Blogs from Inverness-shire, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe - page 49

This blog by Jacqui: Landed in London directly from Delhi. Spent a few days visiting Jane, Carter, Sam and Connor in Princes Risborough and a few days in the Chapel with Karen and Gabe (Somerset). Then we headed north to see Granny Georgie. A gorgeous week in the Scotish Highlands with Granny Georgie, Helen and Grant! Some rain, scrabble, hikes and tea and scones in Dornoch.... read more

The weather was a little calmer this morning and the puddle had mysteriously disappeared. We packed up after breakfast and headed back down to Uig. We left the bikes outside the ferry terminal and walked for about 20-30 minutes to the Post Office for the cash machine and back (the woman in the shop told us it would be a 10 minute walk and we're fast walkers! ) We caught the ferry back to Lochmaddy, back on North Uist and planned to catch the bus back down to Lochboisdale on South Uist where we would catch the ferry back to Oban and be reunited with our car in readiness for the long drive back to Tunbridge Wells. However, we discovered that the bus we wanted did not run on school days. We spoke to another bus ... read more

Cycle stats: 2 hours 22 minutes cycling 20.1 miles traveled 8.6mph average speed 27.6mph top speed. There was no 12.05 ferry from Berneray to Leverburgh in Harris due to the low tide so we had to wait for the 14.40 instead. We headed to a local tea shop for some toasted sandwiches while we waited. The sailing to Leverburgh took one hour and as we cycled out of Leverburgh we were straight into the mountainous areas and straight into headwind. What we lacked in miles compared to yesterday we made up for in ascending and winds! We passed Scarista beach, apparently voted one of the most beautiful beaches in the world but we could barely see it due to the misty grey, drizzle. We arrived at Luskentyre beach, also apparently voted one of the world's most ... read more

Woke up this morning feeling quite rough with mild cold symptoms, mainly a sore throat. I suddenly felt very hot and it was refreshing to open up the tent. We decided to head down to Barra airport's cafe for some breakfast, toasted sandwich. Wished I'd ordered the Scotch pancakes Andy had as they looked amazing. After breakfast and packing up, we realised that we had missed the ferry we wanted from Aird Mhor to Eriskay so we hung about watching the planes land on the beach. We then headed to the jetty at Aird Mhor, just down the road and chilled ut in the cafe with some lentil & veg soup, tea and cake chatting to the bloke who ran the cafe. There we met another cycle tourer who had travelled south down the islands. We ... read more

Sunday, May 13 and we’re sitting in a very nice little B&B overlooking the harbour at Uig (pronounced (oo-ig) Ferries depart from here for some of the outer islands. We watched one arrive, unload and load trucks & cars and depart in about 20 minutes. For scenic grandeur the last 2 days of touring on Skye has been wonderful. So many vistas opened up at turns in the very narrow one-lane roads. The highlight was a trip down a glen on the south-east coast to Loch Brittle. Here we had close-up views of the famous Cuillin Hills. (we think the pronunciation is coo-lin as in food) Great photo opportunities were presented. ... read more