Thorn Cycles Forum

Community => Cycle Tours => Topic started by: in4 on July 02, 2026, 07:27:55 AM

Title: Scotland’s ‘lost’ highways and byways
Post by: in4 on July 02, 2026, 07:27:55 AM

Interesting read, dressing similarly entirely optional.

https://apple.news/Ay9j7Pl0vQEaBFmNjMBW_2g

There’s a GPS link too ( almost hidden!)

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/55551051

I’ve ridden parts of this route and yes it’s the antidote to NC500.

Title: Re: Scotland’s ‘lost’ highways and byways
Post by: Matt2matt2002 on July 02, 2026, 09:17:03 AM

Excellent ride. I have passed through Lairg a few times and also stopped at the Crask Inn but not taken some of the roads mentioned.
It's now on my ( when fit enough ) to do list.

Cheers.

Title: Re: Scotland’s ‘lost’ highways and byways
Post by: in4 on July 03, 2026, 08:03:58 AM

I can recommend The Pier in Lairg for food. One for the ‘to do’ list.

Title: Re: Scotland’s ‘lost’ highways and byways
Post by: Matt2matt2002 on July 03, 2026, 09:42:26 AM

Quote from: in4 on July 03, 2026, 08:03:58 AM

I can recommend The Pier in Lairg for food. One for the ‘to do’ list.

Ha ha. I recall The Pier in Lairg.
I had stopped to chat to another cyclist there and started telling him about my recent tour in Ethiopia. I was quite chuffed with my adventure. He then mentioned he had just returned from a round the world trip!
My bubble was burst!

Title: Re: Scotland’s ‘lost’ highways and byways
Post by: John Saxby on July 04, 2026, 01:06:40 AM

A tour in Ethiopia is something special, Matt -- not a walk in the park, for sure.

In your defence, I'd say in reply (with a wink, of course), "To see the world in a grain of sand..."

Hope your recovery is going well,

Cheers,  John

Title: Re: Scotland’s ‘lost’ highways and byways
Post by: Andre Jute on July 04, 2026, 02:27:36 PM

Quote from: John Saxby on July 04, 2026, 01:06:40 AM

A tour in Ethiopia is something special, Matt -- not a walk in the park, for sure.

I was in Ethiopia once, handling security for a convoy delivering wheat to the famished during their civil war. When I got back and with a sigh dropped into my chair at my table in the Langham Long Bar, the CIA guy for Southern Africa said, 'Only the innocent and the ruthless return from Ethiopia alive.'

When I read that from Matt, I wondered whether he is innocent or ruthless. Whichever, a bicycle tour in Ethiopia ranks way higher on the Jute Green Scale (of envy) than any circumnavigation through only civilized countries.

My late chum Andrew McCoy, the leader of that expedition, turned its events into a somewhat colored novel called Lance of God; it's out of print but I have e-copies from his (and my) publishers I can give to anyone interested; drop me a PM with your email address and it follows by return of mail.