Quote from: mickeg on April 29, 2026, 10:34:08 PM

If I go to Loch Ness, the better road for cycling is on the south side, that has few actual campgrounds.  So, I was planning on camping there if I go down that road. 

Be forewarned that there's a bit of a climb near the south end of Loch Ness on the southern route option. Around 10%, perhaps more, for about a mile then more, but easier climbing, for several more miles. I find it's useful to look at the ground levels on Google Earth. I import gpx files into Google Earth and look at the profiles. I think GE uses more detailed terrain models than most alternatives.

Thanks.  At 10 percent, I would likely walk the bike up it.  Been there, done that.

I have two different options, one would go along that route, the other option skips Loch Ness and instead goes through Torridon.  It depends on how much time I have available to get to Inverness, as that is in the late part of my trip, thus I will be planning how to make sure I get to my end point on time for my flight. 

I do not have any firm plans to wild camp anywhere, it is just a contingency.  And I will have three liters of capacity on my bike.  First attached photo.

My bike tour two years ago, I sort of wild camped, but not that wild and only once.  After a couple campgrounds on the map that were no longer there, and two motels that had closed, I pulled into a campground after 9pm, well after dark, the office was closed.  The sign said reservations must be made first and I of course did not have a reservation.  Set up my tent in a storage area, slept, woke up and started riding before it got light out.  Did not even look for water and did not even make coffee first.  If I have to, I can do that again.

I am really not too concerned about water. 

I have one campsite on my map that only existed on Google Maps.  If I go to Loch Ness, the better road for cycling is on the south side, that has few actual campgrounds.  So, I was planning on camping there if I go down that road.  Google maps listed a campsite.  Street view showed a path, and nothing else at the road.  On google maps I could click and pull up a photo of the shore.  So, I suspect this is a common wild camping spot.
www.google.com/maps/search/campsites/@57.3470003,-4.3800134,14.88z/

Second attached is a screen print from my computer showing the path when I had street view enabled in Google Maps.  I do not see any shortage of water at the loch.  Google told me that Loch Ness is fresh water, water surface well above sea level.

I have bladders I can use, but I am not going to bother bringing them.  I use them for backpacking with my filter gravity system.  Typically when backpacking, when I make camp, I fill up a 2 liter bladder (dirty one) and start filtering into my second (clean) bladder.  While gravity does the filtering for me, I set up my tent.  Then I refill my water bottles from the filtered water bladder.  Fill the unfiltered bladder again, that is my water supply for water that will be boiled, not filtered while I am at that site.  When I pack up in the morning, I usually discard about one liter when I pack.

Two years ago, I did a backpacking segment where I needed eight days of food.  Third photo.  Bad lighting, sorry, the sun was shining through tree leaves and the food was on a picnic table in a campground.  I had just finished six days of backpacking and was resupplying for eight more days.  Point being, I have carried a lot of food before, but I have pretty much mapped out a plan for where to buy food on this trip.

But bike touring, I carry heavier stuff, like canned soups, etc.  Not all dehydrated stuff like in the photo of my backpacking food.

Fourth photo, I think I had not been to a grocery store for five days at the time of the photo, I still had a couple more weeks of food on the bike.  That was on Iceland. 

But I do not need to do that on this trip.  I marked on my map a couple of grocery stores with reminder to myself that when I leave those stores, I need to have five days of food, that includes contingency for a windy day.

I have five more weeks to finish my planning and packing, I am well ahead of schedule. 

Nobody mentioned needing an ETA.  I got that done weeks ago.
https://www.gov.uk/eta

I will be bringing some food from home, but I reviewed the criteria on what I can't bring into the UK, so it will all be legal, no meat or dairy, etc.

I think all I need to worry about now is jet fuel shortage in mid July for my flight home.

...
BTW, just had £750 back from my insurers to cover (most of) my costs due to cancelled flights returning from Sri Lanka last month.  Hence my suggestion upthread of having abandonment in your travel insurance.

Great, that sounds like you at least got some of your expenses back, but I suspect not all.

The retailers of camping gear that I mostly have bought stuff from have generally suggested you do it yourself with a good soap intended for the purpose.  I have probably washed a down sleeping bag at least a dozen times, I own several.  I always used a top loading machine, which is not recommended, because that is what I had access to.  The only time it did not work well was with my winter sleeping bag that was rated at minus 40 degrees.  There is a lot of down in that bag and the down dried out so slowly that the down started to smell a bit in the late stages of air drying it. 

My oldest down bag is 54 years old, I remember when I got it.  I do not recall how many times I washed that bag.  But it was my only sleeping bag during my late teens and early 20s when I was doing a lot of camping.

Quote from: Andyb1 on April 27, 2026, 09:41:44 PM

This may surprise some, but the UK public water system provides drinkable water throughout the British Isles.
Things are perhaps different in America?

So, even when you are wild camping you can find a convenient water tap?  That is wonderful.

I took my Steripen on my 2 month tour along the Pamir Highway through Tajikistan and Kyrgystan, 10 years ago.
I think I used it once.
It was on  my, 'not to take again' list when i returned home.

Re taps when wild camping? Yes, we don't have many/any in forests here. However most graveyards have a free water supply/tap. I've often used them to top up a water bottle. No body/one objected.