We advise arriving in Inverness the day before the tour start date to make sure any flight or luggage delays don’t spoil your adventure.
Your guide will meet you in Inverness the following morning, and we have a handy guide of how to spend 24 hours in Inverness.
You’ll be welcomed by your mountain bike guides late morning in Inverness (exact details will be advised), before driving the short distance to our base to build and tune bikes and have a welcome briefing over coffee and cake.
We’ll then head out on some local trails for a short pedal to stretch your legs, tweak bikes, and calm the nerves! You’ll ride for about an hour and a half, finishing at your first welcoming B&B in Inverness.
Your guides will direct you to a local supermarket and give you guidance on what to buy for your stock of trail supplies for the week, then will meet you in the evening for your welcome dinner in a lovely riverside restaurant.
We have a short transfer to Bonar Bridge and the start of our coast-to-coast Scotland mountain bike tour. We’ll saddle up and set off on our westerly bearing through classic Scottish glens with their ever-changing colours.
Our miles today are many, but largely non-technical, and you’ll enjoy covering the distance and getting into the habit of short, frequent snack stops to keep you fuelled for the long days in the saddle on the Highland trails.
We’ll have our first ‘proper’ snack stop at a mountain refuge (bothy), formerly a school, and make friends with the local wild horses, before continuing westwards.
The last half-hour of the day sees us hitting some more technical singletrack that descends into Ullapool, and our stop for the night.
Ullapool is a fishing town and the gateway to the north end of the Outer Hebrides archipelago, and we’ll enjoy an evening of good local food and drink, including freshly-caught seafood.
This is our first big wilderness day, where you’ll conquer not one, but three, imposing valleys in some of the most spectacular scenery in Europe.
We will start today with a ride on a RIB (rigid inflatable boat), which will take us across Loch Broom to our first road section of the day. This will warm your legs up for the next part – a tough, steady climb on rocky doubletrack, with some very steep sections.
At the summit we’ll have a superb view down into our first valley of the day. We’ll spot Shenavall bothy, our target for lunch, and to get there we’ll enjoy a double track descent followed by a lovely singletrack traverse.
After a quick lunch stop we’ll continue along the valley floor to our first big river crossing, where your guides will advise you on the safest technique for crossing.
From there, we climb steadily into our second valley, and one of the most remote wilderness areas in the country. The trail snakes through the ancient landscape, passing some of the most dramatic and inaccessible mountains in the UK.
You’ll have a 30-minute section of hike-a-bike, for which you will be rewarded with a fabulous, fast, loose descent and breathtaking views, followed by sweet singletrack. This will also be your introduction to the infamous Scottish water bar, which will become very familiar over the course of the trip!
One last climb and valley ahead of us now and by the time we reach Poolewe, your legs might ache, but your cheeks will hurt from grinning!
After yesterday’s epic wilderness adventure, we’ll have a slightly more leisurely start to our day and a longer breakfast. We’ll ride off-road straight from Poolewe on a characteristically rocky, tough climb, which leads us onto an equally technical and rocky descent – knee pads on! From the top of the descent you’ll have a glorious view all the way down to Loch Maree.
Loch Maree is often cited as the most beautiful loch in Scotland, with its five large islands and 25 smaller islets. It’s also the only loch/lake in the UK that contains an island that itself contains an islet with a lochan in it (are you still following?!).
We’ll have a last, short, punchy climb, before a flowing descent down to the banks of the loch, and time for a quick photo stop and snack.
We have a few road kilometres ahead of us now, but afterwards we’ll be rewarded with afternoon tea, then have time to freshen up at our hotel before a fabulous dinner.
Riding from Kinlochewe to Annat through the mountains of Torridon is our favourite part of the coast-to-coast Scotland mountain bike tour.
This is another big, multi-valley and multi-descent day, which you won’t forget in a hurry!
Each day of our trip increases slightly in technical difficulty, and riding the rocky trails that carve their way through the majestic Torridon mountains is the most technically challenging day, but also hugely rewarding.
This is one of the most ancient landscapes in the whole of the UK, and it has everything that you can possibly want from a mountain bike tour in Scotland, from stunning views, technical climbs, long, sweeping descents and grin-inducing singletrack!
You’ll tackle the tough climb to the top of Achnashellach, and your first descent of the day. This is the most challenging descent of the trip; big, burly and unforgiving!
Then you’ll ride along the road and back up into the mountains to conquer the second and final descent into Annat. This descent is more flowing and is a fitting reward for all your hard work.
We have a couple of miles on the road to reach our loch-side accommodation in Torridon, where you’ll stay for the next two nights.
Today is your rest day, where you can explore the local area, read a book in the bar or join the guide for a half day’s mountain biking up a local hill, it’s your choice!
For our final push into Applecross we’ll start by spinning our legs out on some road climbs, before peeling off onto some really fun singletrack that leads us to the start of our off-road section and some more tough climbing, just to use up the last of your energy! Then we’ll crest out at the plateau and have a bite to eat, whilst admiring the stunning views.
Next we’ll get knee pads on and enjoy the last descent of our adventure. This leads us straight to Applecross bay and the end of our coast-to coast Scotland.
We’ll enjoy a celebratory meal in this tiny West Coast village and re-live the week’s adventures on our all-mountain coast-to-coast Scotland mountain bike tour.
We’ll transfer you back to Inverness for early evening time, where we’ll enjoy our last dinner together and spend our final night relaxing after our coast-to-coast mountain bike challenge.
Sadly, this is the end of your coast-to-coast mountain biking holiday in Scotland, and we’ll say our farewells after an incredible biking adventure across the Highlands.
We can return you to the airport/ train station around 10am, and if your travel plans differ greatly from this, we can help you organise a taxi accordingly.