any epic roads near SW scotland

[rubyhorse2]

first little trip on the 1190 ADV and i cant wait. We're heading up to Scootland, staying in a cottage in Dalavich.

Any 'epic' roads i need to be riding in that area?

only there for 3 days and i want to do fort william one day, plus the ball and chain wont be happy spending all day biking so anything near by?

cheers in advance

[Casper]

The whole area is epic mate. You can do Fort William easy in a day and spend time in the place. How about getting over to Oban and taking the bike on the ferry to Mull or even just doing a large circle. Look at Oban on the map and go south down the A816 to Lochgilphead then up the A83 to Tarbet. Up the A82 stopping at Tyndrum then A85 back to Oban or your but n ben. When going to Fort William try starting from Connel just north of Oban and up the coast road but coming back down the A82 what has more open straights as well as the twisties.

Enjoy

[chickenstrip]

[rubyhorse2]

cheers guys, i'm scrapping fort william as it looks a bit crap, was only going cos i like my mtbing but seems not much there.

Oban it is then, ferry sounds a cool idea to keep the mrs happy.


i like a good fort too

shame about the weather, seems any trip we plan it rains

[stinkwheel]

Good choice. Go anywhere round there EXCEPT Fort WIlliam.
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[Casper]

But the road up from the Green Welly is amazing when the weather is dry and calm. Taking the road up A82 as far as the bridge at south Ballachulish then coming down the A828 coast road is a great day out riding.

[almostthere]

Take your mozzie spray your gonna need it!
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[rubyhorse2]

well it totally pissed it down saturdya for our 7 hour ride, i didnt mind it too much to be fair but the mrs was a bit fed up.

some totally epic roads and i can imagine if its sunny and dry there's some good riding. the A82 and A85 were pretty sweet except all the caravans and speed checks.

almostthere...i wish i had seen your post earlier, got bitten to buggery all weekend. Oban was nice though. I'd love to tour scotland but the weather would put me off i think, though maybe we were just very unlucky

[derillius24]

Pretty much what Casper said .

The A82 from Tyndrum to Glencoe (and eventually FW, should you decide to go) exhibits some of the most spectacular views in Scotland but IMHO the road itself is overrated. It's full of (very) long straights that just encourage you to put the hammer down and it's not unknown for there to be speed traps waiting on t'other side of dem crests. There are a few nice twisty sections but I don't think I've ever seen the road clear at these bits (I've ridden the road a lot) - there's always a string of camper vans, buses etc to deal with.

I much prefer heading to Connel then up the coast road towards FW, as mentioned. Another real highlight for me is the road from Inverary to Dalmally (A819) while heading back North from Lochgilphead - biking Heaven.

Edit: missed the boat, sorry!
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[Suntan Sid]

Thread title is somewhat misleading!

Since when have any of the places mentioned in this thread been in "SW Scotland"?
SW Scotland is pretty much Dumfries & Galloway, I should know, I lived there for 16 years!
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[rubyhorse2]

ahhh sorry suntan, your right

i think we will definitely tour scotland next year, just avoiding the months when the midgies are rampant and fingers crossed for nice weather, tis a stunning place.

[kgm]

There's some good roads to the South too. The roads to the North I find tend to be a bit more open with sweeping bends, good for higher speed blasts, whereas the roads around the borders can be a bit narrower and more technical.

To the south two of my favourite roads are:
A702 between Elvinfoot and Carronbridge - this is pretty twisty, slightly technical at one end but not too greatly and the other end is smooth and flowing with good visibility ahead and you're constantly leaning one way then the other. Cracking road.

A708 between Moffat and Selkirk - pretty narrow, very twisty with lots of undulations, many of which will loft the front if you're really getting on it. I find it overtaxes my ER6's suspension a bit if I'm trying to go too quick but it is fantastic fun and quite challenging. Should be far easier on your machine. Can be a little hazardous with sheep on the road in places and you occasionally get some gravely patches or mud/manure patches, particularly towards the Moffat end so caution is advised but everyone loves it. Wee cafe for a stop at St Mary's Loch roughly 2/3 of the way towards Selkirk.

There's loads more decent roads around these but those are two of the ones I visit frequently. Further north a nice varied route is:

Dukes Pass from Aberfeldy to Callander - tight, twisty and undulating again. Quite a few decreasing radius bends and can have it's gravelly patches so caution advised again but it's a very enjoyable road. Opens up a bit more in the second half. From there I normally head north of the A84/85 towards Crianlarich then up the A82 for a lunch/fuel stop at the Green Welly. The A82 continues through Glen Coe which is fairly open with a few long straights and cracking scenery. You can either then head north towards Applecross for the Bealach Na Ba (applecross path - twisty single track with hairpins over the hills) or back south on the A828 to Oban. A816 continues south to Lochgilphead, then back north to Inverary on the A83. There's a good whisky shop there if you're into that. From there you can head back towards Glasgow via Loch Lomond which is probably the worst part of the route, too busy with traffic there I'm not a huge fan but it's sort of a gateway road to better places. Again there's many other good roads, including the more minor ones, surrounding these.

[1198]

The road with runs parallel to the M74 / A74M is a good alternative if you're in no major hurry and are travelling that way anyway I've found..