Roam Scotland Rally Reflections

After a short ride around Inverness on the Sunday I caught the train back to Edinburgh in the company of fellow Roamers Andrew and Tim, and then we caught the same train back down south. We chatted on the way, and after parting at Oxenhope and Preston I spent the rest of the journey reflecting on the previous seven days.

I had no preconceptions about the ride, other than seeing a few videos on You Tube, and was approaching it with a slight trepidation but much anticipation. I was hoping for some cracking scenery, which it delivered in spades. The days were very long, in a good way, due to the tremendous variety of terrains and scenery on offer, and this led to the week feeling very long as well. Edinburgh seemed days away on the Monday! In terms of the weather, the main thing was the cold temperatures, particularly in the latter part of the week. Yes, it rained, but not much, not for long and there was usually some sun to come afterwards to dry you off. The wind was not helpful as it seemed mostly north westerly, and given we were heading north north west for much of the time it was in our faces.

Overall the route was very rideable, with some wet and muddy places, some tough rocky tracks but a lot of good gravel and road. The hike-a-bike sections were necessary, and even if I had to stop pushing occasionally to get my breath it was an opportunity to take in the scenery and listen to the nature. My bike coped with everything I rode on, and gave me no trouble mechanically.

I generally prefer riding in my own company, but meeting with other Roamers on the trail throughout the day, or at cafes or campsites was great, and made you feel connected on the route. Everybody was friendly and helpful.

I dipped out on some challenging parts of the route some days as my body reacted to the efforts during week. I wasn’t disappointed or downhearted about this as I still saw plenty of good things on the route I did take anyway, and it was good to be able to be flexible as and when necessary without feeling judged.

There’s a few things to look at for next time – maybe look at using the MTB setting on my Garmin maps to avoid / reduce navigational issues, and perhaps consider a saddle pack rather than panniers. But that’s not to take anything away from what was an amazing and satisfying week of roaming. And will there be a next time? Oh yes, as long as my health holds you bet! 

Roam Scotland Rally Day 7 : Contin to Inverness, Saturday May 16th

It was bloody freezing overnight! Previous days had been quite chilly early doors, but this morning was really cold. Nipping out of the tent for an early toilet call at the dawn chorus I noticed that there was ice forming on the lower edge of the tent. After breakfast I packed the tent up, saying my farewells to Kenny who was up before me, then set off on the uphill stretch to Jamestown where I turned off, passing what looked like the ruins of an old church before heading onto a climb through some woods.

 Here I lost my route, as I couldn’t see any obvious track ahead of me, nor could I see any helpful tyre tracks from other Roamers, and so I turned round and retraced my route to get back onto the A835 for a short while before turning off for Marybank, crossing the mighty River Conon again. At Marybank I took the road towards Urray, passing the Urray West Church of Scotland and heading on into Muir of Ord where I spotted the pagoda chimneys of the distillery. At the junction by the railway station I was waiting to turn right when I noticed Kenny riding in from the direction of Conon Bridge and caught up with him for a chat. After a few navigational issues the route took a fabulous track through Spital Wood which gave the first glimpses of the pan flat Beauly Firth with reflections from the bank opposite. 

At one point I came through a gate in the woods into open fields on my right, and here I spotted a couple of what I believe were Red Kites engaging in a bit of play fighting. I stopped to watch for a while, during which time a third Red Kite appeared, before setting off again along the singletrack, meeting three bikepackers going in the opposite direction. Eventually the track came to an end at a road, where I turned left and headed for Redcastle Viewpoint on the shores of Beauly Firth. 

Here I took a photo of an old boat with a heron on the Firth shore before turning back inland to head into Redcastle estate, passing the ruins of the medieval Redcastle and a rather nice looking farmhouse to follow a track which came out on the road running along the side of the Firth. This ran smoothly through to Charleston passing Coulmore Bay Holiday Park, and I also saw a small sign on a post at the side of the road saying “Do Not Photograph This Sign”. From Charleston I’d planned to detour to the Black Isle Brewery inland, as I’d missed this on my previous trip to the Black Isle. I climbed up out of Charleston to pick up NCN 1 running alongside the A9 for a while before dropping onto B roads for the three mile ride to the brewery. 

I bought myself a cycle jersey and sat outside with a couple of beers enjoying the sun and chatting with a guy from the shop about bikepacking kit. As I was starting to feel the midday sun I finished my beer and retraced my route back to Charleston to follow the cycle route to Inverness. At North Kessock I came across Graeme and Zak sitting outside a cafe and stopped for a chat. After the cafe a short steep ramp took me up to the Kessock Bridge separating the Moray and Beauly Firths, and I rode over on the cycle path where I got a superb view back over the Beauly Firth to the mountains in the west. 

Over the bridge I turned off on the outskirts on Inverness and headed into the city. Inverness was very very busy, and after a week of riding through very quiet out of the way spots came as a brutal assault on my senses. By now I was starting to feel a headache coming on and decided to head to my accommodation for a refreshing shower and rest. I crossed the Greig Street Bridge over the River Ness and saw a cyclist coming in the opposite direction. It was Kenny again, off to catch his bus back to Glasgow. We said our farewells and I booked into my room, then showered. My headache wasn’t going away, so rather than meet the other Roamers for a beer I picked up some supplies, including some paracetamol, from Tesco and went back to rest in my room. It was the end of an absolutely superb week of roaming through Scotland! 

Roam Scotland Rally Day 6 : Cannich to Contin, Friday May 15th

I woke to hear a little bit of rain on the tent, but fortunately it didn’t last long. I had breakfast, packed up and set off, but not before one of the local feathered friends dropped a present on my hand and my frame bag! I’d decided to do the simple road option today rather than the rolling route up a hard climb as I didn’t feel my legs were up to some more off road stress. It was good to feel the tarmac buzzing under my wheels as I set off, and after a quick divert to find a post box I left Cannich over the River Cannich. This fed into the River Glass, which was a good size and remained on my right as I headed north. A couple of miles out of Cannich I passed St Ignatius’ Well, a historic holy well and roadside cairn built in 1880. 

More gorse was blooming along the road, and I came across a sign declaring “Never Mind The Ballachs”, designed to resemble the Sex Pistols album of nearly the same name. This was advertising a group campaigning to stop a proposed Ballach wind farm by a German company. As in many other places in the Highlands, this highlighted the ongoing debate / fight between needed energy and destruction of local habitat, and in that place it was hard not to argue with any potential desecration of such a beautiful wild landscape. Further on I passed a field of black sheep, of a type I’d not seen before, then the beautiful church at Struy just before crossing the magnificent River Farrar on a bridge. 

Here I stopped for a photo and noticed two other Roamers coming up – it was Fiona and Sara, Calum’s sister and niece. We had a chat and then resumed our journeys. The Farrar joined the Glass shortly afterwards and the two combined became the River Beauly. Approaching Beauly I passed the extremely ugly Beauly Substation, a real eyesore although no doubt very necessary, and headed into the village, stopping at the Corner On The Square cafe for coffee and apple pie. As I was leaving to set off again Jim, my glasses saviour, was arriving and heading into the cafe for his break. I headed out of Beauly, noting that the fibre glass Highland Cow from my previous visit was still there, and called in at Robertson’s Larder and Highland Cows. They have two orphan cows which have been on the farm since they were two weeks old, Katie Morag and Jamie Mackenzie Fraser. 

I bought a couple of gifts to take back with me and resumed my journey north to Muir of Ord, where I took a left at the railway station to cycle past the Glen Ord Distillery. From a previous trip here I knew this was going to be a very pleasant road to cycle on, and was even more so this time due to the road being closed at the distillery, resulting in very little traffic as I rode through. There was more gorse at the roadside, and I rode over the River Orrin just down from the falls and passed a very funny roadside sculpture at a house, resembling the robot Bender from Futurama. 

A nice downhill followed into Marybank, then after crossing the River Conon I turned left into a headwind on the A835. This was on the North Coast 500 route, and although very busy it wasn’t long before I came to a turn for Strathpeffer, and I headed uphill for a couple of miles before riding into the village. Strathpeffer is a Victorian Spa town and contains many beautiful buildings including the Spa Pavilion and several churches, but I was heading for the Old Station. 

This was built in 1885, with passenger services ending in 1946 and the line closing in 1951. The station itself is remarkably well preserved, and looks every inch a Victorian station with wood panelling in the gents toilet and other interesting features. Today it houses the Highland Museum of Childhood in addition to a community gift shop and a cafe, which I called in at and enjoyed a warming bowl of soup and a cup of tea. After my break I set off back down the hill to rejoin the A835 into Contin. It had started raining by now, and in a few hundred yards I pulled up at Contin Stores which was just outside my campsite, and joined a couple of other Roamers in the shop where I bought an ice cream – well I was on holiday! The rain had stopped, and I went outside to join the Roamers on the benches and had a chat whilst waiting for the campsite reception to open. As well as Mike and Jason from the train up, I chatted to Graeme and his dog Zak. As well as carrying his camping kit, Graeme was pulling a dog trailer with Zak in it! Zak was the most placid, relaxed dog I’d seen and seemed utterly unfazed by anything that was going on, and stayed in the trailer while Graeme rode over the rough tracks. After this I went into the shop again to pick up my supplies and then booked into the campsite. I pitched my tent, showered and then went back four hundred yards up the road to the Smiddy Chippy, buying fish and chips which I ate whilst sitting at the edge of the River Conon that ran alongside the campsite. 

Another Roamer, Kenny, had arrived at the camp and we sat chatting for a while before turning in. It had been a very nice and reasonably relaxed day, with just one more to go.