Embedding CT maps

I'm putting together a personal website / blog with some of my bike travels on. On it I'd like to embed some of my CT journeys using an iframe. Looking at CT's terms of use I'm unclear if this is something they allow or not, and want to check so I don't violate them. 

Issues with Ferries

I'm having issues with getting my routes to snap to certain ferry crossings. I'm planning a route the Outer Hebrides, and the ferry crossings from Oban to Castlebay, and from Stornoway to Ullapool cannot be snapped to. There is a route I made earlier in the year where I was able to get the route to use these crossings, but now as soon as I make changes to this it stops recognising the crossings. See below:

https://cycle.travel/map/journey/328149

I know that separate routes can be made to and from the ports as a way around this, but it was quite useful to have it all in one route. 

Dumfries to Fort William

I had wanted to do a  bike tour in Scotland for a while.  This trip started off  as going from Carlisle up to Inverness, but availability of train tickets, the time I could get off work ,and the experience of the distance I was willing to cycle from a previous trip all culminated in this route. I was riding solo, with camping gear and some stays booked in campsites and others where i planned to wild camp. 

Day 0: I took the Caledonian sleeper up to Carlilse. I was in the seated section which is similar to being on a plane. You are never going to get the best nights sleep in one of these fold down seats but it was good enough. I brought a ticket fairly late  so the bike had to go into a bag . I had practiced this the weekend before so it was easy enough to do on the platform at Euston. Still a bit of a faff though. 

Day 1: The sleeper pulled into Carlisle at about 5am, and I re-assembled my bike and got everything set up. Then i took the train to Dumfries, arriving at about 7am. I got some breakfast & suppliers from a supermarket and set off, following the NCN 7.   The landscape began to get slightly hillier just west of Dumfries, but nothing serious. I rolled into Castle Douglas after a few hours, where after a tea break I diverged from the NCN7 to head up towards The forest of Galloway. I had another stop at the Red Kite feeding station near Laurieston where i drank more tea and watched the kites. Then onto the A762 to head north. While planning the trip i had my doubts about how busy this would be, but it actually was fairly quiet. At Mossdale i turned off onto the old railway and headed up to Loch Stroan. Then onto the raiders road up the Dee. Very beautiful and felt quite remote. I would definitely advise chunky tires for these gravelly forest tracks. My 1.5" were good enough for all but the sections which were exposed rock.  Later i arrived at the otter pool where i had a bit of a paddle and rest. Then slightly further on there was forestry track up the side of the valley which i went up. At the end i sent up camp and made dinner, while being feasted upon by midges. Off to bed once the light started failing. Waking up during the middle of the night to pee i was treated to a cloudless sky with an amazing amount of stars. 

Day 2:  I had a slow start and didn't get on the road until about 10. I continued up the valley to Clatteringshaws, where I went to the visitor centre for a coffee. After that recharged i joined back up with the NCN 7 heading to Glentrool.  This is a tarmac road for a few miles, and then back onto a rough forestry track. The climb up to Loch Dee is long, but quite gentle and the landscape is fantastic. Then down to Loch Trool where the path has some short steep sections. I ate my packed lunch at Bruce's stone overlooking Loch Trool, then headed down to Glentrool proper, where I stopped at the café there for coffee and cake. After Glentrool it was a long slow climb up the valley of Minnoch, splitting off at the Bell Memorial to go to the Carradale Forest. The quality of the roads was good and there was very little traffic, which made the climbing not so noticeable.  Down into the Carrdale forest where a turn off lead up to Loch Bradan, and a good spot by a dam for a campsite. Some slight drizzle while cooking dinner, and a bit more during the night. More midges, and my repellent didn't seem to be very effective....

Day 3:  A  bit damp after the rain, but dry. On the national Byway to Ayr. The first section coming down from Galloway was smooth and easy, but quite a big hill between Kirkmichael & Dalyrmple.  I had booked a ferry across to Arran, so rather than follow the ncn 7 all the way up the coast, i got the train from Ayr up to Kilwining. Saved me from having to rush or get a later ferry and pitch in the dark. The ride from Kilwinning was easy, although i got slightly lost trying to find the ncn7 again.  I cruised up to Ardrossan harbour with plenty of time to get some supplies from a shop and put my feet up while i waited for the ferry.  Taking your bike on the Calmac ferries is a lot of fun.  You roll on with the cars and strap the bike up in the car hold, then can head up into the passenger decks where you can get a meal or a drink from the bar.  It was quite a grey overcast day, so Arran was obscured in the cloud until about 15 minutes before was docked at Broddick.  Rolled off the ferry, had a little stretch while i waited for ferry traffic to clear, then on over to Blackwater foot  via "the string" aka the B880. A beast of a climb, especially with a touring load.  Still spun my way up, with short rest break halfway up. Down onto the damper west side of Arran, via a thrilling descent. Got to my campsite for the night, where it started to rain as soon as i put my tent up. It was then that I discovered that some of the seams on the groundsheet of my inner tent section needed re-sealing, as they were letting water in. nothing the duct tape couldn't help with though. I had eaten alive by midges while i made dinner, then settled into my damp tent for a sleep. 

Day 4:  A slight amount of drizzle in the morning, but then it became an overcast misty day. I headed up the west coast to Lochranza. a fairly flat good road. The cloud slowly cleared so by the time i arrived at Lochranza you could see the mountains above you. At lochranza i brought a cup of tea and a mackerel sandwich while waiting for the ferry. This one was much smaller than the one from Ardrossan, but still as fun to travel on. Had a nice chat to another cyclist who was doing a ride around the Firth of Clyde. At Claonaig i joined back up with the NCN 78 and went across to Kennacraig, where i joined  the A83. The cycle up to tarbert was not the most pleasant, a lot traffic and large vehicles. In tarbert i had some coffee and ice cream, picked up some goods then head back to the NCN 78 round to Killbery. A nice quiet road, although the firs section heading south had some of those up and down section which can exhaust you if your not careful. the sun also burned through the clouds at this point and it was a warm afternoon.  Getting round to the southern end of the knapdale perninsilar gave some good views out to Islay and Jura in the distance. Heading back north got me to my campsite for the night, Port Ban Holiday Park.  I got a nice flat pitch by beach. After setting up and putting damp things out to dry in the sun, i went for a swim in the sea. Later cooked dinner and used the onsite laundry to treat myself to clean and dry clothes for the next section of trip. 

Day 5: Off north , in another warm and dry day. At Achahoish i made a detour to go down to Ellary and see a cave chapel there. I had originally planned to head over this way to Kilmory, and up to Crinan via Loch Sween, but i chose the shorter route via the the Crinan canal to avoid having a very long day. Going back to Achahoish there was big climb up to Loch Arail, and then a fun descent down to the east side. A short slightly stressful ride up to the A83 to Ardrishaig and the start of the Crinan canal. A spot of lunch, some provisions gathered and onto the Crinan canal. The smooth flatness of the canal was a nice change from some of the up and down coastal roads from the last few days, and i was soon at bellanoch bridge, where NCN 78 head north. Easy going until Kilmartin where the route climbs up the side of the valley to reach Carnasserie castle. If did this again i would have headed up A816 for a short section, instead of the rough track which had farm gates across it every 100m. From Carnasserie a short section on the A road then leads to a turn off up to Loch Awe.  Fairly soon after you reach loch Awe the road climbs up onto the side of loch , and there is a section with constant rolling short and steep up and downs, which quickly sap your energy.  Just south of Dalavich i met another cycle tourer going in the opposite direction, who told me that i could expect the same thing further north.  At this point i got off the road and went into the forest to set up camp for the day. I found a nice secluded mossy spot in the woods.

Day 6: Woken by short burst of rain at about 7am. I knew from the forecast that it was going to be a wet day , so i packed quickly and went onwards to Dalavich. Here i stopped at the cafe / village shop, and waited under an awning for it to open and shelter from the rain i could see incoming on the weather radar. Luckily by the time the cafe opened, and i eaten by bacon sandwhich and coffee the worst of the rain had passed and i got going. North of Dalavich the road still undulated a lot, but not as severely as it had the previous day. By the time i reached Kilchrenan though the rain had restarted and i had to get into my waterproof trousers and overshoes. Up over a gentle pass to Taynuilt, where i sheltered in the train station waiting areas while i had a sandwich from the tea room.  Here i also decided to book myself a hostel room in Oban, rather than trying to find somewhere to wild camp nearby. South of Taynuilt i saw a cycle tourer couple by the side of the road who were also heading to Oban.  The route to Oban was nice and fairly gentle, and i arrived in the early afternoon. After buying a ferry ticket for the next day i headed to my hostel, where i unpacked some damp stuff to dry and had a much needed shower. Then went for a burger and a few drinks, before back to hostel where i had a chat to some of the people there. 

Day 7: I woke up early to head to the shops for supplies, and go to a cafe for a cooked breakfast. I packed up from the hostel and got over to the ferry terminal to catch the ferry over to Mull. Another misty cloudy day, although as we neared Mull the low cloud cleared and you could see it all fairly well. The cycle tourer couple from the previous day were also on the ferry, and we had a bit of a chat. They were heading north from Craignure and i was going south. I set off once the ferry traffic subsided and headed west. The roads were good and fairly quiet. Soon i started to climb up over the Lussa pass, which was another long slow climb up. Very manageable once you get into a good rhythm, and having to stop at passing places gives you a quick rest. Low cloud obscured the tops of the mountains, but otherwise it was dry and warm. Back down the pass on the road towards Fionnphort, stopping at Loch Sciridain for lunch, then splitting from the main road to loop up north to Salen. This involved the second pass of the day which was gentler and less high than the previous one. At the top there was a wall of misty and a cloudy greyness obscuring the descent. Once back at to the sea level the misty parted to reveal a cloud covered coastline stretching out. The coast road became fairly flat and it was an easy ride up to Knock. I met the cycle touring couple from earlier in the day coming the opposite direction, as there were looking to camp somewhere nearby. As i headed through the low cloud to get over to Salen it started drizzling. By the time i got the campsite near Salen it was quite wet although the rain seemed to have died down. But as soon as opend up my tent to start pitching it got worse again! I must have bad tent luck. I picked up some dinner which i had ordered from a Takeway in Salen called taste of mull, as well as some supplies. Then sat in my damp tent reading, drinking beer and eating chocolate. 

Day 8: still a bit damp in the morning, so i packed up quickly, taking the opportunity to use the tumble drier at the campsite to dry all my socks and other damp clothes. Onwards the coast Road to Fishnish where a short journey took me over to Lochaline and Morvern.  More cloudiness but no rain thankfully. From Lochaline it was a up on the A road to Strontian, with a couple of quite big climbs up over passes. The landscape was amazing though, which made up for the effort of climbing. Felt very remote. On the way down to loch sunart i realised that brakes were starting to loose their power on the long downhill. I carried round loch sunart to Strontian ,where i stopped for a coffee and sorted my brakes out, which was a quick adjustment to get them back to proper power. From Strontain another climb up over the pass to get to Loch Shiel. This was probably the hardest one so far, in terms of steepness and length.Some great views though. The road down to Loch Shiel was quite steep at first, so i was glad to have sorted my brakes. Eventually i reached Polloch and the start of the forestry track along the east side of Loch Shiel. Here i saw something i had never seen before, which was a sign warning of the remote nature of the area, which felt slightly ominous. The loch shiel track was fairly easy going, although quiet rough in places. I found somewhere to camp about a quarter of the way up the Loch. After getting eaten by midges again, and drizzled on while setting up my tent i hit the hay. 

Day 9:  I continued on the road up the loch. soon the forest ended and the sides of the loch were bare. Slight drizzle at time but it seemd the clouds were moving north so by the time i reached Glenfinnan it wad dry and clearing up. I went up to see the Glenfinnan Viaduct, which was not what i expected. I had thought it was masonry, but it is actually mass concrete. There were a lot of people there at the visitor centre, which was strange given i had spent the past two days seeing hardly anyone. Some coffee and cake and then i was on my way to Fort William on the A830.  Cycling on A roads is never fun, but it actually wasn't too busy and most people were driving well and passing me properly. I could soon see Ben Nevis rearing up in the distance, and it wasn't long before i arrived in Corpach and the start of the Caledonian Canal. I cruised around and down into Fort William, the end of my journey. I brought myself some fish & chips, called my mum, and then sat in a brewery drinking beer to kill time before my train home.  I had to bag the bike up again in the station, but that was easy enough.  Then i got on the train and went back home.