Thanks. 

I planned to stay at Inverness hostel for a day or two.  Sounds like reservations are in order.  But I am hesitant to make reservations this early when I do not have firm dates and won't have firm dates for a couple months.  On my calendar are two different days to leave Inverness.

I have reservations for my last couple nights in Edinburgh before my flight, but those are the only dates I have with certainty.  Bike touring where your schedule is at the whim of the weather really complicates things.

Perhaps I should make a reservation now to stay at Perth the night before I plan to get to Edinburgh. 

In the past, I found that starting a trip in early June was a good way to find lots of available spaces, as things did not get busy until early to mid July.  My last tour before Covid was in 2019, several times I was the only person in a tenting area where there were a half dozen or more empty campsites.

A decade ago, I usually made hostel reservations no more than a couple days in advance for stays in the middle of my tour.  I only made longer term reservations in larger cities that were at the start or end of a trip. 

I am starting to realize that is not a reliable strategy any more.  I may be doing more wild camping than I planned.

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

Did not even look for water and did not even make coffee first. 

If your morning coffee is important to you, I thought I'd let you know about a product available in all UK grocery stores. Coffee bags. Pop one or two in your mug, add water, and in three or four minutes, voilà! Miles ahead of instant in taste, and quicker than a campsite pour over.

The campsite in Torridon is where I discovered the true true meaning of Scottish midges

Thanks on the coffee.  But when solo camping, I am quite used to plain old instant.  I think about a year or two ago when I saw the price of coffee was going to skyrocket, I stocked up with plenty of ground for home use and instant for camping.  I was going to bring a jar of this instant from home for this trip:
https://www.hy-vee.com/aisles-online/p/2930453/thats-smart-medium-roast-instant-coffee 
Container is plastic (light weight, less fragile than glass).  This is essentially a generic brand.  If the link does not open, see first attached.  I have half a dozen of those jars on the shelf that cost me a lot less than the current price.

Midges, I will just have to find out what they are like.  I treated most of my clothing with Permethrin.  Bringing a repellant that is made with Picaridin.  And a headnet.  I also sprayed a bit of Permethrin on the tent door netting.

When I get serious about coffee when camping, see second attached, a plastic French Press so that I do not have to worry about broken glass.  But that takes more space, more work for cleanup, etc.  For that reason, the French Press has not gone on one of my bike trips yet, instead only use the French Press for canoe or kayak trips where I am always camping on a shoreline.

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.