Cycling
Mountain Biking
The local area around Plockton offers great mountain biking directly from the village. A full day's challenging mountain biking can be had without needing your car at all!
The terrain over the Lochalsh peninsula is steep, so a good level of fitness is required. Riders need to be prepared to slog uphill to gain the rewards of spectacular views and fast swooping downhill single track.
Local mountain bike nut Alex Glasgow is a double British Mountain Bike Champion and a qualified Mountain Bike Leader. Living in Plockton, he knows the trails of the peninsula intimately and can show you around.
Further afield, he can also guide fantastic all-mountain routes on Skye and Torridon. For such trips, you will need a high quality mountain bike, high levels of fitness and be a competent and experienced mountain biker.
+44 (0)1599 544 739
or email Alex at alex@forestdesign.org
Road Biking
The roads around here are rarely flat, so can be pretty challenging. The main road to Skye and on to Portree tends to be quite narrow and busy, but get off this main highway and some beautiful road rides are available.
In fact, the 18km ride from Stromeferry, via Plockton to Kyle is included in 'Bike Scotland's 40 Classic Highlands and Islands Routes'. The short loop from Plockton around Loch Lundie is also popular.
For serious road bikers after a bigger challenge, great road biking loops include:
Plockton-Dornie-Glenelg-Kylerhea-Kyleakin-Plockton
— 76km/47mi
This includes the hefty Mam Ratagan Pass, before swooping down to Glenelg and a nice break on the Kylerhea ferry (Easter to mid-October) before hitting a second punishing climb out of the glen.
The biggie! The Bealach na Bo, the biggest road pass in the UK is visible from Plockton, but it's a 25 mile slog from the village just to the bottom of the pass. The classic loop, over the Bealach to Applecross, round the coast to Shieldaig and back to the foot of the pass is 69km/43mi. You need a good pair of lungs for this one!
If you're up for it, Dornie Bike Hire and Repair is your first stop to hire from a range of well maintained and road worthy bicycles. They will accommodate individual, family or group bookings with a number of different styles of bike to make your journey more enjoyable and can even organise a drop off and pick up if you decided that one way is enough.
For the very serious — classic and vintage models. Check them out.
Dornie Bike Hire and Repair will deliver and collect bikes from Plockton if people need this service.
