Coast 2 Coast hArdGay Off Road - Sat 25th/Sun26th September

Hey Mr P, looks possible for me- the possible showstopper was taking the car across on the ferry especially as this adds £80 to the adventure right away, but Scotrail now take 4 bikes per carriage pair for free, so if I can book mine on I can leave Stromness at 11 and be in Dingwall for 1620, or indeed leave at 0630 and be in Dingwall at 1145.

Now the last time might not be as crazy as it sounds (but is not possible on a Saturday at this time of year) as it would take about 4 hours to drive to Dingwall from the central belt, suggesting a similar ETA for those coming North.

It would be tight to get across to Ullapool on the same day, as the daylight is in freefall- sunset at 1944 on the 11th, 1924 on the 18th, 1903 on the 25th and 1843 on 2nd October, all times BST. But possible, surely? I defer to you Glencoe veterans for realistic timings for Walks of Doom.

Friday night sesh in Ullapool, then leisurely return trip on the Saturday, drive south for you chaps to be home on Saturday night, while I wrestle with public transport, or cycle home via Lairg.

I'll actually be in Thurso on Wed 15th, if anyone was in a position to travel up on the Thursday night and go for the first leg first thing on Friday 17th.
 
[Adopts schoolmasterly tone] Now that isn't very far north is it, Mr P?

I mean, you probably go shopping in Inverness...
 
Actually made it to Fort George wich is a couple of miles N of snecky :D

Why all this talk of Dingwall - is there not a train station in Bonar Bridge? Ardgay? OK i can see you might want to avoid that :oops:

Need to get some more up to date maps - mine is 1974, but looks like maybe another way through on c class road then track from Bonar Bridge to Oykel Bridge then south west to Duag Bridge and onward to Ullapool, with a further two possibilities.

Taking route passed Knockdamph bothy gives option to bail if weather seriously unpleasant or darkness engulfs.

More recent map may show that "footpath" has become "track" - which might help.

:cool:
 
I thought that the route was described as starting at Dingwall, so it was a misunderstanding. Checking out my OS maps last night. without reference to any other guide, the most promising route did indeed come out at Ardgay (boom boom!), so I'm glad you pointed that out. Yep, there are stations in both places.

I have a set of up to date digital OS maps so I'll fire that up and have a deek. I can print them off and do profiles etc. so can fire you a pdf route guide once I'm organised.
 
Looking at it on the digital maps. it looks like the six mile Walk of Pain should just have a 2.5 mile Trudge of Disgruntlement, albeit right over the summit and trig point of the 335m Hill of Worrying Exposure, just south of Loch Labharaig, after going down Strath Mulzie.

Clearly the chances of getting hideously lost are high... I have a GPS receiver that interfaces with my Blackberry via Bluetooth, but it is pretty basic for navigation if you don't have a phone signal. I'll print off coordinates of important points.
 
Reet you two cheuchter types, what is the facts on this proposed September bothy trip. How many miles from where to where, when ?

Might try and join you if its practicle but probably wont however the rest might go for it if the plans sound more planned ;)
 
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