Balloch, on the shores of Loch Lomond, is where you will spend your first evening.

For those arriving by train (40 minutes from Glasgow) your accommodation is a short walk from the station. If you decide to arrive into Balloch by car, limited parking is available at the accommodation for the duration of the trip (subject to availability), alternatively on-street parking is available nearby. The Skedaddle guide will meet you at the accommodation in the evening and there will be a chance for a chat about the next few days riding over a drink and something to eat.

• Meals: Breakfast, lunch
• Ascent: 950m

Following a hearty Scottish breakfast, we leave our accommodation and follow a route via lochs and glens (no surprises there!) to Callander, our second night’s stop. The route takes us out into the solitude of the countryside from Loch Lomond to Loch Venacher via quiet country roads. After Aberfoyle we enter Achray Forest from where we will weave our way to Callander along the southern shore of Loch Venacher. Some climbing, with the inevitable descents, but plenty of time to enjoy the views, tranquillity and great cycling.

• Meals: Breakfast, lunch
• Ascent: 550m

The countryside is different to yesterday’s riding, with a gentler landscape of farmland and woodland. A real combination of surfaces today, quiet lanes, cycle paths and a disused railway line through the beautiful Glen Ogle. You are now close to the birthplace of folk hero and latter day Robin Hood, Rob Roy Macgregor, whose grave may be found in Balquhidder. The final stretch is to Killin (or nearby) where you stop for the night.

• Meals: Breakfast, lunch
• Ascent: 750m

The start of the day follows the 15 mile long Loch Tay to Aberfeldy the home to Dewars World of Whisky Distillery. All road today, as you pass through Aberfeldy and Strathay, before arriving at Pitlochry – watch out for those leaping salmon! An optional detour can be made from here to the Edradour Distillery (2.5 miles from Pitlochry) – you’ll need no persuasion to visit Scotland’s smallest distillery, established way back in 1825. The wide glens of the river Tay and river Tummel guide you to Pitlochry and your accommodation for the night.

• Meals: Breakfast, lunch
• Ascent: 700m

Today we ride through Glen Garry and over the Pass of Drummochter, the main mountain pass separating the southern and northern Highlands. Not to worry as it’s a gradual, undulating climb with lovely Highland vistas. Early sights include impressive Blair Castle, ancestral home of Clan Murray in the pretty village of Blair Atholl. Soon we ride on a traffic free path adjacent to the River Garry with a waterfall or two spotted on the way. After conquering the pass on undulating cycle path, you’re rewarded with 20 miles of gradual downhill to finish the day in the town of Kingussie, passing Dalwhinnie, the highest village (and distillery) in the Highlands, and time permitting, a visit to the Highland Folk Museum in Newtonmore, Britain’s first open air museum and a glimpse at how locals have lived and worked here since the 1700s.

• Meals: Breakfast, lunch
• Ascent: 800m

The first impressive sight of the day comes immediately after leaving Kingussie. Our route passes directly by the well-preserved Ruthven Barracks, built in 1719 after the Jacobite rising, sitting on an old castle mound. We will take a few minutes to explore the complex and take photos at this picturesque site. Continuing up Speyside through quieted forested roads we soon reach the ski resort town of Aviemore with terrific views of the Cairngorm Mountains. More traffic-free sections follow on a stretch of the Speyside Way, through pleasant forest and moorland track (you might see one of the local golden eagles or osprey if you’re lucky!) . A few miles further we reach Carrbridge with its packhorse bridge, the oldest stone bridge in the Highlands. Following the Slochd summit it’s mostly downhill to the capital of the Highlands, Inverness, with glimpses of the Moray Firth ahead. The final miles are steeped in history, passing the 4000 year old Clava Cairns and the Culloden Battlefield before finishing our journey on the Ness Bridge in the heart of the northernmost city in the UK. We’ll have a celebratory evening with a wee dram or two before a good night’s rest and departure the next day.

• Meals: Breakfast

After our final hearty Scottish breakfast of the trip, time to say a sad farewell to our fellow cyclists and start our return journey home. Transfers to the train station at Inverness and back to cars in Balloch will be provided.