The Routes

There are five routes. The route files have overview maps, profiles and GPS files in various formats for download from ridewithgps.com. The route track itself is colour-coded for the quality of the riding surface. Tested sections are marked blue, red or black (see below) and un-tested sections are marked yellow. I update the route files as I test each new section. Here are the links to the current route files:

Here is my descriptive grading system:

Colour Code	Surface Description	Ideal Bike & Tyre Volume	Examples
Tarmac road	any surfaced road	Touring or Gravel any tyre	Mostly small single track roads
Grade A track	even surface most of width of track, well compacted	Gravel or Touring 28mm+ tyre	Windfarm tracks Surfaced cycle route paths
Grade B track	fairly even surface on carriageways, small gravel, stable surface	Gravel or Mountain 35mm+ tyre	Forestry tracks Good estate tracks
Grade C track	generally uneven track, with larger rocks or loose gravel/sand surface or lots surface water	Mountain or Gravel 40mm+	Drove roads Rough estate tracks
Grade D track	generally rough uneven surface, larger rocks, narrow, fully grassy or very muddy track or path	Mountain 40mm+	Foot paths Single track
The Sea	Water	Any bike	On a ferry (hopefully)

The general recipe for the routes is around 100km & 1300m of climbing per day. The Ride Guide for each route will include suggested road short-cuts and alternative off-road sections. So you can plan your own route to suit you and take as few or as many days as you like.

Bridge, track & bike, Steve Grace (Routes page cluster)

Bike-packing kit. Robin Chalmers (Routes page cluster)

Dyke & road, Alex Heimann (Routes page cluster)

Highland Cows & Blossom, Tobias Koepplinger (Routes page cluster)

Bike & hill, Steve Grace (Routes page cluster)

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Ride Guides

Detailed ride guides are available to all rally riders and anyone who wants to ride the route independently, in return for a donation to our charity partner. The ride guides include:

day-by-day descriptions of the route and short-cut options
information about places to stay and eat along the route
tips and advice about travel, access rights, kit, food supplies etc.

Anyone planning an independent ride, just make a donation (however small) to our charity partner Link Up here: and send me an email to roamscotland@gmail.com and I will send you on the Ride Guide for whichever route you plan to do.

Anyone looking for other Scottish routes, check out Markus Stitz’s offerings on Bikepacking Scotland

Digital Brevet

A bit of fun, if you like this sort of thing and you fancy a cyclists ‘patch’ badge thingy, as a wee reward for your efforts on the Rally, or your independent ride. All you need to do is:

take pictures each day to document your ride
at the end of the ride, post your favourite pics on Instagram, with #roamscotlandrally and email roamscotland@gmail.com with your postal address and I’ll send out your RSR patch as soon as I can.