Cycling in the Highlands of Scotland

The Northern Highlands of Scotland is best cycled off-road, try the Great Glen Cycle route for starters.

Borgie Forest Cycling. Forestry Commission
In this area: Caithness

Great Glen Watersports. Loch Oich. Invergarry. Hire boats, canoes.. bikes. Whitewater rafting, jet biking, wake boarding, wind surfing... 'Mountain bikes, abseiling, guided walks and day treks are perfect ways to take in the scenery. Archery, air rifle and our new knife and tomahawk throwing allow you to test your aim...'
South end Loch Oich on A82 2 miles south Invergarry
Open East - Oct
Tel 01809 501340

In this area: Loch Ness

Great Glen Way Cycle Path. Approx 72 miles. You can bike from Inverness to Fort William on the Great Glen Cycle Way. For a map contact the Forest Enterprise on 01397 702184/5. It's very much the same route that the Great Glen Walk takes but with intermission here and there! You'll need an off-roadbike and going from Fort William to Inverness rather than the other way is advisable only in that it starts easy (Fort William to South Laggan Locks easy) and gets hillier as your go along.
Cycling in the Great Glen

Some of the sections are somewhat taxing so wear the right equipment and make sure your bike is in good order. From Fort William the sections go as follows: Clunes to Laggan (9m), to Invergarry (3m), to Oich Bridge (4m) (challenging), to Ft Augustus (4m), to Allt na Criche (0.5m), to Invermoriston (7m), to Loch Ness Youth Hostel (4m), to Bark Sheds (5m), to Drumnadrochit (3m), to Inverness (29m) - the last section is all on public roads , but mostly on very quiet minor ones. You could do with a map so grab one from the Forest Enterprise or one of the local TIC's. (The A82, particularly beside Loch Ness is really not very safe for cyclists, narrow and windy with lots of traffic. If you feel the urge to road cycle to Inverness then you could take the B862 from Fort Augustus up into the hills and wind down to Foyers and continue on the B852 beside Loch Ness- a small quiet road which should give pleasure rather than the pain of the A82!) Word of warning cycling on the A82 between Fort William and Inverness is dangerous - the roads are such that traffic will build up behind you causing frustration to all with hardly room for lorries to pass - you might get squashed. Off road is the way to go.
In this area: Loch Ness

Ross Rentals, Car, bike, boat, canoe, fishing rods and equipment hire. Collection and delivery by arrangement.
Plantation Cottage, Strathcarron. IV54 8YR.
Open all year Mon-Sat.
Tel: 01520 722205
In this area: Wester Ross

Square Wheels. Cycles, cycle parts, repair service.
Open Thur-Mon Easter to Oct. Weekends during winter.
The Square, Strathpeffer.
01997 421000
In this area: Firthlands

Cyclists can enjoy quiet roads to the south of Beauly. Combing parts of the A831 in Strathglass and the unclassified roads around Kiltarlity and Eskadale to the east offer a number of circuits.
In this area: Loch Ness / Firthlands

The SXC is now entering its third year of running the Scottish Cross Country Series. Last year's events were very successful, number of entries increased over previous years and a number of new events for Schools were introduced http://www.sxc.org.uk/main.asp

The A82 is not the nicest of places to be cycling, particularly beside Loch Ness between Fort Augustus and Inverness. If you're prepared for a long climb out of Fort Augustus - it must be about a mile uphill then you've saved yourself a lot of agro and will be rewarded by a quiet single track road (even you must pull in to let people by on the passing places!). So, take the B852 from the south end of Loch Ness. Turn right just after the Lovat Arms Hotel. When you get to the turn off for Foyers (about a mile after Whitebridge) you could either go there and follow the shores of Loch Ness or stay on the top and join this road further on. If you wanted to avoid Inverness and head south then this road also take you to the A9 going through Farr.

Forestry Commission cycling page

Bike Shops:
Inverness:
Bikes of Inverness
01463 225965
Highland Cycles (Inverness)
01463 234789

Dingwall:
Dryburgh Cycles (Dingwall)
01349 862163

The Fort William UCI Mountain Bike World Cup. Its not this area but close! See Web