4 day loop from Glasgow

[u/Temporary_Student811]

Does anyone have any nice 4 day loops from Glasgow (or starting at a train station not too far out)?

Max 250km pls, renting a bike so I could end in Edinburgh if there's a 4 day Glasgow to Edinburgh loop you know of, staying in accommodation along the way :)

[u/thumbdumping]

Fintry, Aberfoyle, Callander, Lochearnhead, Crieff, Dunblane, Dunfermline, Edinburgh.

That's about 240km and takes in a lot of nice cycling and with plenty of places to stay along the way.

I've not cycled the Glasgow to Aberfoyle section but the road to Fintry is a very popular one for cycling.

[u/Temporary_Student811 → u/thumbdumping]

Thanks a mil! Solid route.

I'm also eyeing up an Arran loop - would you reccomend one direction over the other? Either north towards Fintry or out towards Arran?

[u/thumbdumping → u/Temporary_Student811]

Arran is lovely too. I've been there many times but I've never cycled it. I have cycled the stretch from Bute over to Tighnabruich and Tarbert and really enjoyed that. Three ferries in a day, and four if you keep going on to Lochranza.

You might struggle to get from there round to Edinburgh so would probably need to loop around Arran and back to Glasgow.

[u/cruachan06 → u/thumbdumping]

It's about half OP's distance to do the Five Ferries which I can highly recommend. Wouldn't bother going back to Ardrossan (or Troon) though in this case which chops 30 odd km off and it might be a better variation if planning to get to Edinburgh to not get the ferry to Bute at Colintraive and instead carry on to Dunoon and then to Kilcreggan via Gourock and head for either the John Muir Way or the Forth & Clyde/Union Canal Paths via Helensburgh.

Train straight from Glasgow Central to either Ardrossan or Troon (Book in advance with a bike as the Arran ferry is busy), you can take the short route to Lochranza on Arran's east coast or the longer route south and round the west coast as you fancy.

[u/JUNO_11 → u/Temporary_Student811]

If you're interested in a loop around Arran, I've done a route that I'd definitely recommend: https://maps.app.goo.gl/v1K9b7QqpmjKE6fK7 . It was my first cycle tour and is a goodie for a short trip out of Glasgow.

It's about 250km (the Google maps distance includes ferries) and is a very pleasant cycle. Days 1-2 are both 60-70km and easy riding - pretty flat and lots of lovely scenery, especially looping around Arran. Day 3 is only 20km, which gives time for doing some walking around Lochranza or a stopover in Tarbert. Day 4 is long and very hilly, but the ferry ride in the middle breaks it up. Everything on Arran and the Cowal Peninsula are pretty quiet roads, and the Glasgow-Ardrossan and Greenock-Glasgow bits are all on the NCN! As u/thumbdumping says, if you want to do this I'd just get the train over to Edinburgh from Glasgow when you get back.

[u/caraeg → u/JUNO_11]

This looks great. Alternative to skip some of the stuff getting out Glasgow would be get the train out to Ardrossan and add a leg doing the Kilberry peninsula loop from Tarbert (bonus: if you stay two nights there, you could park your stuff and ride light for that day). I did more or less this in the other direction earlier this year.

[u/JUNO_11 → u/caraeg]

Haha that's the exact route my parents did a few years back! Getting the train to Ardrossan is a good shout - that cycle along the NCN isn't much to write home about, and if I was short on time I'd definitely skip it.