View of the West Highland Line – Old Bridge Over River Shiel loop from Arisaig

Bike touring routes & trails

United Kingdom

Scotland

Arisaig

View of the West Highland Line – Old Bridge Over River Shiel loop from Arisaig

Hard

5.0

(4)

riders

View of the West Highland Line – Old Bridge Over River Shiel loop from Arisaig

06:01

91.7km

1,220m

Cycling

Hard bike ride. Very good fitness required. Mostly paved surfaces. Suitable for all skill levels. The starting point of the route is accessible with public transport.

Last updated: August 5, 2026

Waypoints

Start point

Train Station

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8.13 km

Cycle Path Along Loch Nan Uamh

Highlight • Lake

There's this short bike path on one side of the road. The main road is very busy – I've always appreciated any opportunity for a quieter ride!

Unfortunately, the bike path is far too short.

Translated by Google •

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8.72 km

The Prince's Cairn

Highlight • Historical Site

The Prince's Cairn marks the traditional spot from where Prince Charles Edward Stuart embarked for France from Scotland on 20 September 1746 following the failure of the Jacobite rising of 1745. The cairn is located on the shores of Loch nan Uamh in Lochaber. It was erected in 1956 by the 1745 Association, a historical society dedicated to the study, recording and preservation of memories from the Jacobite period.
Although the cairn commemorates the final departure of the Prince before his exile to France, Loch nan Uamh is also where the Young Pretender first stepped ashore on mainland Great Britain on 25 July 1745 and from where – in April 1746 – he escaped to the Hebrides after the defeat of his forces at the Battle of Culloden.

undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/arisaig/princescairn/index.html

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12.3 km

View of the West Highland Line

Highlight • Structure

Stunning view of the West Highland line, dubbed one of the best train journeys in the world

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35.2 km

Old Bridge Over the River Moidart

Highlight • River

Old bridge over the River Moidart - for cyclists and pedestrians only - next to a narrow car bridge.

Translated by Google •

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35.9 km

Drynie Wood

Forest

43.7 km

Old Bridge Over River Shiel

Highlight • River

Old bridge over the River Shiel - narrow bridge - only one car fits through. On the side is a small path down to the River Shiel.

Translated by Google •

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50.8 km

View of Loch Shiel and Surrounding Mountains

Highlight • Lake

This is not just one Highlight. The whole road is beautiful! It leads along different Lochs and mountains! Very quiet road too

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54.8 km

Captain Robertson’s Cairns

Highlight • Monument

If you spend any time at all in the hills above Loch Shiel, you’ll find cairns that mark the places where coffins (and their carriers) once rested on what were once known as coffin roads. These three are marked on Ornance Survey maps as “Captain Robertson’s Cairns.” When Captain WJ Robertson of Kinlochmoidart died in 1869, his body was carried along this route, taken down to the water, and rowed by boat, to be buried on St Finan’s isle.

komoot.de/highlight/901235

These three cairns don’t just represent one human, though, but the countless inhabitants of this landscape who were once carried, mourned, and laid to rest on the burial island in the loch.

Highland parishes once covered huge areas, with relatively few spots consecrated for burial, and bodies were, by necessity, carried long distances over what was (and remains) very difficult terrain. It is no wonder that so many cairns and placenames in this part of the world (for example, Corpach / A’ Chorpaich / field of corpses) commemorate the temporary resting places of mourners and bodies on the coffin roads.

- kddandco.com/2021/12/06/loch-shiel
- her.highland.gov.uk/monument/MHG53547
- canmore.org.uk/site/332480/captain-robertsons-cairns

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62.4 km