North Sea Cycle Route Stage 20 - Inverness to Lairg

Ride overview
Today, you leave the well-signed NCN 1 at Tain and continue North on the exclusively signed North Sea Cycle Route. It is one of, if not the, most spectacular cycle route in the UK. You ride out of Inverness on quiet cycle paths along the Moray Firth to Tain and up into the people-deserted Highlands. Mountains rise before you, lochs and glens stretch out beside you. The whole ride takes on a wild and very northern feel. It’s splendid.

Ride practicalities
The route is well signed throughout as NCN 1 until Tain, thereafter as the North Sea Cycle Route. Where the NSCR signs do not appear, follow the blue signs with the white bicycle on them.
START/FINISH: Inverness/Lairg DISTANCE: 110km TOTAL ASCENT:979m TERRAIN AND SURFACES: quiet country lanes, cycle lanes RECOMMENDED CAFÈS/PUBS/ACCOMMODATION: Tain; Cafe 11, Lairg; The Lairg Highland Hotel NEARBY MAINLINE TRAIN SERVICES: Inverness, Tain PLACES TO VISIT; LINKS TO OTHER RIDES: NCN1 stage 19

Ride the route

Ride notes

A well signed ride out of Inverness takes you to the Kessock Bridge which crosses the Beauly Firth before a long gradual climb up into the hills. It’s not steep, nor is the road busy, but it feels harder than it is. For the first part of the morning, you ride on a mix of well maintained cycle paths beside busy roads (no tree roots bulging through the tarmac as with so many English paths), quiet country lanes and a quiet-ish B road.

At Arpafeelie, you will need to decide on whether to ride alongside the Moray Firth to Cromarty where there’s a ferry to catch which takes you to Nigg, after which the route continues beside the Firth to re-connect with the main route in Tain. Or you stick to the more inland route which is hillier and rides alongside several forest plantations with fine views across the Firth. Your decision is likely to be based on 1) the weather, and 2) the time of year. The ferry runs from June to September providing the weather is not too stormy and runs approximately every half hour from 08.00-18.00. Ring 07468 417137 for updates before you head off to Cromarty. The route marked on the map above is the inland route, taken on a windy and wet day.

Anyone familiar with Jeff Wayne’s 1978 musical War of the Worlds, will look with some astonishment at the giant machines congregating in the Firth. “…..the chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one they said……”As you ride, you might hear Richard Burton’s voice in your head, “No one would have dreamed that we were being scrutinised……” For against the back drop of dark hills rising out of a silver loch, there are up to a dozen of these giants, their red lights blinking looking as if they are ready to launch their columns of fire.

They are not Martians. Too much time on a solo ride to the far north plays havoc with the imagination. Since the 1970’s and the discovery of the Forties Oil Field, Cromarty has been the base for both the construction, servicing and dismantling of the huge oil rigs. With the decline of the North Sea oil field, these now redundant platforms shelter from the sea’s storms whilst waiting for a tow to Turkey where they will be dismantled. Cromarty meanwhile, is turning its engineering expertise to the manufacture of wind turbines.

The inland route heads up hill on a narrow and almost traffic-free road beside forest plantations. The views over the Firth and to the oil rigs are magnificent. And as you climb, pines and sycamores, birch and rowan replace the barley fields of the lower slopes. It’s a sharp descent into Tain, where having had a break at the excellent Cafe 11, you ride on into the deserted lands of the Scottish Highlands. There are only plentiful pines, birch and rowans beside the road, re-supply points are very limited and it is wise to stock up with supplies to help you on your way to Lairg as some shops close for full days.

Lairg is a staging post town on the edge of the loch, with a shop, garage and hotel in amongst housing. The Hotel, the Lairg Highland Hotel, is the only option to stay in town and fortunately is a good one, well used to catering for cyclists.

the previous stage

Every route on this website has been carefully researched as well as ridden. However situations on the ground can change quickly. If you know of changes to this route, or cafes, pubs and the like which you think other cyclists need to know about, feel free to share your thoughts below.

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