to rejoin. The bull (recognizable by the bad-lookin' brass ring in his nose) walked up next to us and sized us up. Luckily for us he decided not to waste any energy on us and just proceeded, as did the rest of the cows behind him. A mile later, the road degraded to a rocky path, which we walked for the last half mile to the illusive St. Finnan's Isle. After completing the day's 45 miles, we finally arrived in Arisaig, the home of Bespoke, and the filming location for "Local Hero" and "Breaking the Waves". The white beaches were stunning as was the long sunset over the water and the mountainous Isles of Eigg and Muck.

The following day was our toughest, a 55 mile ride to Portree on the Isle of Skye, with a ferry ride from Mallaig to Armadale. It felt like we were dragging an elephant behind the bike, even on the flats, and Benée started bonking at 35 miles. Considering she hadn't ridden the entire month before our trip, this shouldn't have been too surprising. Also the traffic was moderate, not light as we had experienced so far. At 40 miles, the road turned inland and we had a long gradual uphill. The last 5 miles were slightly downhill, but it seemed the bike would barely coast at 12 MPH.  We finally arrived exhausted in the port town of Portree, with charming pastel colored buildings lining the entire horseshoe shaped bay.

From Portree we rode 59 miles to Dornie via the controversial Skye Bridge, with a diversion through Plockton, which turned out to be our favorite town of the whole trip. Because of the surrounding hills and the flow of the Gulf Stream into the loch, palm trees can grow there. The tides were impressive (due to the northern latitude we were told); while soaking up the sun and downing a beer we watched floating sail boats end up completely beached in a 20 minute time span. Charming Plockton Inn served the best meal of our trip. The food, by the way, during the majority of the trip was quite good, especially the seafood. We feared that traveling in such a remote area might limit the cuisine. However, while not heavily populated, this area is popular for vacations, and that had a positive influence on the restaurants.

The following morning we had the best breakfast of our trip; fresh wild salmon caught in the loch in front of the B&B. Mrs. MacKerlich also won best B&B hostess for volunteering to wash our clothes, which she refused any payment for. After breakfast, we reluctantly set out for Glenelg. We toured Eilan Donan Castle (HQ of Clan MacCrae and visible from the B&B), which was a very well done reconstruction, with sixteen-foot thick walls in some areas. From here we proceeded up the amazing Mam Ratagan Pass. This pass is the only way into Glenelg, other than by water. While only a two mile climb, the posted grade was 20% in one section, yielding some 3.5 MPH, thigh-burnin' ragged-breathin' 50 RPM cadence climbing. At the top we were rewarded with a fantastic view of the Five Sisters mountain chain, and then a non-stop downhill the rest of the way to Glenelg to complete a 20 mile day.

From Glenelg we were scheduled to catch two different ferries before driving back to Glasgow. However, after 7 straight days of cycling we were ready to skip the last day and just enjoy riding in the car. We first attended some local sheep dog trials, which were just like in "Babe," but without the pig ("Away to me Tim!"... "Tim, that'll do!"). Later we drove to a couple of 2,000 year-old Iron Age Pictish Brochs, which were 30 foot high, 30 foot wide circular dry-stone dwellings for defense. From Glenelg, we drove back to Glasgow with the tandem on a trunk rack. While disassembling the bike and mounting it on the bike rack, Chris discovered why we'd had the sensation of dragging an elephant up and down hills... we'd broken our rear axle at some point! Oh well, all's well that ends well, though we're glad Santana specs pretty beefy skewers, as that was the only thing keeping the wheel together!

In summary, western Scotland is a stunningly beautiful, remote area to ride, with nice B&B accommodations and friendly locals. We experienced mainly dry "shorts" weather, but due to the two days of cold wet weather, I'd try to do any cycling here in July or August. If you like seafood, don't get anything else here, as the prices were quite reasonable. Finally, Bespoke did an excellent job with route and accommodation planning and were also quite reasonable in price. Please feel free to let us know if you're considering a trip and would like more details.
Chris and Benée Curtis
Houston, Texas

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