Done the Crieff Cloverleaf?
What is the Crieff Cloverleaf?
The Crieff Cloverleaf is a set of four one-day motorcycle touring routes in Scotland, all starting and finishing in the Perthshire town of Crieff.
The four routes loop out to the north, south, east and west of Crieff, bringing you a variety of beautiful Scottish landscapes and some amazing biking roads.
As far as possible, the routes avoid built-up areas, motorways and boring larger A roads. They’re designed especially with motorcycling in mind, following gloriously swoopy A roads, wiggly B roads and some cracking little minor roads and single-tracks.
Is the Crieff Cloverleaf some kind of guided tour or package?
No, it’s a set of touring routes on public roads – just like the North Coast 500. We provide a free online map of our routes, plus free downloads of GPX files or suggested waypoints for your SatNav.
How long does it take to ride the Crieff Cloverleaf?
Each of the four Crieff Cloverleaf routes involves around six hours of saddle time for the average rider, so we strongly suggest taking a full day for each one.
Each route is divided into four shorter legs, so you can easily include a morning and afternoon refreshment/comfort stop and a lunch break. We suggest you allow at least eight hours to complete each day’s ride, including breaks.
Bear in mind that six hours’ riding on a Crieff Cloverleaf route is very different from six hours’ riding on the M6! The routes are exhilarating but do require a high level of sustained concentration, due to all the fabulous bends and single-track sections. Don’t be surprised if you feel a bit knackered at the end of each day – it’s normal!
How much experience do I need to ride the Crieff Cloverleaf?
To enjoy the routes, we recommend that you should be an experienced rider (e.g. having ridden regularly for at least the past three years on a full motorcycle licence.)
In particular:
- You need to be able to negotiate bends safely and confidently on both faster country A roads and minor country byways.
- You need to be confident to ease your bike past oncoming vehicles on single-track roads where clearance may be tight.
- You need to be able to tackle hill starts and steep and/or sharp bends on narrow roads.
- You need to be relaxed about riding on rural roads with a bit of muck, loose gravel or poor road surface.
- You need to be bike-fit, as these are full-day routes requiring high concentration all day.
We suggest that the Crieff Cloverleaf routes may not be suitable for brand new or very nervous riders.
If you have specific questions or want some more advice, please do get in touch!
Do I need a particular kind of bike to ride the Crieff Cloverleaf?
No – we’ve had visitors enjoy the routes on everything from Harleys to Husqvarnas!
We simply recommend you come on a bike that’s comfortable for you to ride all day, and on which you feel confident to tackle steep or narrow roads with tight bends.
Does the Crieff Cloverleaf include dirt roads or off-road riding?
No, it’s all on “proper” public paved roads. However, on the minor roads and single-track sections you can expect to encounter stretches of poor road surface and the odd pothole, plus a bit of surface gravel, grit and farm mud.
A good set of touring tyres is recommended (they’ll be more suitable than pure sports tyres), but you don’t need off-road style knobblies.
I don't want to ride all day. Do you have any shorter routes?
Yes we do! Take a look at our Little Leaf shorter routes, which are less than 120 miles distance / 4 hours’ riding time. Just like the main Crieff Cloverleaf routes, they feature a fantastic mixture of biking roads and some truly jaw-dropping scenery – and they all start and finish in Crieff.
How can I find biker-friendly accommodation with good parking in Crieff?
You can use our completely free RoomLink enquiry service to tell us your requirements. We’ll then have one of our trusted accommodation partners send you an offer, which will be at the same price as if you’d contacted them directly. (This is part of our agreement with our hosts!)
We only work with properties that enjoy hosting bikers, that know how to look after you, and who can provide off-street private parking for your bikes.
Perks for our RoomLink users include a Crieff Cloverleaf welcome pack including complimentary goodies, and a 20% discount on all products in our Gear Shop.
What’s in it for us? We receive some commission from our hosts for RoomLink bookings, which helps us cover the running costs of the Crieff Cloverleaf – so with RoomLink, we’re helping you and you’re helping us too. Thanks!
Who created the Crieff Cloverleaf, and why?
The Crieff Cloverleaf was created by Kona Andrews Macphee, a Crieff-based maker-of-things, digital media geek and fanatical motorcyclist, supported by her long-suffering husband and fellow biker Patrick Andrews Macphee.
Kona’s aims for the Crieff Cloverleaf are:
- For bikers: To introduce some really fabulous motorcycling routes to riders visiting from all around the world – because a joy shared is a joy doubled!
- For locals: To support our very important tourism economy, and our wonderful local hospitality businesses, in Crieff, in Perthshire and in Scotland.
- For us, the Coo Crew: To have the chance to meet some more visiting motorcyclists – because motorcycle travellers are an endlessly varied and interesting bunch!
Still have questions? Get in touch and we’ll try to answer them!
