SO YOU WANT TO BIKEPACK THE PICTISH TRAIL? WATCH THIS

[@morekeepsmilingadventures]

You can watch the full bikepacking adventure here - kzbin.info/www/bejne/f3zJaYihrJ2Lr9U

[@katerina1983]

Thanks a lot for such a useful overview! Planning to do the route next September, the information you provide is priceless! Greetings from Belgium.

[@theGEOcycle]

Did this ride in May of this year ('24) with a mate over 8 days and had an absolutely amazing time. Took the 6:30am train from Edinburgh and got to Thurso for a bit after 2pm. Lunch in town, and then rode to Forsinard where we stayed for the night. (B&B-packing!) We skipped the 20mile Dunnet-head-and-back journey. Just absolutely fantastic riding all around - with very few sad bits. I loved going North to South, as you started in the most remote areas and would then ride towards civilisation - and for myself, I got to ride home! The boggy bit with the bridge of death was the lowlight of the trip, which is annoying after 3+ hours of glorious gravel along Altnabraec. If I were to do it again, I would skip the boggy bit by continuing on past Braemore towards Dunbeath. You add on more A9 and a few miles to boot, but you would spend as much time riding this longer bit than you would walking + riding the boggy hillside. I've never had to pick so many ticks off myself in my LIFE. Before taking on the Fungle Road, a stop in Ballater is well worth it to resupply. The Bike Station there has a bike wash (they ask for a donation to trail building to use), and the cafe around the corner is STUNNING for 2nd breakfast with some pancakes. :D. I honestly want to do this again, I enjoyed it so much. While you CAN ride to The Castle at the end, Teuchters Landing or Lost in Leith on The Shore are both well deserving of mention for a celebratory beer outside. A bonus being slightly nicer roads & paths to get down that way.

[@whopostedthis]

Thanks for these two videos. We did exactly what you suggested in terms of diversion and rode to the end via the flow country and it worked well. It’s a great route though and I’m glad you covered it 😊

[@Swayndo]

Have a look at the GBDuro route. It's easy to connect up with that from Dunnet Head using the B876. The rest should be obvious.

[@jswrenn]

My partner and I toured this from Edinburgh to Orkney on a tandem bike this past July. We used a Co-Motion Java with an Al Grounder (DD, RaceGuard) 29x2.35 front tire, and a Marathon Mondial 28x2.00 rear tire. We loved the remote parts of the ride, but we found the segments on the A9 almost outweighed the good bits. Being forced to ride alongside lorries passing at 50mph on roads with little to no shoulder is easily the least fun we've ever had a bike, ever. Maybe it wouldn't have stuck out in our memory so much if we hadn't seen roadkill get created before our eyes, but as it stands, we'll not be repeating this ride. I think, overall, we're still grateful we did it. We wanted to gain experience with a more rugged tour, and the Pictish trail provided that with plenty of escape hatches. There was no shortage of great camp spots, and food and supplies were never too far away. When our rear hub blew out in the Cairngorms, a mobile bike mechanic (E.I.N Outdoors) rescued us from the foot hills, and we were able to take a train to Elgin to get a replacement wheel in short order. Now that we've done it, I think we've firmly set our sights higher. We're now more confident we can handle poor weather in good spirits, more confident we can overcome setbacks, and much more confident that we can camp for three weeks without going crazy.

[@davidhudson7590]

Your vids inspire me to get well and health back and do a overnight bikepacking trip got new bike and all the gear so your videos give me boost to try harder atb,and I don't understand why you don't have a million more subs as your best on KZbin Fact

[@morekeepsmilingadventures]

That's good to hear, you got this 💪🚵

[@andreawisem1926]

What was your favorites stretch? We're thinking of doing this with our teenagers (we've biked 700km with them across Germany), but we don't want to do the whole 700 km. What 300-400 stretch would you suggest is the best? Safest (we would prefer no busy roads). Thank you for making this video!!!

[@lydiagould3090]

Looks a great route. I don’t mind a tough slog but after the EWE where I only achieved 40 miles some days what with getting lost and bad weather,a route that covers the ground quickly is more fun. Must admit I don’t like riding through towns after struggling with Kings Lynne and Norwich on the Reb way. But if you are alone, with no back up to call, at least you can get to safety if necessary 😊 Does the diversion miss much nice terrain? I quite fancied the scary bridge 😂

[@morekeepsmilingadventures]

The diversion just avoids the boggy trail. The bridge😆 and the A9 section, which can get pretty busy.

[@lydiagould3090]

@@morekeepsmilingadventures yeah Dodo don’t want to be on the A 9 at any time on a bike

[@lydiagould3090]

Defo

[@johnnyloco11]

What time of the year were you there? Did you not have an issue with midges. They always put me off Scotland - though it seemed not much of this route was by water

[@morekeepsmilingadventures]

Mid-September temp had dropped already, so midge free. It's a good time to go to Scotland.

[@johnnyloco11]

@@morekeepsmilingadventures Thanks Josh. It was a great and stunning scenary!

[@petergilbert72]

East side of Scotland has far fewer midges. They live in boggy terrain and open moorland. Enclosed fields and dryer or drained land is inhospitable to them.