Tuesday. We woke up to better weather, grey skies and windy but dry which got better as the morning went on. Cycling along westwards we were wondering what it is that people rave about on Tiree. However, as the day progressed and we circled the island in sunshine we saw the beautiful coastline with rugged outcrops, wide sandy beaches and turquoise water lapping against the rocks and white sand and realised that here was something special. There was also plenty of birdlife to see with the usual Oyster Catchers, Tewits, Wheatears, Starlings, Snipes, linnets and ringed plovers etc. We also saw several hares playing in the long grass. The buildings appear much different to the previous islands visited with many with high arched felted roofs and several stone built ones with white painted walls like a ... read more

Sunday; a pleasant,if short stay, in Connell with an early breakfast and a ride down to Oban for the 9am ferry to Coll. We had all our winter clothes on since whilst it was bright and sunny it was bitter cold with a North wind. We got on the ferry and had a brew to warm us up only for a very Inconsiderate woman to open the door of the saloon to the outside world letting in the bitter cold. I closed the door only for it to be closed again. Not wanting to cause a scene we eventually went elsewhere but never really got warmed up again and landed on Coll feeling almost hypothermic. A visit to the pub for some lunch and we felt much better before setting out to exlore the island. We ... read more

The wind, the wind, ah the wind. Here we go again heading north from Port Helen up to the ferry at Port Askaig. The situation was only made better by the sighting of a buzzard and the pair of Goldfinches bobbing about in front of us for quarter of a mile. We took a short cut heading East and Bill saw a Chough, which is reputed to habit these parts. However, i was just chuffed that my legs did not give up on the long slow climb which must have been almost at the highest point on Islay. Some shortcut. Exhausted with our heads still down we landed in Askaig to get the ferry to Jura with 7 minutes to spare. The lady in the office said it will be going at quarter past so Bill ... read more

The weather is getting better by the day. It rained just a little last night but was fine today and with quite a bit of sun. The morning was cold and I had to put on my longs as we got onto the Island of Gigha. The journey to the ferry at Tayinloan, of about 15 miles, was more hilly than Bill had remembered it from last year but it got our lungs working. We continue to see a lot of wildlife and today we saw more Great Northern Divers, Shags and a Buzzard or two, not to mention rabbits everywhere. The island is quite small and the farms a bit untidy but there are two bays in the North, which are quite pretty and overlook the Paps of Jura. The pub serves good snacks at ... read more

After a good night,s sleep in Rothesay it was off into a serious force 8 gale force wind to the ferry terminal. Lucki Luckily the ferries were still running and crossed over to Wemyss Bay without hitch and might I say very smoothly. They must have a very efficient stabilising system. We cycled down to Largs and had a coffee in Nardinis before being met by two local cyclist who rode with us until 3pm. The first island today was Great Cumbrai which is just about 12 miles around and very picturesque. The only town is Millport, which is a tourist town with nice sandy beach and is home to an annual Country and Western Festival. The sea had cut up very rough when we arrived back at the terminal and we weworse dried the ferry ... read more