Island cycle tour

How lucky was I to have time over summer to cycle 220miles in 4-5 days?!

Mhairi had taken all of August off and encouraged me to join her on a tour of the outer Hebrides islands of Scotland. It’s something loads of friends had done and Steve and I had planned to do something similar eventually – but he had work – so I went!

We started off from Oban a lovely sea-side town where there is a magnificent (but recent) neo-classical monument called McCaig`s folly standing on the hill overlooking the harbour.

We landed on Barra as the sun was setting but it only took us 40-50mins to cycle to the top of the island where we made camp and got murdered by midges. The next day was beautiful and we stopped to see the famous Barra Airport before catching the ferry to Eriskay.

South and North Uist are relatively flat and not very interesting to cycle. Fortunately we had glorious sunshine and the straight roads were pleasant. We passed a few interesting things on the way, an otter crossing, a bicycle repair shop, and the local forecasting stone.



64miles later we arrived at Berneray Hostel in time for a shower before dinner and for marvellous views of the coast before sunset. It was an ambitious first full-day.

Berneray Hostel - a restored blackhouse

The forecast was not good for the following day. We got thoroughly soaked on the 10min cycle to the shop, where I had the best bacon roll EVER! The rain eased and we caught the ferry to Harris, which is a very interesting island and would’ve looked great in the sun!

[Picture thanks to Mhairi Brown]

The beaches were golden and varied, the landscape changed a lot and we tackled the biggest hill on our way to Tarbert. Luckily on the very top was a photography exhibition with FREE tea and cake! A fine reward for a hard slog!

We zoomed down the hill into Tarbert for lunch, only to find that we had to head uphill again to carry on to Lewis. I’m still not sure where Harris ends and Lewis begins, but there was a sign half way up one of these hills which welcomed us to Lewis. We sheltered that night in a Hostel in Kershader, got very drunk and ‘pretended’ to sleep in the tent.

The next day was a slow start, I blame the rain. After stopping at a pub for the best bacon roll EVER, the watery sun came out and we heaved our way up to the northwest of Lewis past the famous Callanish standing stones. They are the best standing stones EVER.

We met a few more friends on the way to the Garenin Hostel.
The Hostel is one of these old blackhouses.
They have been restored and turned into a museum and café. We found the best camping spot EVER in a ruin around the bay and enjoyed a lovely sunset and some well earned beans on toast.

[Picture thanks to Mhairi Brown]

The plan for the next day was to leave the bags and nip up to the Butt of Lewis and back. The weather changed every 5mins but we zoomed up and captured the moody sky on the beach at Eoropie.

The coast is amazing right at the top, all rugged and wild.
We cruised around and on the way to Ness we found this secluded beach with perfect turquoise sea and felt on top of the world.

[Picture thanks to Mhairi Brown]

Little did we know it was going to be a push against the wind to get back… we made it after the worst 4 hours EVER just in time to see the sunset.

On the last day from there it was a straight forward 16miles to Stornoway and then a ferry, a bus, and a train back to Edinburgh. After 220miles my legs felt surprisingly good!