Pedalling strong
It's June today. This is my 5th week on my adventures but there are still many more islands to visit, many miles to be pedalled and many whiskies to taste!
This morning was wet and grey and so I wasn't in any hurry to move. I didn't sleep as well as expected after my exhausting day yesterday but my roomie for the night, Alan offered to bring me a cuppa and so I indulged and had tea in my bunk bed. Hunger got the best of me though and I got up to have breakfast with the other hostellers.
Today I wanted to pedal. I wanted to get away from the strange world of South Uist and see something else. The wind was strong again today but thankfully in my favour and it wasn't long before I crossed the causeway to Benbecula.
I have to say that there really was nothing different in Benbecula and it looked much like South Uist and so I passed through and over another causeway to do a circuit of Grimsay which was a quite nice.
Continuing into North Uist the landscape changed a bit and it was all mountains. I came across a burial chamber that is part of the earliest evidence of man in the Outer Hebrides which was a nice little walk.
To be honest though there wasn't much else to stop for. I took a short detour to Lochmaddie for a brew in a cafe and then continued around to the top of the island. Deciding to stop for the day at around 5:30pm I'd done 49 miles, pretty good going and really enjoyable pedalling. I'd stopped by a picnic area and was trying to decide whether the sea would come in enough to wash me out and so knocked on the door of a campervan to see if they'd been here last night and if they knew how far the tide came in. It turns out they'd just arrived but the man reckoned the same as me that the water wouldn't come quite this far. I'm sure to find out anyway, haha.
I'd just setup my tent when I heard a voice outside asking me if I would like a cup of tea. It was the lady from the campervan, Claudia from Germany and I gladly accepted. It is moments like this that make this trip so fantastic and give me faith in human nature.
The sun is now shining and another cyclist has just turned up. Lee from Cramlington has done a whopping 72 miles today and was thinking of camping here too and so I said I didn't mind if he camped nearby. Looks like the both of us will find out what the tide will do!
Trip Summary:
Miles ridden = ???- Ice creams eaten = 7
- Ferries taken = 18
- Islands visited = 15
- Wild camp nights = 17
- Ticks removed from body = 3
- Distilleries visited = 6
- Breweries visited = 2
- Bothy nights = 1