Northbound
Travel wise, Scotland is far off the grid by European standards so deplorably, air travel still wins out over the alternative of one day on a train, another day on the ferry to Newcastle, and another half a day on a train to Scotland. Thus we bit the bullet and took a direct flight from Munich to Edinburgh. That part of the journey went by almost frictionless.
With the bikes still in the bags we then made our way to Aberdour where our hotel for the first night was located, by tram and commuter train. The connection proved ridiculously expensive for the few kilometers traveled but we got the bikes -- and ourselves -- to our destination safe and sound.
During our short stay in Aberdour we were mainly occupied with building up the bikes in the tiny hotel room which would barely fit the bike bags, let alone two assembled bikes. Quite miraculously we managed to build them up regardless. With fish&chips and the obligatory haggis for dinner we finally felt that we arrived in Scotland, ready to embark on our journey.
Aberdour to Stirling
The Lowland part of our itinerary was packed with sightseeing. We crossed the Firth of Forth over the Forth Road Bridge in strong winds, enjoying the sight of the Forth Bridge. Following the cycle route west into a nasty headwind we reached the Falkirk Wheel, another marvel of engineering, and above all home to a cozy cafe where we dodged a rain shower that had sneaked up on us. Passing by Stirling castle we reached the Wallace Monument but had to skip on the hike up there because at that point we were already running late.
At the neat Witches' Craig Campsite in Blairlogie, well in sight of the Wallace Monument, we spent our first proper night out camping. Rumor has it the campsite is haunted and some of the locals shared their stories about mysterious events they witnessed during their stay.
Stirling to Dumbarton
After the headwind on day one, the second day was all about rain. Rain at dawn, rain at noon, rain all afternoon. Welcome to Scotland!
Despite the rain the cycling was actually pretty good this day. We made good progress and enjoyed plenty of opportunities to warm up over a cup of tea along the route.
The first item on the sightseeing schedule of the day was Doune Castle, famous/notorious as the primary filming location of Monty Python and the Holy Grail where about half the footage of the movie was shot. The clerk at the ticket counter gave us a discount for being sustainable travelers under the Good Journey program, and handed us an audio guide narrated by none other than the late Terry Jones. Parts of the castle are well preserved, including the "kitchen tower" and the private quarters of the Duke of Albany and his wife.
Rolling on we largely followed the bike path to Loch Lomond over quiet roads through the countryside. The route has its moments, including a narrow steel bridge over a river with spectacular views in both directions. Cows and sheep outnumbered cars and people many times that day. A few hours of rain later we arrived at Loch Lomond near Balloch castle and needless to say we weren't exactly in the mood for swimming. After another hot tea at a cafe whose menu included exotic dishes like German Doner we then rolled down the river Leven towards the Clyde estuary where we spent the night at a hotel in Dumbarton to make sure we'd catch the train north in the morning.
Interlude
The Hebrides being our main destination, we decided to avoid the rough mountain trails by covering the route to Fort William on a train. Tickets can be booked online through Scotrail but oddly enough the digital version of the ticket isn't sufficient as in most countries, but one has to get a physical ticket printed by a ticket machine ahead of the trip -- or as in our case a whole deck of tickets as the machine spit out individual pieces of cardboard for the treservation, the bike spots, and to attach to the bike. Sigh. There has got to be a simpler way of doing this ...
The route through the Highlands is spectacular and can be considered an attraction in its own right. Fjordesque bays in the south are followed by dense forests and finally the bare hilltops of the Grampian Mountains and the vast mire of Rannoch Moor. For now the weather is holding up as well so we're looking forward to a mostly dry day on the roads.
gps tracks
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