Riding the Outer Hebrides

Having ridden from London to Glasgow last year with Brake the Cycle and had a fabulous time despite it being October and thus I looked at what else they had to offer and immediately booked to ride the Outer Hebrides. This was before I had decided to ride nearly all the Sustrans routes but having paid my deposit I decided it could easily be followed by traversing route 1 from Tain towards Dover.

Our plotted route was from Barra to the Butt of Lewis and then Stornaway. I recorded the ride on Strava save for part of a day when the Wahoo battery was flat as the charging cable was defective (I got a new one from another rider by swapping it for a spare Apple cable).

The group were due to meet up at the YHA in Glasgow, a lovely grand building overlooking Kelvingrove Park. I decided that rather than 4 or 5 hours awake on a train that I would take the overnight sleeper. We (I met one of the organisers James, who I knew from London - Glasgow, and his dad Andrew, 75 and pretty fast) went on an interesting route up to Stonebridge Park and then back to Camden before going up the Kings Cross line due to rail works elsewhere.

That left time to spare in Glasgow that afternoon and so a trip to the Kelvingrove Art Gallery was in order. It contained a Van Gogh I hadn't seen before.

The evening was passed in a private dining room where we all (about 18 of us) introduced ourselves.

 

I was on the other table but slowly through the week we all got to talk to each other.

 

It was an early ferry to Barra after a coach ride from Glasgow so no-one went mad the first night.

 

The sea was fairly calm but it was a bit dull and wet so no-one fancied sitting on the outer deck.

We weren't cycling on arrival, just settling in to our hostel, which overlooked the harbour. Some brave souls went for a swim.

We had a briefing each morning covering any important points such as where lunch was to be and if there were any ferry crossings and their times.

 

Lunch was taken overlooking the airport runway, yes it is on the sand.

There was a ferry crossing on this first day

The overnight stop was in Uist.

Day 2 of proper riding was a scheduled 50 miles. A couple of riders weren't used to that distance and I wasn't in a rush I offered to ride at the back to keep one of them company and help them get through the increased miles as it is easier when someone distracts you.

The morning briefings were usually followed by some light stretching.

I like a bit of lobster but our catering bus doesn't run to that as the food served is usually vegan to cater for all tastes (and is tasty)

A sign I haven't seen before. You can also see the causeway which connects two islands which we were about to cross.

It was the festival of Beltane so off we went to the beach to celebrate

 We enjoyed a stunning sunset.

The next day we saw yet more stunning scenery with this view only marred by my presence.

There were lots of honesty arrangements for buying eggs, cake or tourist type gifts.

I surprised many riders when we had to do a quick 10 miles, mostly uphill, to the gin and whisky distillery (as my charge took a rest for one session in the van) and I blasted off like the last man there would be paying for the drinks. It was interesting that gin takes a couple of days to make as opposed to the 10+ years for Whisky.

The purpose of the Calanais Stones is, as is often the case, not entirely clear.

Before you knew it we were at the northern end of the islands which makes one both happy and sad at the same time.

Just one last night in Stornoway in the HebHostel and then off to catch the early ferry back to Ullapool.

I have now cycled long distance routes in group size from 1 (just me) through to 100+ (London to Glasgow). I think this was a good route to cycle in a smallish group, the islands don't lend themselves to mass tourism. There aren't many facilities between the towns/islands or even within some of them so having a backup van is a good idea.

It was a sad departure from the group at Ullapool, they were all getting on a coach to Inverness before dispersing to various homes. I was back by myself and about to have a punishing few days, a good job I took in easy in the Hebrides.

If you do get a chance to go there or on a Brake the Cycle trip to anywhere, do go.

Derek