With easy access by train or car, the meet-up point for this Skedaddle trip is at Stirling in central Scotland. Our meeting time of 11am provides us with plenty of time to transfer you to our first night’s accommodation at Bettyhill, where we start tomorrow’s riding.

After a quick lunch break at Inverness, we arrive on the north coast of Scotland late in the afternoon leaving plenty of time to get our bikes out and check they are ready for the adventure ahead of us. Tonight’s evening meal provides a chance to chat with the Skedaddle guides in a little more depth about the schedule for the days ahead.

• Meals: Breakfast, lunch
• Ascent: 1050 Metres

A superb riding day to start our journey off in style. Our route initially follows in the path of Viking settlers up Strath Naver away from their coastal raiding bases and off into the hills around the mountain of Ben Kilbreck.

The terrain is fairly gentle riverside trail to start off, moving on to some harder moorland singletrack riding after lunch. It may look and feel like a true wilderness but look around and there is evidence of human habitation dating back to neolithic times and deserted farmsteads from the Highland clearances.

We finish off today at the wonderfully remote Crask Inn, where you can relax with a well earned drink while your guides load up the vehicle ready for a short transfer to your overnight accommodation.

• Meals: Breakfast, lunch
• Ascent: 670 Metres

After our breakfast we cycle off through the forests of Strath Tirry, using sections of singletrack and forestry road we soon find ourselves riding along the shoreline of Loch Shin heading for Lairg.

After Lairg we are off into the forests again passing the Shin Falls and Carbisdale Castle before heading for our overnight stop at Invershin.

• Meals: Breakfast, lunch
• Ascent: 1550 Metres

Leaving Invershin we have a gentle start to the day heading along the Dornoch Firth before we tackle our first big climb of the day to get ourselves up and over the Easter Ross peninsula. Initially following a good hard surfaced track up the valley of Wester Fearn Burn, we have a short moorland section before we meet Strath Rusdale and head downhill to the village of Boath. Eventually we descend all the way back down to sea level at the Cromarty Firth at Evanton.

The afternoon although not as wild as this morning contains plenty of ups and downs as we pedal our way through the woods around Strathpeffer and Loch Ussie before reaching our evening stop at beautiful Beauly.

• Meals: Breakfast, lunch
• Ascent: 1400 Metres

This morning after a hearty breakfast we head away from the east coast and off into the heart of the Highlands. We climb up through Black Wood forest to the area called The Aird where we join the Great Glen Way overlooking Loch Ness.

At Drumnadrochit we have a couple of options depending upon trail and weather conditions: we can join the Great Glen Cycleway for an easy and fast stretch of track leading all the way to Fort Augustus, or we can take in an adventurous detour up to Loch ma Stac deep in the heart of the mountains.

Either way we can celebrate reaching our halfway point at the head of the Caledonian Canal at Fort Augustus.

• Meals: Breakfast, lunch
• Ascent: 1280 Metres

Setting off from Fort Augustus we get a few miles under our wheels before the challenge of the day unfurls in the shape of the awesome Corrieyairack Pass. Situated on General Wade’s old Military Road, at a height of 772 metres this is the highest point on the whole route. The climb up the Corrieairack is a tough and long climb followed by a technical and exhilarating descent and showcases mountain biking in Scotland at its wildest and dramatic best.

Once over the pass our route picks up the River Spey at Melgrave from where we follow the river downhill to Garva bridge and then a country road to Laggan. The final section for the day picks through Laggan Forest.

• Meals: Breakfast, lunch
• Ascent: 1530 Metres

Make sure you have a substantial breakfast to fuel up for one of the longest days of the trip. We start gently with a short section of road before heading off along the banks of Loch Ericht.

Initially we are on good doubletrack forest road but soon that narrows down to some challenging singletrack with numerous little burns to negotiate. From the dam at the foot of Ericht it’s a blast down to shores of Loch Rannoch for lunch at Tay Forest Park.

This afternoon’s exertions start by working through a narrow glen to passing between the Grampian Mountains in the West and the Schiehallion in the east.

You may be thankful for the tarmac on our final climb up to Lochan na Lairinge nestled below mountainous Ben Lawers. From this high point it’s downhill all the way to Killin for a well deserved evening’s rest.

• Meals: Breakfast, lunch
• Ascent: 750 Metres

Compared to yesterday’s challenges it would be easy to underestimate today’s ride, but we still have 40 miles to go on some wonderful tracks, through ancient wooded valleys and along quiet coutry lanes. You’ll have the chance to relax a little and reflect on how far you’ve come over the course of the last 7 days’ riding. From the North Sea coast to the heart of the country, we finish today in Stirling below the monument to Scottish hero William Wallace.

After a quick freshen up we return to Stirling train station to pick up cars or to jump on trains, heading home with a head full of memories and a camera’s worth of pictures to impress your friends with.