Scotland - Highlands Coast to Coast

Question 1

Where does the tour start and end?

Answer

This tour starts in Fort William and finishes in Montrose.

Airport transfers from Glasgow Airport (GLA) are included in the cost of your holiday. To join the airport transfer on arrival, you’ll need to arrive into Glasgow airport (GLA) by 12:30 for a 13:00 transfer to Fort William via Balloch (on the south shore of Loch Lomond). At the end of the tour, you will be transferred back to Glasgow Airport (GLA) with an estimated arrival time of 16:30 – please consider this when booking your return travel and allow enough time to check in for your chosen flight.

If you are driving, your arrival destination is Balloch, and parking is free of charge. You’ll need to be in Balloch at 13:30 for a 14:00 transfer to Fort William. At the end of the tour, you will be transferred back to your car with an estimated arrival time of 15:30.

If you are taking the train then your arrival destination is Fort William and departure is from Montrose. Return trains from Montrose should be booked to depart after 13:00.

Please check with us before making any travel arrangements to make sure the minimum number required to guarantee your holiday has been reached and to ensure your arrangements fit with our scheduled transfers.

Please note If you make travel arrangements that fall outside of the above time windows there may be an additional charge for individual transfers.

Question 2

How long is the tour? How many days cycling?

Answer

The tour is 7 days long with 6 days of cycling.

Question 3

What's the tour like?

Answer

This epic adventure crosses the Scottish Highlands on mixed trails, ranging from tough and gnarly singletrack and stalkers paths, to long winding Land Rover tracks.

Being the Highlands, there are of course some serious climbs to tackle and some long, rough descents – so a good level of fitness, as well as bike handling skills and off-road experience, are required (even on the e-bike departure). It is expected that all riders on this tour will have mountain biking experience, and be confident taking on the technical terrain and challenging nature of a grade 4 holiday.

This trip crosses some high mountains, and with that comes the inevitable weather changes, and potential for wet, cold and windy conditions. This all adds to the challenge of this trip – although on a good day there is no better place to be than the Scottish Highlands!

There is a specific E-MTB departure, where the whole group and guide team will be riding Electric Mountain Bikes. On other, standard departures the pace of the holiday will be set by regular bikes but appropriate Electric Mountain Bikes may also be suitable. Chat to us if you would like to rent or bring your own.

Is this suitable for you?

As well as keeping a good level of fitness you are also an experienced biker and enjoy riding more challenging trails. You usually ride most weekends and can cover between 30 and 50 miles over a full 8-9 hour day (with breaks). The routes you choose generally include more challenging 1-2 hour long climbs perhaps with sharp switchbacks and sections of large and loose rocks. You are comfortable riding most trails including sections of technical or exposed singletrack with some testing obstacles such as drop offs and steep downhills. Grade 4 trips should suit you.

Question 4

What's the weather like?

Answer

When cycling in the UK it’s best to come prepared for sun and rain, warm and cold all in the same day – spring, summer and autumn. Although there can be wide variations the monthly average temperature in the UK ranges from 9 degrees centigrade in April through to 17 degrees centigrade in July and then 11 degrees in October.

At the beginning and end of the season (in March and late October) the weather can be a little less predictable and there could be some cooler days.