TOUR 24: GREAT RIDES
This is the RiDE455 – the best bits of the North Coast 500 with other wonderful, meaty goodness thrown in…
THERE ARE FEW places in Scotland where you can’t fail to be amazed by the stunning roads or extravagant scenery on either side. From the Cairngorms to the West Coast, the Borders to Glen Coe, it’s almost all life ‐changing stuff. But we can only ride one route at a time – and the winner of my current favourite ride in the UK is a bit of a cheat because it’s 455 miles and therefore takes two days to do it properly.
We’re in Tyndrum in Stirlingshire on the A82, in the shadow of Ben Lui to the west, slopes reflecting morning sunlight in dappled mossy green hues. Fuel up at the Green Welly, then head off towards Glen Coe – the A82 is wide and flowing, reading the road’s momentum, vanishing point to vanishing point, clinging to hillside contours. Snow still speckles summits late into the year as the road swings in great, leisurely arcs between conifer plantations – it’s a thrilling start to the ride.
Drop downhill following the Orchy along its flood plain into a long left-hander hauling uphill on to the broad, stark plateau of Rannoch Moor. Distant mountains ring 50 square miles of windswept moor, dotted with granite outcrops and inky pools.
After a few miles with eyes horizon-wide, Glen Coe’s towering rock walls grow larger as distance diminishes. The A82 squirms, folding into lefts and rights as it swings between vast cliffs, then blasts out across a wide plain; bewildered, bamboozled, spinning your head in all senses of the word.
We sweep through Ballachulish, alongside Loch Linnhe past B&Bs and guest houses, into Fort William. Under the gaze of Ben Nevis, we head north along the Great Glen through Spean Bridge, then left at Loch Garry on to the magnificent A87. The tarmac unspools up and over the loch, flipping back and forth, then delivers a thunderous view across Loch Loyne and Loch Cluanie. Drop down more corners, hang a left, and smash along the shores of Loch Cluanie into Glen Shiel, scene of ancient battles. This is truly epic stuff.
A quick nose past Eilean Donan, the Highlander castle, then a sharp right on to the slinky A890, climbing up and over between clumps of pine trees to drop alongside the shores of Loch Carron. Ride through the village of Lochcarron on the A896, stop for a coffee and refill, then be blown away again by the run up to the Bealach na Bà, Britain’s steepest climb. It’s not scary but the drop is extreme – and acrophobics beware as the land swallows into a vast abyss between mountainous cliffs. The views from the top are spellbinding.
Trickle down the other side into Applecross, and the road nibbles along the coast of the peninsula for miles, rolling and chuckling to itself. Then we burst into
