We Tried Cycling To The Most Remote Pub In Time For Last Orders

Can we go where cars can't and where a ferry or a helicopter is advised? The mission is can we get to the most remote pub in the UK? My question is who put a pub here? It's getting gnarlier and gnarlier. This is proper remote. This is a proper challenge even though it's just a day. I mean I could see why we got warned that this was wasn't to be taken lightly. Still a long way to go, man. To the pub. Our journey starts here in Scotland, home to world record holder, but more importantly good friend, Mark Beaumont. The UK's most remote pub is located in Invery, a small coastal town in the Scottish Highlands and thanks to Yolio and Gore, we are headed there for a pint. To get there, we are taking a route we have never seen undertaken by bike. Starting at Fort William and traversing through the legendary Neudark Peninsula. That's only 75 kilometers. How hard can it be? We set off on the four-hour journey up to Fort William where our adventure would begin. We found a hotel and got some sleep ready for an early start. Chilly start in an early morning, isn't it, Mark? Yes, I think the early start will pay off though because it's a bit of an unknown as to how long this is going to take. Right now, we're by the sea. This is in the Highlands on the beautiful west coast of Scotland and this is Loch Eel. We've got the highest mountain in Scotland shrouded in cloud behind us and the first bit looks pretty straightforward following the Caledonian Canal as if we were heading up towards Inverness, but then after about 20k head off into the rough stuff and the Neudark Peninsula has quite a reputation. I've never been there before so I think we should get going. Yes, it's going to be a long day and that's I guess why we've packed a lot on the bikes as well because we just don't know how long it's going to take us and if we're going to be staying the night. We've got bivvy bag, sleeping bag, etc., but more on that a little bit later and it's about time we hit the road, the gravel. Let's do it. You got it. This is the start of a good adventure, isn't it, mate? No complaints. We've got a headwind, but it's nothing. It's nothing, honestly. Neudark is legendary in Scotland so I can't help that this is lulling us into a false sense of security. It's so utterly beautiful going up the Caledonian Canal. This is not the sort of scenery where you want your bike computer beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beeping at you. We both turned our notifications off and went the wrong direction. Can't blame our Wahoos, but they were screaming at us if we hadn't turned off notifications, but can you blame us? Look at it. Absolutely great. This road happens to run out and we're now going to have to do a U-turn. There's a cautionary tale in there somewhere. Beautiful scenery, slightly distracting, we might have gone the wrong way. What's an adventure like getting lost? We're getting on for about halfway in terms of distance, but I don't think we're anywhere close to halfway on time. This is the first bit of tarmac, albeit probably one of the smallest roads you'd find in the UK. So far, we've been treated to gravel along the Caledonian Canal, some amazing single track, which was a bit of a surprise. Really needing bikes that can cover pretty much any terrain. Now the bikes we're using are the YOLO G21s. We've also got their very own own brand YOLO carbon rims as well. Mark's riding two by, I'm running one by, and then we've got some 45 mil gravel tires. I'm going to explain more of the detail of this very bike in a tech video, as well as the clothing we're wearing. By the way, we're not wearing our GCN kit. No, Gore have sent out some of theirs, and so we're pretty excited to get wearing it. Also, I'm going to go into the technicalities of that very kit in that video. But for now, I think we're going to enjoy some of the nice smooth asphalt. We're skiing alongside, you can't quite see because of the trees here, Loch Asgig. As soon as we left Fort William, we were definitely leaving the last big town. The bit that we're heading into now really is one of the most remote parts of the British Isles. The road literally runs out in about 20k's time, and we'll be onto the off-road walking route, really. If you think, out there there's over 200 islands in the West Coast, so we're still very much on the mainland. You just forget, even without leaving the mainland, how utterly wild it can get. I think that's why so few people ever bring their bikes here. We're well into it now. At some point up here, the car, the film crew are going to have to leave us because there is no road. There is no way to get the car in. The fact that we can film this, amazing. But from some point up the road here, we're going to be on our own. That's where it gets all exciting. That's awesome. Look at this view. Freaking paradise. This, my friend, is where the road ends and the hike begins, or the track. It has to be said, we have taken proper precautions because we are going into the wilderness where it gets even more remote than where we've just been. Even planning a day ride like this, we've opted, as you should, to carry a kit just in case the weather got gnarly and we ended up a lot later than we planned. Out here in Scotland, we've got midgy nets. The insides can be bad. I don't think they'll be too bad with the wind today. We've brought a little sleeping bag, sleeping roll, and just a little tarp. Do you know what? If you injured yourself or you had a major mechanical and you were stuck out in the hills there, it's just good to know that you've got that backup plan. There's no phone signal up here, so I'm even carrying a satellite phone. The crew are going to be able to track us and see where we are. It's a ton of fun until things go wrong and all that. It's good to think ahead. It's not just overnight kit we've got. We've also got plenty of clothing too. Just in case we are, like Mark says, just stuck out longer than we would have liked. This road from here is normally a hiker's trail. There's a couple of big passes before we get to the end of our day. On the map, it doesn't look very far. Let's find out. Let's get it. Oh, I swear it gets gnarly, Mark. Mark? It's getting gnarly. This is the first big climb. Three, three and a half kilometers up. No complaints so far. We've got the world to ourselves. That's what it feels like. It's getting hard now. We're about to resort to walking. First big climb done. Now I know why everyone said it could take 10 hours to do 20K. Because that is slow going. Nevertheless, it's good. I love it. So boggy. Look at that. Right, go on, get your foot up. Oh, no. Still a long way to go, man. The route was incredible, taking our bikes over terrain that might be untouched by two wheels. Now with all the epic scenery, it was really easy to forget that the riding needed our full concentration. No broken legs. We're good. It's getting late into the day now. The time is coming up to seven o'clock. As you can see, the sun's going down behind me. That is our trail. It's a proper hike-a-bike, bike on the shoulder. Jobby, because there's no chance you can ride this. We are conscious that time is getting away from us. We've still got about 13K of this to go. I could see why we got warned that this wasn't to be taken lightly. Because it's tough to bring bikes here. This is proper remote. This is a proper challenge, even though it's just a day. Look at that. Look forward to that beer. It now turned into a battle against the rapidly setting sun. Safely navigating in the dark just wasn't an option. So we had to keep moving. Second to last path. Down there over that silhouetted mountain. The pub awaits. It really doesn't look far. It doesn't look far in Wahoo. It doesn't look far in terms of that hill. Given what we've just been over the last two, three hours, I think we're going to be dark or pretty close to dark before we get there. It's nearly nine o'clock at night. It's going to be a beautiful sunset just over the back of the hill. We're not going to see it from down here, but hopefully get a drone up and capture that. It's taken us about four hours to do the last 11K. Often carrying the bike, pushing the bike, bog, just some of the hardest terrain I've ever taken a gravel bike over. It's about 15K from here. The prospect of doing that in the dark, even with lights, is kind of next level. We knew it would be gnarly. We did plan for the worst, and it just shows you. It's unbelievable when you're out here. What an amazing day, but I didn't actually think we'd get stuck out. What's going on, Hank? It's got pretty gnarly. We're in the bogs, but we're cracking on. What's the plan, mate? The plan is to find some water, find a stream, and find somewhere to camp. On a serious note, what would your disclaimer be on this route for anyone watching this? I suggest you don't try this with a bike. That would be the disclaimer. Don't do this on your own because it's proper in the middle of nowhere. It's gnarly. We have got to 10.30, and we're calling it a night. To be honest, I've massively underestimated this journey. I was along the road traveling at 35K and out of the mud going, how on earth can it take us nine hours? Let me tell you, the terrain that we've just tried to take our gravel bikes over has been one of the toughest terrains I think I've ever encountered. It's tough to walk across, let alone take a bike across. We've got to use our contingency. We're going to camp here. We'll buy running water. We're going to cook some food. Then at the crack of dawn, we're going to head up the mountain. Let me tell you, this is biting off more than we can chew, I think. We're cooking. We are cooking. It's a nice mild night. We've got food. We've got a river. We've got a breeze so we can keep the midges away. Life is good. We couldn't be more in the wild if we tried. Right, alarm for five o'clock. Oh, I love an early morning, Mark. I think this one's going to be quite... We've just got a mountain to climb in the morning, that's all. That's all we've got to do in the night. Good morning, good morning. It is five o'clock and time to get up and out. First thing, pack away and walk across the river. So we've got about a 6km more of hiking before we can get riding again. Luckily, we're all kitted up because it's pretty chilly this morning. So I've got my leg warmers, transition shorts, the long sleeve, my Gore-Tex jacket and my Gore-Tex trousers on just to keep nice and warm. Bike's packed up. The only job we've not done is put on these beauties. The first thing that we're going to do is walk across the river. We're just going to get wet again, but grim, grim, grim. Big mountain climb has started. It's quite a treacherous route. We've made it to the top. Oh, that was tough. Keep in mind we had a lime collar at five o'clock this morning. That's taken, by the time we packed up camp, two and a half hours to get to this point. Down, down, down. That's good news, but I think it's going to be another absolute epic. Whilst Mark took the sensible option of walking, I was dying to get back on my bike. I've had more crashes on this ride than any other ride I've ever been on. Made it down onto track. Yes, we can now ride to the finish. Thank God. To the pub for an early morning pint. How good does that feel? There's the sea. Hard, hard, hard fought, hard one. I genuinely thought it would be a really, really hard route. It was harder than that. We took contingency to stay out because you always should, but it didn't. I just thought, we'll get over it. We'll get over that hill. Not a chance. Here we are, 10 o'clock in the morning, day two. Rocking up. No Doubt Peninsula, you have delivered. It's been awesome. That's Inveray. What a journey. The old forge lodge, or old forge pub, I should say. We are very late for the planned pint. I think we're very early because it's not open yet. Well done, buddy. Survived another adventure. I hope you guys enjoyed it. I don't think I've ever worked so hard for such a short bike ride. If you look on a map, we've not gone very far. From the canal riding up, following the loch, and then, of course, the epic double pass over the top. That is a walker's route. Let me remind you, a walker's route. We know that now. It's definitely not a cyclist's route. Massive thank you to YOLO for supplying us with their gravel bikes. Make sure you go and check out their tech video so you can see an in-depth look at the bikes. Also, a massive thank you to Gore as well for kicking us out in this epic gear. We needed it more than we thought we would because we ended up sleeping out in the wild. Yes, exactly that. Let us know in the comments section below if you enjoyed this video and if you want to see more of Mark and myself. Also, give this video a big thumbs up if you enjoyed it. Right, we need to shoot because we need to get a ferry. See you later.