The Lord of the Isles Randonées

Introducing

Introduction

In a post on YACF I presented a list of Island based Randonées I had determined were possible, discussion added some more route ideas but the premise is (relatively) simple.

Riding routes validated by AudaxUK as a DIY to BR standard on islands in the group commonly known as "The British Isles" excluding Great Britain and Ireland.

For the purposes of avoiding argument the Scottish Governments definition of "Island" from the 2018 Islands (Scotland) Act will be used.

An Island is a naturally formed area of land which is
a) Surrounded on all sides by sea (ignoring artificial structure such as bridges)
b) Above water at High Tide

Therefore for example Skye is allowed even though it has a bridge, Kintyre is not because King Magnus bent the rules and "sailed" his ship with his men walking it between East and West Loch Tarbert.

The Challenges

The challenges:

There are two challenges:

1) The Lord of the Isles - Randonneur Round the Year

For the dedicated Island loving cyclist; make your way to an island (at least) once each month and ride a BR DIY.

2) The Lord of the Isles - Super Randonneur Series

Needing slightly less commitment, but retains plenty of challenge, ride a full series of 200, 300, 400 and 600 Island Randonées in an AudaxUK season.

The Award

TBD: Probably a pin badge with a picture of MV Lord of the Isles on it

To claim E-Mail me (you'll need to fix the address)

Populaires

While not all islands are suitable for riding a Randonée on many have suitable road and track networks to allow for Populaire DIYs, these have a more relaxed average speed requirement and can be used for the AudaxUK AAA award points if hilly enough.

Bute 85km - Includes some spurious distance riding the Serpentine and a few other legs
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/31330108

Raasay - 52km
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/31330130

Coll - 50km - Includes some off road between km 22 and 24 and what must be the remotest Dual-Carriageway at the 33 and 43km marks
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/31330110

Tiree - 54km
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/31330126

Barra and Vatersay - 54km
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/31330128

Jura - 100km
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/31330125

And in a totally different category altogether an almost impossible to do hillclimb
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/31330113

Randonnées

I have determined the following islands and island combinations are capable of hosting the required distances, with the prototype route shown, you may be able to obtain further or a more interesting route.

Where islands are linked by ferries the distance travelled at sea does not count towards the ridden total and are therefore to be seen as "moving rest stops".