Bikepacking fling from coast to coast | spectacular Scottish off-road
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- Опубліковано 8 лип 2023
- Combining the Highland Cross (almost) with a Skye crossing, I came up with the Highland Fling.
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Hell, what a superb video. I'm unfit at 62, but boy do I want to get fit, just to copy this ride. Well done Sir. Now where's me bike pump?
Get a e-bike.
Simply the best scenery, video, and insight! Doesn’t hurt I’m 64 and your rides are like a carrot dangling in front of me👍 keep up the great work Simon!
Excellent Max - keeping each other motivated 😁
Great ride where can i pick up the route please?
@@cooperswayadventures there’s a link in the video description.
You have the best adventure cycling content on youtube. I sure hope Scotland is paying you because I am now online exploring bookings to Scotland. Thank you!
I wish! I make on average £400 a month from YT ads. Thanks Matt.
Superb video Simon, thanks for making and sharing it with us.
Inspirational, wonderful scenery it has everything. You're narrating is up there with the best on TV . Best wishes on another adventure 🚴♂️😎👍
Glad you enjoyed it Terry
I only need to see it's an AAA production to smash the like button! Thanks, that was fantastic. I'll watch it over again tonight on the tv.
Thanks Terry
Really enjoy watching your videos - you are an inspiration to get out there and have a go . Also a wealth of information👍
Thank you Barry
Fantastic....again. Thanks very much.
Terrific viewing as always. Particularly impressed by the drone maneuver at 3:40 !
Me too James! I was ocnvinced the drone would crash into something in such a confined area. Well - it did actually but not on that shot. It's the DJI mini 3 pro and it's quite amazing what it will do by itself!
That's a corker of a ride Simon! I'll add it to my (ever increasing) list! Funny watching this today, I was only in Beauly at the weekend to ride Ed Shoote's route to Ardgay (120km) train back to Beauly. Fabulous route and not a cloud in the sky!
Not sure I know that one - I'll have to take a look at the book!
Fair play, I drove the Ratagan pass in both directions recently and the camera doesn't do justice to just how steep it is, especially that last bit to the top!
Dinner and AAA. There is no better way to spend a relaxing evening.
Glorious. I so look forward to your work each month. Thank you. 👍🏻
Thanks Kevin
Once again a great adventure you take us on.
The views of the Highlands are so fantastic.
By the way: I'll turn 64 in October too and I can't stop discovering new things by bike either. I'll have to start filming at some point too.
Great video Simon. And great meeting you on the road the other day. Keep going. Us old guys have still got life in us yet
Ah you found it! Good to chat yesterday Colin.
Sir, You are right the view is worth the effort. Thank you very much for the posting. Please keep up the awesome videos as I dream of riding the hills while I ride the flat lands of coastal south Texas.
That's very kind of you. Texas - wow. YT has a big reach.
Fantastic ..........cant say much more ...
Brilliant as always Thankyou for the effort you put in.
Awesome in every way....
Omg so awesome!!!
One day come to Portugal and do National 2. Great movies you do.
Really awesome video!
Absolutely stunning. Very enjoyable and professional. 👍
Fabulous and inspiring, as always. 😊
Thank you! 😊
Simply stunning. One for repeat viewing many times. Thank you!
Thank you - I was pleased with how it turned out
Yet another wonderful video to enjoy, thanks Simon. Cheers, Paul.
Glad you enjoyed it Paul
Genuinely enjoyed every moment of that.
Took a hardtail and trailer "there and back" to the Affric YH some years ago. Now I know that I can go a lot further.
(Two gentlemen arrived at the YH that night back in1998, riding racing bikes with large, loaded rucksacks. That evening turned out to be one of the best events of my life! I'll tell you about it over a pint one day!)
Sounds like a plan. I suspect some great evenings are spent in that hostel!
Spectacular.
I've shared this with friends who would love this ride 👌🏴
Thanks Pete
I think this might be my favourite of all our videos, Simon. Had you started your ride a few miles further up the road in a wee place called Marybank and then finished it in Broadford you would have linked my last years of childhood with my earliest childhood memories. Glen Affric is one of my most favourite places on Earth and Cannich was my first stop on my first 100 miler on the bike. I always wanted to do the Highland Cross but I'll never run that route now. But I think you have just elevated it to near the top of my 'must ride' routes, though I think I would be tempted to take three days and stay at Alltbeithe just for the sake of it. And I'll have my whisky sans muesli please!
😂 I think the weather made a huge difference to the appeal - I was very lucky. Nice to have history with these places though. B
@@alwaysanotheradventure you got cracking weather for it.
Hermoso paisaje
Great video as with all your others.Would suggest looking at a Lauf fork if you wanted to modify the bicycle you have….Happy riding
Thanks for the idea
Beautiful video! Stunning views! 🤩
Thanks a lot!
Great video, as usual Simon. Keep it up mate 👍🏻
Thanks Ian
Wonderful Simon, really enjoy your content.
Glad to hear it Stuart
Lovely video and it looks a great ride. Cracking place to live and explore. Thanks for putting it all together - keep making them!
Thanks, will do Alex
Lindo lugar 😍
Great film Simon, really enjoyed that.
Thank you
Thank You. Great ride in wonderfull country.
Thank you very much
One of your best, really enjoyed this one but that's not unusual, they are all excellent.
Glad you enjoyed it David
I was shocked to see a Mariposa cycling cap on your head. There has to be a story there!
Oh VERY well spotted Steve! And there is a story. The chap in this video ua-cam.com/video/bt7VlWw_hug/v-deo.html , who I hadn't seen since our school-days, brought it with him from his home in Canada and gave it to me as a gift. I realised it went rather well with my Rapha top!
@@alwaysanotheradventure Well now you have to get the matching bike!😉🤣
Awesome video. Beautiful scenery. I just want to let you know how much I enjoy you and your videos. I watch alot of bike channels and it's refreshing to know there is someone similar to me out there. I'm about your same age and it great to see your journeys and the struggles it can bring being a older cyclist but we press on. Looking forward to the next video. Thank you.
That's kind of you Roger. I don'tmake a fuss about my age, but I hope I give a little encouragement and occasionally a nudge to us older cyclists. 😁
Another excellent adventure👍 Glen Affric is superb and I was pleased to see you featured our club hut Strawberry Cottage at 4.20. Have met several of the hostel wardens over the years and they’ve been real characters. Chapeau for taking on the crossing into Kintail. Great video.
Thanks - but I completely forgot that was a club hut! I saw two folk bringing pails of water from the river and thought "that's a hell of a remote house". Doh!
@@alwaysanotheradventure Och they mustn’t have been able to get the water pump working - must rewrite the instructions 😉😂🤣
Wow i see🙌
Simplemente hermoso
Superb…as usual 😊
Thank you! Cheers!
Beautiful
Thank you! Cheers!
Qué Lindo esos lugares
Increíbles paisajes
Simon, there is also a Glenelg in South Australia, a beach suburb
Thanks Rob - my weather app finds them in Maryland USA, Canada, and the Bahamas. It doesn't cover Mars (yet) 😁
Bello lugar 👏
One to add to the list, thanks.
Excellent flow and editing.
Out of curiously, what time of year did you do it? There seemed to be an absence of beasties, which would be essential for enjoyment (for me, a softie, at least)
Right at the start of June, but after about 4 weeks of scorching weather that zapped all the midges. Good for me, not for the birds. There had just been a massive wildfire in Glen Affric and this was the first day I could get through. No sign of it on my route though...
Perhaps a full suspension would be an overkill for your type of adventure, although a comfortable overkill no less, but would you consider a lightweight hardtail with either a dropper or a redshift seatpost? There are plenty with a bikepacking capacity such as your gravel bike and the fatigue reduction and easier handling can make the ride smoother without it becoming a bore.
Either way, great video, as always.
Cheers.
I really do think I need a hard tail 29er. Anyone? 😁
I’ve just built a Santa Cruz Chameleon hardtail up for Bikepacking Simon. Looking forward to trying it out in coming months. Won’t retire the gravel bike but gives me another option on longer rough days. Andy.
Very much enjoy your adventures Simon and are an inspiration for my own. Can I ask where you have landed on tyre choice for the mixed surfaces you cover and whether you have taken the leap to tubeless?
My Vielo wheels are the only tubeless ones because I just can’t get the others to work. I don’t find it too much of an issue.
Gravel Kings are my favourite - I did more about them in the What Worked video last year after the Torino Nice Rally. I just got a 50+mm pair (they’re in tonight’s video) but the drag when on a road is massive - they’re for serious off-road only.
Looks fabulous, given the downhill hike a bike section would it be better done in the opposite direction?
The Highland Trail 550 does it the opposite direction. While it's clearly better to have gravity on your side, the section from the top of the watershed to the bridge after the youth hostel (going in the reverse of my direction) would be more rideable that way.
But overall, the one-and-a-half day route feels much better in this direction to me. Otherwise you'd start with the train and easier half-day ride to Ratagan SYHA on day one, and the second day would be by far the hardest day to finish in Beauly, and I think I'd be tempted to just whizz down the Glen Affric road.
@@alwaysanotheradventure Thanks for the response and more importantly the inspirational videos
Wao!
Pretty good scenery!
I’ve been wanting to do that Glen Affric bit for a while and visit the bothies. I also want to do the Glenelg Ferry so you’ve just joined them up.
How was the south end of Skye? Broadford to Portree was like a race track last year and not much fun.
Yeah the roads on Skye have become somewhat mental. You might notice a couple of close passes from vans in that video. I didn't head down Sleat peninsula because I had to get back to Kyle for the train, but I believe the new road (well, new-ish) has made things even faster than before. The Tarskavaig loop will still be relatively quiet if damn tough! Skye roads are not my favourite place to ride a bike.
@@alwaysanotheradventure last year I actually came back from Skye as the combination of high winds and crazy drivers made it pretty unpleasant. I recall a guy with full touring rig pushing his bike as it was hard to keep Sligachan and I. The way back the next day he had just pitched up on the side of the road and was staying put obviously knackered from that day and wasn’t about to have another the same.
I meanwhile headed for better weather down to Gartmore and had a Fab Four days.
Bonitooooo
I was looking about the reviews of garmin Edge 1040 solar from you but sadly haven't found it. Was it Edge1040 which I saw on your bike? I would love to know more about that because I was trying to get it. As always ❤
They never sent me one! The head of PR at Garmin was all set to send me on for the TNR, then she got a new job, and no-one at Garmin replied my emails! I'm in the process of switching to the Hammerhead Karoo 2 which is pretty good and a LOT less expensive than Garmin, although without the whole ecosystem of training behind it.
Hi, l like the look of this one but as someone else has mentioned the Komoot link is broken
Fixed - sorry Colin
What Garmin unit is that upfront? How do you rate it?
Ah, now there's a thing. It's an old Garmin 1030, not the extra. It was great in its day but lacking features.
I have recently been sent for review the new Bryton 750E (good features, no so good interface) and a gift from a friend of the Karoo 2 from Hammerhead (great interface, a few less features).
Those two don't have Garmin's whole ecosystem of training help but of the 3 the Hammerhead is probably the nicest and clearest to use. I suspect it might be in the process of being updated because it's being sold at a low price right now.
Can I ask what bike rack you have on your van?
It's the VW rack for the Transporter T6. I had it added when I bought the van from the converters, Jerba
Hi haven’t seen a new post in a while hope all is ok
Hi Paul - I've been keeping the channel members up to date 😁. We had a long holiday without bikes and a camera. New video coming later tonight from yesterday's UCI Downhill
Sounds like a nice break, love your channel, I’m 58 and it’s great to have a channel that I can relate to. I’m located in Ontario Canada but have loved Scotland every time I have visited
Ciclismo
What was the train bike space like? I am just joining a train cycling forum to see if we can improve space for more bikes. ( north of England forum
Anyway ) in the UK a family of 4 cannot ride on an intercity train with their bikes together.
This was a ‘local’ Scotrail with 4 places per train. 2 bikes go side by side where mine was and there’s a second similar space in the other carriage. On this train the bike places must be booked and that can be done online - it was really easy. Trying to use a similar train from Edinburgh to North Berwick the website always showed no spaces. It’s really hit and miss.
@@alwaysanotheradventure 4 is good. That’s excellent in fact.
@@davidalderson7761 I believe the new bike carriages from Glasgow to Oban and Fort William take 20 bikes. www.heraldscotland.com/news/homenews/19441039.scotrail-20-bike-carriages-launched-encourage-scots-leave-car-home/
@@alwaysanotheradventure let’s hope before our own demise we see this number of bikes on trains in England. But I doubt it. Hence I go to Europe a lot. 😀
Simon, what was your bike set-up on this video, e.g. gearing, tyres and storage? Essentially I'm asking because I want to know if my Ribble CGR with Shimano Tiagra 4700 2x10, 50-34 chainring and 11-32 cassette would be up to the job.
1x chainring 40T. 11-44 (I think - I will check in a few days if it gets back from the bikeshop). WTB Raddlier tyres about 45mm. Most stuff in my rucksack with tools/spares in front bag. Some of it is not rideable; some is MTB land and so a bit rough; most is straightforward gravel. On the bits I couldn't ride, I pushed (which was quite a lot towards the end).
@@alwaysanotheradventure Thank you Simon. I better get out and put some miles in, before I even think about doing it for real.
Hey Max - my reply was incomplete, sorry. Looking again, I see I had things as follows:
There's a Straight Cut design bagel bag with tools and 3 spare inner tubes on the bars.
An Alpkit top-tube bag with energy bars and power pack, just in case garmin or Phone needed a boost. Also spare camera batteris and cards.
An Alpkit small frame bag with first aid kit and Personal Locator Beacon for emergencies.
Rucksack had a big pump, overnight food, waterproof, spare clothes, charging plug, plus drone & controller.
@@alwaysanotheradventure Thank you once again. This will give me some help, should I get to the stage where I fell confident and fit enough to attempt it.
@@alwaysanotheradventureSimon, just one more thing. Were you riding tubeless or inner tubes. I recall you having problems fitting tubeless, at least initially, so it made me wonder whether you persisted with tubeless or reverted to inner tubes. Thanks.
Komool link appears broken to me. Is it just me?
You're right - it was set to private, sorry. Fixed.
Cy
Como
Hermoso paisaje
Beautiful
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