Bike and Sail I Scotland

Round trip air from Tampa to Glasgow Scotland. We will board the Flying Dutchman after our flight and start our tour the next morning. After arriving back in Oban we’ll head to Glasgow for 2 nights with many sightseeing opportunities.

At 39 x 6.5 m the Flying Dutchman took to the water in 1903. The rebuild of the former herring luger took place in 2004 with 11 comfortable guest cabins, each with shower and WC and a salon on the main deck with its cozy seats. The impressive sail size of 480 sqm offers you a very special sailing experience as you journey from island to island. Of course the captain welcomes the active help of his guests when it comes to rigging the sails. On a Bike & Boat holidays, our floating hotels will follow you along the various stages of the tour, and welcome you back on board in the afternoon, for a hearty dinner and a good night's sleep. Your bike will be equipped with a lock & waterproof side bag. Wearing a bike helmets is mandatory. There will be a limited amount of helmets on board, so we suggest that you bring your own for safety and hygiene reasons. Our tour leaders are multi-lingual, and speak at least English and German. Smart, entertaining, caring and endlessly enthusiastic, they have a true passion for sharing their love of the outdoors, people, culture and local food. Thanks to a deep knowledge of the territory, they can give you useful hints and help you appreciate the place you are visiting. Of course they love cycling and will be happy to give you some advice about how to correctly use the bicycle gears and whenever necessary they can fix your flat tire. Due to the necessity to embark/disembark the ship by dinghy, balance and surefootedness are required. Due to the change in tide, ladders my need to be used to access the boat/land, covering height differences of up to 3 m. Surefootness and balance are essential. Due to the necessity to embark/disembark the ship by dinghy, balance and surefootedness are required. Due to the change in tide, ladders my need to be used to access the boat/land, covering height differences of up to 3 m. Surefootness and balance are essential. Our Tallships mostly do not fit into small fishing harbors and therefore spend the majority of their nights on anchor. This means that a dinghy transfer is necessary to get to land. Additionally a tidal difference may affect accessibility of the boat on our tours in Great Britain. In some cases it may be necessary to climb a ladder to get on/off the boat or that the use of a dinghy/tender might be necessary for embarkation/disembarkation. Surefootedness and a certain degree of agility are required to get on and off the boat. Needless to say, our tour guides will lend you a helping hand. In general: Wind, swell and tidal differences have a significant influence on a Tallship journey. Please do not forget that the ship is your hotel as well as a machine, which has to be maintained and operated – day and night. A certain level of noise is therefore inevitable.

This tour unwinds on a hilly itinerary mostly running on paved very low traffic roads. There might be some unpaved stretches and you might face some more difficult uphill stretches. Cycling can be daunting if the wind is blowing or it is raining. Therefore we suggest that you plan on some extra training for this tour by increasing your cycling at home before departure. We travel from Oban to the North Sea to Tobernochy. Next we’ll ride along Crinan Canal to Isle of Jura with a short cruise around Kintyre Peninsula. From Jura we’ll head to Isle of Mull. From Mull Island to Salen then on to Lochaline.

The itinerary may be subject to unexpected changes before and/or during your holiday, due to unforeseeable circumstances, such as: extreme weather conditions, unannounced road or repair works or law enforcements.

After leaving the boat we will head to Glasgow for 2 nights staying at Dakota Hotel.