Cycling The West Highland Way

why1.jpgThe West Highland Way is a 154km trail that runs from the outskirts of the Scottish city of Glasgow to Fort William, at the foot of Ben Nevis mountain.

It’s well known as a walking path but you can also bike along the route, which is exactly what David Piper did in November. In this guest post, he tells us about the experience and gives some tips in case you want to cycle the same path.

***

I wiped another snotsicle from my nose and, through the mist of my breath, stood back to admire the bonnie banks of Loch Lomond. I’d been following the West Highland Way northwards and was now about to ride the 24-mile eastern shore of Great Britain’s largest freshwater lake that makes up about a quarter of the West Highland Way. To describe the scenery I could write a book of clichés so bad you would want to poke out your mind’s eye, but clichés wouldn’t be clichés if they weren’t true, so I’ll let the pictures paint the words.

West Highland Way

Swathed in layers of merino wool and lycra, I set out into sub-zero pine forests north of Glasgow feeling like Bibendum’s chubby cousin but I soon worked up a sweat. I’d found a perfect weather window as, travelling over frozen ground I’d stay dry and clean. With well over 100 inches of rain each year, the Western Highlands are one of the wettest places on earth, but the previous week had been dry so it looked like I might just be able to have my cake and eat it too. A sprinkling of snow could only add the frosting to my all-you-can-eat cake buffet. This is a popular route with walkers in summer but here, in the bleak mid-winter, barely a handful of hardy hikers were out. When a luminous yellow puffing apparition whizzed by they gave me the kind of quizzical look a dog gives a plastic bag caught in a fence on a windy day.

The surprisingly hilly gravel track gave way to a flowing single track which gave way to a boulder strewn footpath toward the northern reaches of the Loch and I had to resort to shouldering the bike for the last five miles, cursing as I scrambled up rocky banks, sliding down between roots and branches, hitting the ground harder than Humpty Dumpty and feeling the chills as darkness spread her cloak around me. Little wonder then, that the fugitive Rob Roy Macgregor hid out in these spooky ancient oak woods, and the thought flickered across my mind that a broken ankle out here could mean spending the night with his ghost. Whhooooooo…

West Highland Way

Finally out of the woods (quite literally) I followed Glen Falloch between the towering peaks of the northern Trossachs to the little town of Crianlarich, that provided a welcome opportunity for some hot food, and then climbed steadily to Tyndrum and Bridge of Orchy. The Way was out in the highlands proper now with the scenery becoming ever more dramatic at every turn. Frosty valleys between the snowy mountains and not a soul to be seen. Heaven had frozen over.

The track wound through pines about Loch Tulla and then picked up the old drover’s road. It climbed high on to the open wilderness of Rannoch Moor. Bleak and lonely. Wild and barren. It can be a dangerous place but deceptively benign today where, from the cairn at 350 meters, I could enjoy the earthen tones of the Grampian Mountains that surrounded me, and see distant herds of red deer grazing on the heather.

The Glen Coe Ski Centre has the most wonderful café where I packed in the calories and warmed my hands around a mug of steaming cocoa, marvelling at the view of the first of the Three Sisters through the glass wall and defrosting my feet before the roaring log fire. As much as I love biking, I really struggled to tear myself away from that place.

West Highland Way

Satan himself must have been sniggering at my clumsy attempts to ride the Devil’s Staircase, and I’m sure I heard him laugh out loud every time my cleated cycling shoes failed to grip on rock or ice, but within a couple of hours I was heading steadily downhill where the lights of Kinlochleven were twinkling a welcome in the early twilight (although the romantic effect was somewhat spoiled by the floodlit astro-turf pitch!)

It was minus six degrees but I was soon shedding the layers on the short-sharp-shock climb up to the old military road that takes a magnificent high pass toward journey’s end at Fort William. A few inches of fresh snow took the pounding out of the rocky road but hid frozen puddles that had me slipping and sliding like a pole dancing pine marten. Into the last few miles and, as if to provide the perfect grand finale, I was rewarded with a vista of Ben Nevis, with only its 1334m peak (the highest in the UK) shrouded in thick grey snow clouds.

West Highland Way

Top Ten Tips

1. There’s an ample choice of accommodation and camping all along the route, and no need to book ahead except in peak season (June, July & August).

2. Avoid the top half of the east bank of Loch Lomond. In summer you can get a ferry to the west bank from Rowardennan or (if you don’t mind a little pushing & technical single track) Inversnaid, but in winter consider taking the cycle route that follows the A82 from Balloch to Tarbet then either brave the main road for 10 miles or hop on the train for one stop.

3. Use a sturdy mountain bike (not a tourer) and have it serviced before you go.

4. Slightly over-inflate your rear tyre to reduce the risk of pinch flats.

5. Don’t expect to cover too many miles. The energy expenditure of this type of riding is roughly three times that of loaded touring, so divide your usual average daily mileage by three to give an idea of how far you’ll get.

6. Get in shape. You’ll enjoy it a whole lot more if you aren’t gasping for breath.

7. Brush up on your technical skills.

8. Pack light, but do take spare tubes, basic tools and wet weather gear. From May to September take midge repellent and October to April pack for the cold and take lights (mid-winter will only yield 7 hours of daylight). A phone, compass, maps and GPS aren’t essential but are safe precautions.

9. Don’t creep up on wildlife or the hikers.

10. Be prepared for one of the most amazing rides of your life!

Comments

  1. Tom
    18th December 2010 at 10:18 am #

    This reminds me of my first ever multi-day bike trip – 5 days between Inverness and Fort William off-road. I planned my own route on brideways etc rather than follow an established route but did incorporate sections of the now-disused Great Glen Mountain Bike Route.

    Crap weather and very difficult riding, plus I was completely unprepared, unfit and inexperienced, but, like the author says, one of the best rides of my life!

  2. Graeme Willgress
    18th December 2010 at 10:48 am #

    Memories for me to. I did a ride many years ago that my cousin ‘Jo’ had planned and never done. It started on Skye and crossed the Highlands using paths roads and tracks, returning to join the WHW at the half way point to follow it back to Fort Willliam. It was an amazing trip with fully panniered Mountain bikes.
    At one point we hired a local to take us up Loch Hearn in a boat. It was epic, and we were blessed with good weather for the most part.
    It was my first serious tour, and like David, remains the best days I’ve ever spent on a bike 🙂

  3. Dan Whalley
    19th December 2010 at 7:36 pm #

    Great ride. Biked the West Highland Way in 2 days a few years back with my mate scott, Bike packed with tarp, bivy etc. A hard ride and wet weather but great fun. Total of 19 hours riding and some pushing, loch lomand section is one massive push!

  4. mike
    13th March 2011 at 12:01 am #

    Hi im thinking of doing this with my mountain bike and bob trailer is it wise?? im hearign so many points about the area around Lommond?? any suggestions

  5. David Piper
    17th August 2011 at 5:52 pm #

    Sorry for the delayed response Mike. A bob-along would be OK but you’d need to take the west bank of Loch Lommond as you’d never get the trailer over the rocker scrambles at the north end of the east bank!

  6. NI Lakes Commission
    9th May 2012 at 11:47 am #

    Good post, and looking forward to cycling the WHW soon. However Loch Lomand is not the largest fresh water lake in GB. It is the third. Lough Neagh followed by Lower Lough Erne are the 1st and 2nd largest. I would forgive you if you were a Scott…but not if you are English.

    • Paul
      20th September 2016 at 10:54 am #

      Loch Lomond is not a lake! Who is Scott?

  7. buy zestril
    2nd January 2023 at 12:06 am #

    comment6, buy abana, 30983,

  8. buy zestril
    10th January 2023 at 6:39 pm #

    comment5, buy doxazosin online, 8P,

  9. longchamp
    17th May 2023 at 9:00 am #

    I precisely wished to thank you so much once again. I do not know the things that I would’ve followed in the absence of these concepts revealed by you concerning such a topic. It absolutely was an absolute difficult issue in my view, but finding out a specialised fashion you resolved it made me to weep over joy. Now i’m happy for your information and as well , have high hopes you realize what a great job you have been getting into teaching the rest via your site. More than likely you’ve never met any of us.

  10. gap yeezy
    18th May 2023 at 8:23 am #

    I am glad for writing to let you understand what a useful experience my cousin’s princess encountered viewing yuor web blog. She realized some issues, including what it’s like to possess a great helping spirit to make certain people without difficulty learn about a variety of specialized topics. You undoubtedly surpassed our expected results. Thanks for providing such beneficial, dependable, informative and easy thoughts on your topic to Jane.

  11. yeezy wave runner 700
    19th May 2023 at 8:01 am #

    I want to express my passion for your kind-heartedness giving support to those individuals that have the need for guidance on this particular concept. Your personal commitment to getting the solution around turned out to be really helpful and has regularly permitted guys like me to get to their goals. This invaluable tips and hints indicates a great deal to me and still more to my office workers. Many thanks; from each one of us.

  12. curry 6
    21st May 2023 at 10:37 am #

    I am also writing to let you understand what a nice experience my wife’s daughter enjoyed viewing yuor web blog. She learned a lot of issues, which included what it is like to have a very effective teaching spirit to have men and women clearly know just exactly a variety of tortuous things. You really did more than our own desires. Thank you for imparting such warm and friendly, healthy, revealing as well as cool guidance on the topic to Tanya.

  13. bape
    17th June 2023 at 10:02 pm #

    My spouse and i got absolutely contented that Jordan could finish up his preliminary research from the ideas he had from your very own weblog. It is now and again perplexing to simply always be giving away secrets that many the others may have been selling. So we take into account we have got the writer to be grateful to for that. The specific illustrations you made, the straightforward website menu, the relationships you make it possible to instill – it is many overwhelming, and it’s helping our son in addition to our family imagine that this theme is amusing, and that is exceedingly essential. Many thanks for all the pieces!

  14. platform golden goose
    27th September 2023 at 6:24 pm #

    I wanted to put you one very small note to finally thank you so much once again for those magnificent ideas you’ve documented above. It is simply pretty generous of you to provide extensively exactly what a few individuals would have distributed as an ebook to generate some dough for themselves, precisely considering the fact that you might have tried it if you desired. These techniques in addition acted to be a fantastic way to realize that someone else have similar dream the same as my own to see a whole lot more on the subject of this condition. I am sure there are some more pleasurable sessions in the future for folks who see your website.

  15. off white
    2nd October 2023 at 11:27 pm #

    Would you be keen on exchanging hyperlinks?

Leave a Reply to Anonymous Click here to cancel reply.