I hope you like midges thenOriginally Posted by NotOnUrHelly
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I hope you like midges then
So ive been told, eekI hope you like midges then
you like tandeming you say? can you get panniers on it? - well take your car (with bike on roof rack) to oban - then get the ferry all the way to castle bay on barra, cycle round the island for your first day then ferry to south uist take a couple of days to cycle to bebencula then north uist then take ferry to harris then hop over to skye - cycle accross to the sligachan inn where you can get a bus back to oban which you can put your bike on!!
if you can take your tent on your bike you are laughing! I did this holiday the year before last at it was fab! (i think our island hopping ticket was £40!) in may though - so no midges..............
Cheers for your reply daleside,
I did not actually mention tandeming must have been one of the replies, but its a cracking idea. It would save money on paying to take the car on the ferries. Just adds another spin to the plans
Cheers
Jamie
Jamie; Colonsay has to have the nicest, cleanest, quietest,sandy, beautiful beaches I've ever seen. Idyllic.
Rhum's great for moderately sized hills, an old'ish (19th C) castle, and a real "got-away-from-it-all" feeling.
You'll have to post your photo's to make us all feel jealous!
...there's a hill nearby missing its fool...
sod it - lets all go! - lets have a forum holiday he'll think he's really 'getting away from it all' and we all turn up on our bikes, tandems, canoes and surfboards!!!
:d :d
Blimey DS! Shall I bring my welding kit up this weekend? Turn your 2 bikes into a tandem???
I can get the canoe from no 64! They also have a boat but it's got a hole in it!
Let us know what you decide on Jamie....just so we can hear how things work out...
...there's a hill nearby missing its fool...
Well, seeing as you have never been into the best parts of Scotland and taking into account the brief you gave earlier, this is what I would propose you do.
Go for a two-centre holiday. Spend your first few days on the Island of Mull then spend your remaining time at Fort William.
If you can time it so that you can be there on 21 July you have the Isle of Mull Hill Race It's not a big race but the course is spectacular if you get a good day. The views from Ben More are breath taking. There's an excellent camp site at Craignure just by the ferry terminal and the Craignure hotel does great food, has a nice cosy oldie worldie feel with good atmosphere and friendly folk.
Craignure is a good base for exploring the southern part of the island with some great walks and runs direct from the site.
At the northern end of the island is Tobermorey. A really quaint little seaside town with its brightly coloured buildings and a good Indian restaurant. Try the locally made bread from the Co-op, delicious. There's a little campsite about a mile out of the town.
At this end of the island you are handy for the ranger led trip into the heart of the island to see the gigantic Sea Eagles that bread here. They're even bigger than the Golden Eagles that also breed in good numbers here too. Info on this here.
Also on the wildlife theme I'd highly recommend the sea trips to se the whales, dolphins etc
Then if you can tear yourself away from Mull, leave the island from Fishnish (camp site here too) and drive along Loch Linnie to Fort William. I'd highly recommend the Glen Nevis camp site as a base. It really is first class and very reasonable too.
There are masses of things you can do from here, routes to numerous to list. You have Glen Coe just down the road where you could spend weeks exploring (if you do nothing else, see Glen Coe).
If you want to do some cycling you can hire bikes at Off Beat Bikes including tandems. There are loads of mountain bike routes round here too.
If you fancy a lazy day take a steam train to Mallaig for fish and chips and a stroll on the beach, perfect if the weathers dodgy. It's a famous rail journey due to its scenery.
Finally the Ben. If you do The Ben then please do it justice. Do not follow the hoards up the tourist track. Go past the golf course on the Spean Bridge road and go up toward Coire Leis then go up Carn Mor Dearg before using the Arrete which forms a knife edge bridge to Ben Nevis. The views of the North Face and the scramble along the ridge are far more satisfying than plodding up the tourist track. Use this for the descent before swinging back at the Lochan toward the car.
Well that’s what I'd do anyway. Island hoppings great too but I just think you can cram more into your holiday doing the above, particularly if you've never been to the highlands before.
Hope this helps.
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