Cycled the West Highland Way?

[Tatti]

Me and a mate are going to cycle the complete West Highland Way from Milngavie to Fort William this summer, probably at some point between mid May and early June. Ive been doing a fair bit of research on the net and went through a book describing the route for walkers.

Just wondering if anyone had any experiences of biking the route that they wish to share, or any tips on places to avoid/detour around on the way.

We would both be using hard tail mountain bikes, having a good level of fitness and travelling light, probably aiming to do the route in a reasonably relaxed three days, wild camping along the way, which should allow for certain detours off the route and drunken nights sampling some real ales at the local pubs of course

I look forward to any responses!

 

[Madhouse159]

HI, i hav'nt cycled the route myself and i am fairly new to touring, strangely however i am doing The coasts and castles route this summer with a friend, we will both be riding hardtails and wildcamping. There are a few things you should probably think about.

1. Showers (might not be important for a 3 day tour but ours is lasting 5 days as we are returning down the pennine way) As such we have decided that the best place for a shower would be at the swimming baths in Berwick, and ofcourse a place to stop for a refreshing swim on a hot summers afternoon.
2. Water how much do you need a day (remember cooking, washing dishes and personal hygene) we still havnt figured this out completely, although we believe that drinking water will have to be bought from a shop (its just not worth getting ill from drinking unclean water) and apart from that we think that drawing water from a stream and purifying it (both with iodine tablets and by boiling). Also if we do run out of water along the trail then we could always ask some friendly locals to fill us up
3. Escape routes, what happens if one of you totally flips, Touring is pretty nomadic, add in wild camping and you have no real sense of home, it gets to some people quite quickly. You need Rail and bus links that are easily accessable, also check with a few companies to check that they allow bikes.

Thats me done, good luck.

 

[Elizabeth101]

och, I wonder if you've already left and having a great time! I'm a Scottish born australian cyclist who walked from Rowardennan to Crianlarich in 2004.
at that stage I would say it wasn't fit to cycle especially north of Inversnaid. Beware the feral goats! But it is beautiful and even if you have to carry your bikes over many stiles and rough bits it'll be an adventure! http://www.west-highland-way.co.uk Enjoy the beer, all these great ales are fabulous.........