October 2016 saw me heading Back up to Scotland again to continue exploring some of the excellent off-road mountain biking trails to be had up there. Since my last trip up here a few weeks ago I had come across an event called the Highland 550 a very tough mountain bike ride through some of the remotest parts of Scotland. This trip was meant to be a recce of the start of that route though things didn’t go entirely to plan… The starting point for the Highland 550 is Tyndrum, a very well-known stopping point for hikers on the West Highland Way and I booked myself in to the “By The Way Hostel”, i chose a trekker hut, which looked like a garden shed with a bunk bed in it but it had electricity and even a heater which was nice because it had been pouring with rain since I got here and feeling cold and it continued raining heavily during the night as well and I kept thinking might as well get it all out-of-the-way now and it should be dry tomorrow…

Monday dawned and the rain was still lashing down, I was booked into Loch Ossian Youth Hostel tonight, many miles away, so I had no choice but to set off early into the deluge, as usual it’s the first few minutes are the worst, once you are warmed up it doesn’t seem so bad. The route follows the West Highland Way to Bridge Of Orchy then climbs over Black Mount and descends past the Glen Coe Ski Center and the Kingshouse Hotel, before reaching the formidable obstacle of the “Devils Staircase” which involves a steep climb/push to a summit then leads down to the very long descent into Kinlochleven. Here I called into the Co-op shop for a sandwich and then began the long climb (push would be a better word) up to the transmitter overlooking the village. Up to this point I was still following the West Highland Way but now I turned right and headed past the disused Mamore Lodge Hotel and continued past the two lochs on good tracks to the ruin of Luibeilt and was faced with the infamous crossing of the Abhain Rath. I had been at this point a few weeks ago and the river crossing wasn’t too bad but today, unsurprisingly, after all this rain the river was a different beast all together. After a lot of faffing around I decided on a crossing point, a place where the river split around a mini rocky island and went across with just my rucksack the first time then came back for the bike and carefully picked my way across bracing with the bike at times and was very relieved to safely get to the other side,

I called into the Meanach Bothy and was surprised to see there was still some whisky in the bottle there from my last visit and had a much-needed swig to set me on my way. Unfortunately my camera somehow got a soaking on the river crossing and I wasn’t able to take anymore pictures with it from this point onwards. Up until now the route had been on a recognisable rocky trail but in these conditions from the bothy to Creaguaineach Lodge on the shores of Loch Treig it was a very boggy and unrideable section and I ended up walking this whole section. When I got back home I read a very funny and honest account by a guy called Dave Barter of his attempt on the 2014 Highland 550 event and his video diary refers to this very section. It was great to be on a rideable trail again which follows the  loch side for a couple of km before a stiff climb up to the railway line and followed the wide rocky road all the way to Loch Ossian Youth Hostel, by now it was getting dark and it was great to see the lights of the hostel in the distance getting nearer and nearer. The small hostel on the shores of Loch Ossian is a gem in a wild and remote location, the central room contains the kitchen and dining area and has a great log-burning stove which makes it toasty warm, there are overhead racks on pulleys to dry all your wet gear (and cameras…) and  either side of the main room there are male and female dorms. There were 7 other people staying there when I was there and I had a warm pleasant night there with plenty to eat and drink. The weather front bringing all the rain had finally passed during the night and the next day was clear but cold, all the tops of the mountains had a dusting of snow on them and cycling along the shores of Loch Ossian in the shadow of the mountains my hands and toes certainly felt the cold. At Corrour Lodge the route heads North on a very wide smooth track, there is currently a big hydro electricity scheme being built up here and workmen were busy laying big thick power cables along the side of the track.

As I entered the forest I noticed my front disc brakes were screeching really noisily after a while I stopped and had a look at them and i couldn’t believe the state they were in… the pads had completely worn away and on one side they were down to the bare metal!  all the rain and grit and mud from yesterday’s ride had taken a terrible toll on them and I wasn’t carrying any spares. My intended route around the back of Binnein Shuas to Wolftrax and then over the Coireyairack Pass to Fort Augustus was no longer possible. I needed a good bike shop and headed for Nevis Cycles at Aonach Mor trail centre. I descended down to Luiblea and turned left on the A86 and headed for Spean Bridge, then turned left to Fort William before getting off the very busy A82 as quickly as possible by heading up to Leanachan and on the bike trails through the forest to Aonach Mor. Unfortunately the shop there was shut for the season so after treating myself to burger and chips at the Pinemarten Cafe i cycled another 5 miles or so to the main Nevis Cycles shop at Inverlochy just outside Fort William and they had the exact brake pads I needed. I spent the night at the Bank Street Hostel in Fort William and on the way there I noticed a sign for the Start of the “Great Glen Way” to Inverness, that got me thinking…  As mentioned before my intended route today would have been going over the Corrieyairack Pass and stopping in Fort Augustus for the night, from there I wanted to head up into to Glen Affric and check out the bothy there and then start heading back via Morvich, Rattagan, Corran and the Scottish Coast to Coast route along Loch Quoich and Loch Garry to Invergarry then back to the car at Tyndrum along the WHW again. The distances were now starting to look too big for me so I had a re-think and decided on Wednesday I would now cycle up the Great Glen Way instead, which runs between Fort William and Inverness and is 73 miles long and largely follows the Caledonia Canal and is very well signposted all the way and has lots of information boards along the way explaining the history and significance of the Great Glen. I stopped off at Fort Augustus for lunch then continued into a hilly forest section heading for the “Lochside Hostel”  3 or 4 miles past Invermoriston on the shores of Loch Ness. Thursday it was back onto the Great Glen Way passing through Drumnadrochit then another climbing section, steep at times, through the forest then onto very quiet minor roads and lanes all the way to Inverness arriving at about 2.00pm. I was pre-booked into the “Inverness Student Hostel” which is centrally located close to the Castle, then spent the afternoon exploring the town.

I got an early start on Friday and the plan was to cycle back to Fort William along cycle route 78 which is part of the Caledonia Way (which runs from Cambeltown to Inverness – 237 miles). This was mainly on quiet roads to Fort Augustus, then it was back onto the Great Glen Way reversing my journey on the way up. About 10 miles from Fort William I noticed a problem with the free hub on the bike, sometimes I would pedal as normal and the pedals would just spin and not engage the chain at all, luckily I had enough time to make it back to Nevis Cycles again at Inverlochy while they were still open for business. It turned out that the “Hope Pro2 Evo” hub that is on my bike has 4  pawls and springs that engage and drive the bike forward when you pedal and also give it that distinctive buzzing sound when you freewheel, well it turned out that 3 of the springs on my hub has broken and I was operating on one at the end, I was lucky to make it to the shop! I spent the night in Fort William at the Bank Street Lodge again.

Another early start saw me back on the road for 8.00am heading for Glen Nevis and the start/finish of the West Highland Way, its uphill on wide stony forest roads for the first few km all the way up to the turn off for Dun Deardail Fort, then the riding becomes more interesting and apart from a short rocky section in the forest where you cross a stream and then carry up some steep steps on the other side it’s rideable all the way to the transmitter overlooking Kinlochleven, after this it’s a long steep technical descent into the town, I got off and walked most of it. I stopped off at the co-op again for a sandwich and a drink before starting the long climb up to the top of the Devil’s Staircase, the first half up alongside the giant water pipes is rideable, then it becomes largely a push job, at least for me. I was passed on one of the steep rocky sections by two mountain bikers coming the opposite way and was impressed by the way they seemed to float over some very tricky ground. Visibility was good and the views near the top looking over the Mamores was tremendous. From the top it another technical rocky descent down to the A82 road. After passing the Kingshouse Hotel I was getting hungry again so made a short detour up to the cafe at Glen Coe Ski Centre and had a burger and chips. From Glen Coe it’s a rocky climb for a while then a long fast, rocky descent down to Victoria bridge, then along the road to Bridge of Orchy and finally reaching Tyndrum and my waiting car at about 4.30pm.