The ten best biking roads in Scotland
- Simon Weir
- 17 hours ago
- 6 min read
It's spring and a young man's fancy turns to… well, okay, before you stop me… I may not be so young but anyway it's at this time of year my mind starts to wander to where I want to ride, my favourite places to revisit and – especially – my favourite roads.
Naturally, Scotland's always pretty near the top of the list. It has perhaps the best riding in the UK and on a sunny day you can make a pretty good case for that being some of the best riding in Europe. It's pretty magical. It's also pretty large (more than 30,000 square miles) with more than two-thirds of its people living in urban areas – leaving a lot of wide-open spaces to explore.
There are plenty of famous roads that are pretty good. The A82 over Rannoch Moor, through Glencoe and up the shore of Loch Ness is a classic. The A7 and the A68 that run their separate paths from the Border up to Edinburgh have their moments. Britain's longest B-road, the B6318 that runs through Northumberland and into Scotland is pretty lovely. And then there's the much-fêted North Coast 500 – which isn't a single road but a collection; some good, some bad. But these aren't the roads I dream of revisiting. Here's my personal top ten Scottish biking roads.
10 B797 Mennock Pass
I'll be honest, I'd been coming to Scotland for at least 15 years before I even had an inkling there was such great riding in the Borders. Like every ignorant Sassenach, I assumed Scotland began north of Glasgow. It took a Zimbabwean exile, Dave Smith of The Buccleuch Arms in Moffat, to put me right.
Stay with Dave. Get him to show you around – you won't regret it. There's a heap of great riding around here but this little gem, from the village of Mennock to (essentially) the Abington services is everything that's great about Scotland: quiet, twisty, with purple-heather hills, wild sheep and hardly any traffic.
9 Bealach na Bà
It's a bit of a cliché but I do love the Pass of the Cattle, the road to Applecross, Bealach na Bà… whatever name you decide to use. It's wildly beautiful and steep enough to have proper hairpins so it's a challenging ride – especially as it's a single-track with passing places.
But I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with it. This is one of the more famous parts of the North Coast 500 so it gets busy – all it takes is one moron who won't wait in a passing place so you can overtake to turn what should be a great ride into a frustrating one. You need a bit of luck to get a good run over it, but when you do, it's truly one of the best rides in Scotland.
8 B974 Banchory to Fettercairn
I'm a bit surprised to find that I don't have any pics of this road. I've never been there on a road test, just riding for myself – but clearly enjoying it too much to stop and take pics. It's tucked away, west of Aberdeen (well, everything is) running from the fringes of the Cairngorms down towards the coast. It's a road you can lose yourself in because it just seems to be endless: mile after quiet mile unrolling across the hills. The first time I did it, the heather was in full riotous bloom – it was as purple as Provençe in lavender season – and while I've not been quite so lucky on other visits, the vivid memory of that just keeps me going back.
7 A701 Broughton to Moffat
Here's another cracking road in the Borders – again, introduced to me by Dave Smith of The Buccleuch Arms. When I think how many years I wasted on the broadly parallel A74(M), I have to shudder. This is everything a great biking road should be: long straights, sweeping turns, some really tight bends… and epic views, of course. From Moffat you can jump on the equally challenging rollercoaster of the A708 past St Mary's Loch, which might have had this spot in my top ten if it hadn't been slapped with a 50mph limit. So top honours go to the A701 instead.
6 A83 Tarbet to Campbeltown
This is a long ride – and a great one. From Tarbet on the shores of Loch Lomond the road climbs over the Rest & Be Thankful Pass, dropping down to lovely Loch Fyne. The full length of the road, running down the length of the Kintyre peninsula to Campbeltown, is pretty much a dead-end. That means it's quite valid to loop up from Lochgilphead to Oban on the (also very good) A816 – but there are some fabulous bends and spectacular views to be found if you do the full length of the A83.
5 B8007 Salen to Ardnamurchan lighthouse
This 25-mile B-road could well be Britain's toughest tarmac ride. It's long, mostly single-track with passing places. It has a full cocktail not only of corners but also surfaces (a lot has been freshly surfaced but there are still some rough, gravelly bits). There are sheep. There are deer… But the views are spectacular, even for Scotland. And finally you reach the lighthouse, built on the point that's the most westerly bit of the British mainland. Thankfully there's a café for a well-earned drink to celebrate making it out there. But then it's time to turn round and do it all again to get back to anywhere else… making this not a 25-mile road but 50 miles of challenging, rewarding, wonderful riding.
4 B869 Lochinver to Newton
Here's another demanding but beautiful single-track road. The B869 is part of the North Coast 500 and, on a sunny day, one of the most memorable parts. Blue seas lap sandy beaches as the road writhes between rocks and forests, past limpid pools and open moors, rising and falling. As well as being narrow, the surface is often poor and it seems to be a magnet for bad drivers… but none of that spoils it. This is a truly majestic ride.
3 A93 Glenshee
There's something about ski lifts… they always seem to go hand in hand with great riding. The A93 through Glenshee valley – past the ski centre – is packed with twists and crests, rising and falling, thrilling and exhilarating as it carves its way into the heart of the Cairngorms. It's a good, long road as well – nearly 30 miles from Bridge of Cally to Braemar.
2 A832 Braemore Junction to Achnasheen
The success of the North Coast 500 is that it joins together brilliant bits of road under one easily marketable banner. Picking a favourite bit is tough – the A838 along the north coast is brilliant, there's Applecross and the B869 already in this top ten… but for me the run though First Coast and Second Coast to Gairloch is the best bit of the route. There are some single-track bits but for the most part it's broad, quick, sweeping and – as always – cuts through a stunning landscape. A special mention should go to the stretch between Kinlochewe and Achnasheen, which isn't on the NC500… but it's a delight.
1 A8 Road to the Isles
There's no question what my favourite road in Scotland is – which makes it my favourite road in the UK. The Road to the Isles, the A87 from Invergarry to Uig on Skye is 97 miles of joy, laid down in a series of swooping bends through a spectacular landscape. I remember coming here with Bike magazine photographer Chippy Wood and on practically every corner, as a new vista unfolded before us, he'd stop and demand we performed for the camera. "We've got to get a picture of that," he'd say.
There aren't that many villages along its length, which means you can get into a good rhythm – you're not stopping and starting all the time. There some spectacular sights, though – including Eilean Donan (the Highlander castle) and the Skye Bridge.
Then there's Skye itself – much of which feels even wilder than the mainland, as the road coils its way up to the top of the island. A lot of people will turn off before getting there, heading north on the (also very good) A890 to Applecross or Ullapool. It's a valid choice… but feels like a shame because Skye is so lovely – and with the A87 you're getting two roads for the price of one. From start to finish, it's an unforgettable ride.
Want to ride these roads? They all appear in daytrips in the Scotland page. Or you can join me and Scotsman Teapot One riding many of them this summer – click here.
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