Rannoch to Pitlochry trip

[bobs]

Would recommend it for a good day out. Take the train to Rannoch and cycle the 40 miles to Pitlochry using the south sides of the lochs and pick the train up again in Pitlochry.

[geocycle]

Yes, good cycling country indeed!  I like using the trains to make linear routes.  On the whole they've been OK if somewhat grudging at times.  Scot rail at Inverness station were the most antagonistic so far -I couldn't even get on the platform without showing my reservation tickets and even got told off for leaving my bike in the wrong place while popping into the shop, Virgin depend on the guard and range from very good to down-right rude on one occasion, Northern rail are so far the most consistently helpful and sensible but there is always a nagging doubt that you may not be able to board if others are there first (reservations don't seem to be possible on most services).  How did you find Scot Rail?

[Cake]

It looks like you were having a great time Bobs!  Hardly surprising, the scenery looks superb.  I'm interested in the whole bikes-on-trains situation - it seems to be a major bugbear, with very inconsistent policy and policy implementation even within one train operator.

This is what i gather from research rather than experience though....

[bobs]

both work for Scotrail we have a head start and it costs us nothing. The biggest problem we have is people travelling with bikes without reservations. The cycle policy is laid down on the First Scotrail website and if you stick to that there should be no problems and all reservations are free. If Scotrail srews up (more often or not Network Rail's fault) we will always do what we can to resolve the situation even to the extent of providing a taxl for bikes.

[geocycle]

I don't mind having to reserve and I prefer it to the pot-luck method when planning routes.  It does lack spontaneity though.  I do wish we had a uk-wide system of reservations and an easy way of seeing what spaces are available.  I've had a lot of long waits when I've arrived early and had to let several trains go before the one with my reserved slot turned up.  The station staff have tried to help but have not been able to access the relevant bit of the software to check availability, never mind bring the reservation forward.

I thought the on-board cycle storage on the scotrail service I used was quite good.  Certainly better than some where I've had to stand in doorways eg on a SPT service to Balloch. 

It's great to see the NCN interchanges marked at the stations in Scotland and I hope people make use of trains.  I love that part of the country for cycling.

[jags]

bobs great pics looks like you and buddy had a great time, is the sherpa still going strong also is that tent the hilleberg akto fantastic.

[bobs]

The Sherpa is great as you know. The Atko was up in a third of the time it took my mate to put up his Vango. We did have a great time , the weather was perfect. We had intended to camp wild half way along the route but made such good progress the lure of the bright lights of Pitlochry and the prospect of a hot shower were too tempting.

[beatsboy59]

That was the last time we used a train to Scotland,our bikes were locked in the guards van when we reached Glasgow and the guard was nowhere to be found (the train almost left with our bikes inside)The guard on the Rannoch train insisted we remove our panniers and hang our bikes from hooks on the ceiling!.We now drive and leave the car at a campsite and do a circular tour (it's cheaper too).The Sustrans route passes Rannoch using the old A9? and goes up to Inverness,a really nice route.