Badger Divide July 2025

Some pictures of riding the Badger Divide from Glasgow to Inverness with my son. The route follows the river Kelvin out of Glasgow and the southern leg of the West Highland Way before following the Gravelfoyle trails to Killin. There are some big climbs from Glen Lochay to Glen Lyon and then over to Loch Rannoch before striking across the empty country of Rannoch moor to Loch Ossian. The station platform in the photo from Corrour will be familiar to anyone who has watched Trainspotting. From there it's a climb up Wade's military road to cross the Corrieyairack pass, the highest point of the route, then a long descent to Fort Augustus. The final stage follows the Great Glen Way along the shore of Loch Ness to Inverness.

We rode over four days, stopping at Killin, Loch Ossian and Fort Augustus and staying in accommodation so we could travel light and avoid the midgies; the first day was very wet, followed by three calm, sunny days, so it was midgie heaven, camping hell.

I was familiar with some of the route, but enjoyed discovering some new trails I had not ridden before. We followed the "official" route, with a few tweaks. From Callander, we skipped Glen Ample, which would have been a bit of a grind at the end of a long, wet first day and took the pleasant NC7 route up the west side of Loch Lubnaig instead. After the climb north out of Glen Lyon we didn't bother with the unnecessary detour to Kilvrecht campsite and the road along the south shore of Loch Rannoch, and stayed up in the forest instead. It's a great route, all very rideable, with only a little hiking on the steep sections of the Corrieyairack and the Great Glen Way footpath. After an extended dry spell, the tracks were in great condition; almost too loose and dusty in places, which is not something you experience often in Scotland!

We rode 650/47mm tyres which were fine for everything. There is often a debate about the best type of bike for this route, and if I had to choose, a hard tail with wider tyres would probably edge it, offering a bit more comfort and speed on some of the rockier off road sections. There are a few miles of tarmac on the route which favour gravel bikes, but not enough to be decisive. However, I honestly never felt limited by the gravel bike, and either type of bike is a suitable choice for the route.