The Badger Divide
Bike
26 Sep 2020
The Badger Divide is a cycling route pieced together by a local Scot, Stu Allen, linking Inverness and Glasgow via 320km of off-road gravel roads, paths and trails running down the centre of Scotland, through the Highlands and some of the most remote areas of the country. Linking two cities, it’s easy to get to the start and finish and to pick up supplies along the way, although during the middle section there’s an isolated section where you won’t see any shops for a while and very few people.
To make allowances for delays, setbacks or business closures, I decided to split the ride into a fairly leisurely three days of riding, covering the route from north to south. This trip would be enough of a break from London life but also short enough to be adaptable to the threat of Covid restrictions being quickly enforced or avoid getting stranded anywhere if a lockdown was quickly imposed.
Day 1: Inverness - Kinloch Laggan. 125 km | 2600 m+ | 8.5/11.5 hours
This was my second trip on the sleeper up to Inverness. Due to Covid I was lucky to get upgraded to a cabin, which was luxury compared to the chair I’d prepared for spending the night in. Arriving in Inverness at around 8am, it’s easy to get out of the city and on your way quickly. I headed to Velocity cafe for a quick breakfast and then picked up the trail from just a couple of kilometres out of the city centre. It was a chilly August morning but the sky was bright blue and the sun’s warmth was drying out the trails.
I followed The Great Glen Way most of the day, on light gravel paths through woodland and farmland. I made good progress here, with only a few technical sections and a couple of small stream crossings and mostly fast-rolling gravel. Very quickly you feel a long way from civilisation, and at 10am, having left London at 9pm the night before, it was surprising how far from home I felt.
There are a few challenging climbs as you make your way south, made trickier as I got to grips with riding a loaded bike on rough stuff again. Rolling all the way along Loch Ness is really cool and on such a nice day the views took me back to when I was in New Zealand. I decided not to stop in Fort Augustus as I had had a relatively long stop in Drumnadrochit at Cafe Eighty2 for pancakes and a catch up with an old friend, and I was keen to take on one of the highlights of the route - Corrieyairack Pass before it got too late in the afternoon. This Pass is part of a wider network of old military roads, snaking across the Highlands. It’s long, rocky and challenging, with an average of around 7% gradient and tops out at 770m.
The climb is a bit of a beast on a loaded bike, with chunky gravel all the way. The track winds its way up, with a handful of switchbacks. Luckily for me, the rock was all dry and no-one else was on the track other than a couple of other cyclists going the other way and flew past me, leaving me plenty of room to chose my line up the path and relax into it.
The descent is the tricky part - lots of larger rocks and dug-out water drainage gullies. This is the only part of the ride where riding a MTB would have had an advantage as I could have rolled over these easier. There were also several stream crossings on the way down, and it was getting to the evening now, around 5pm, so I tried to avoid getting my feet wet but couldn’t. The sun soon went down and I knew my socks and shoes weren’t going to dry out any time soon.
The rocky descent peters out and you join tarmac again, descending further on smooth asphalt. I cruised past Melgarve bothy, which I would have stayed at if it was open, although it was still early at around 6pm. I’d got cold from descending so decided to keep riding to stay warm and when I found a decent spot in a few hours I’d have some food and get some sleep. I carried on until I found a decent enough patch of grass next to Loch Laggan to eat and crash out. It was absolutely freezing overnight though, so not much sleep at all and I got up feeling like I’d just been shivering on the floor for a few hours. I slowly came back to life as the sun rose, thawing out the frosty grass around me and I quickly got my stove fired up so I could warm up with tea.
Day 2: Kinloch Laggan - Killin. 125 km | 1800 m+ | 8/11 hours
As the sun came up I had pork belly and beans in a bag for breakfast, and was off - keen to get some blood flowing and warm up. My feet had felt completely frozen for hours now and I’d just about stopped shivering. Packing up my kit was tough as my hands were quite numb, but after a while of faffing I was satisfied enough with the untidy packing job and I headed on from Loch Laggan. After a few smaller gravel paths, I joined a wider, rockier road that opened up into a valley, with mountain banks on either side, alongside Lochan na h-Earba, which was stunning. I bumped into a few cyclists here, plus climbers who were on their way through, everyone in good spirits as it was set to be another day of wall-to-wall sunshine. It took me a while to warm up and my body relax, but I had the biggest grin on my face. The gravel estate roads were again ideal and made for quick riding.
A couple of hours later I stopped for breakfast at Courrer Station House - this place is incredible and I had the best fried egg and black pudding rolls. This is also a train station and has rooms, so an option if you need to bail from the ride of need to stay indoors overnight. The station house is only reachable by foot or bike, along a 15 mile gravel access path, so it’s an interesting place, everyone who gets off the train is here for an adventure.
On from here, through wide ranges and huge open spaces around Loch Ossain, you join the Road to the Isles, which is now my favourite road ever. It’s seemingly endless, undulating by just a few per cent, and is sandy. In the wet this would be slow going, so again I was fortunate for good weather. The trail has endless flow as it’s not steep or technical so you can relax and ride it quickly, pumping up and down the banks.
Off the back of this trail, I descended to pick up a road all the way to Killin. There was one final big climb to get over first, though, although the tarmac was in horrendous shape.
Arriving in Killin, I stopped at a chip van in a car park, which was ideal, and got some beers and supplies from the Co-op next door. After my freezing night in a bivvy bag the night before, I checked in to a B&B to warm up and dry out. With pretty much clear blue skies the whole day, all in all, this was probably the best day on a bike I’ve ever had, I was buzzing.
Day 3. Killin - Glasgow. 105 km | 1500 m+ | 7/8 hours
I had a fairly relaxed morning with a dry up, and set off in thick cloud and light morning drizzle for my third day, Although I counted myself lucky for having enjoyed two previous bright sunny days in Scotland. Out of Killin I joined a wet, muddy trail through Loch Earn and most of the morning I was riding on claggy trails and slippy rocks, so it was noticeably slower going. A few larger streams to cross had me carrying my bike, followed by very lumpy tracks that took concentration to navigate and stay upright.
After a short, smooth road section, I was into The Trossachs National Park which was very well set up. Long pristine sections of cycle gravel paths away from the road connected through the trees and were a joy to ride. Rolling into Glasgow I was looking forward to having a shower, cleaning off my bike and a pint.
On reflection, three days is the right length for this trip, and a gravel bike is, on the whole, the right bike for the job. There are a couple of descents where a mountain bike would be better and you’d fly down, but you’d pay for it on the road and flatter sections, which I don’t think is worth it. In the wet you’d want a grippy tread, I lucked out with the sunshine and my semi-slick turned out to be ideal.
Logistically, as this ride starts and finishes in cities, it’s easy to access and following established gravel tracks and paths is straightforward. There are enough resupply points, so no need to carry more than one day’s supply of food. Being Scotland, water is everywhere, so no need to carry litres and litres. This was a great trip, I’d definitely recommend it and would ride it again!
On reflection, this was one of, if not the, best trip of mine to date. Despite Covid restriction worries, everything came together really well. I found the terrain was challenging enough but also enabled good progress, with no long sections of walking or rerouting. The first two days’ weather were so incredible, I really lucked out there. Get yourself to Scotland!
Further info
See more at: thebadgerdivide.co.uk.
Useful links: Komoot's BD Collection, Apidura’s article on Scotland’s Right to Roam, Graham Cottingham’s BD ride report, Marcus Nicolson’s BD FKT ride report, The Complete Guide to Bikepacking Scotland, Not Even Half a Badger.
Short films: Graham Cottingham’s BD ride part one & part two, Castelli’s The Divide.
Related reading:
- The Scottish Bothy Bible, Geoff Allen
- Escape by Bike: Adventure Cycling, Bikepacking and Touring Off-road, Joshua Cunningham
- Bikepacking: Mountain Bike Camping Adventures on the Wild Trails of Britain, Laurence McJannet
- Bikepacking - Exploring the Roads Less Cycled, Stefan Amato
Similar trips
Bike
6 Sep 2022