The western isles

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To finish up the biking part of the trip, we spent 6 nights, 5 biking days, in the Outer Hebrides, or Western Isles. There is much to say about these islands, their people, and their human and natural history, but your correspondents are weary, so these photos and their captions will have to suffice to tell some of the story, for now. Except for the first one, the photos are arranged in approximate geographical order (south to north, the way we biked) and labelled with the name of the island where the photo was taken. The Outer Hebrides form a chain, with many islands connected by causeways. Two of the jumps we made by ferry, though, and we also had one long ferry from Oban to Castlebay on Barra to get there and another long ride form Stornaway to Ullapool to get back to mainland Scotland. We went about 120 cycling miles in the Hebrides, from Vatersay in the south to Lewis in the north. We weren't keeping as close track of the mileage as for the End-to-End part of the trip, though.

Now we are in Inverness. Tomorrow we take the train to Carlisle via Edinburgh, and thence to St Bees. So we will be back in England once again and definitely on the way home. We still ave friends to visit and a few more places to see, but in a week we will all be back home. I may do one more wrap-up post for this trip, but, in case I don't, I'll say on behalf of all four of us, thanks for reading and commenting and sharing this adventure.

-- Kit

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Photos

Cottage east of Solas (North Uist)
Note pile of peat in front of building on right

Testing the waters (South Harris)
The waters were cold

Sometimes almost the only language for road signs is Gaelic (Lewis)
The two towns referred to on the lower signs we call Tarbert and Stornaway

Our hostel on Loch Erisort (Lewis)
This is a community-owned facility at the Ravenspoint Center in the Pairc district. About 400 people currently live in this district (a peninusla between two lochs), most of them Gaelic-speaking.

Comments

[Kelly P]

Thank You!
Thanks so much for sharing your adventure...it has been great fun to follow along...As a newby cyclist, I am inspired :-). Wishing you safe travels home...Kelly

[Olivia Vedder]

Uncle Boom Boom and Aunt Karen, It's Libby, just wanted to let you know I graduated from high school last night and I wanted to wish Uncle Boom Boom a happy birthday!

[Keep Smiling]

You must be exhausted!
It's been an interesting ride. Thanks for sharing.

[Shannon Calverley]

You took some layers off!
Hi K, K, K and J, The islands look awesome....now I've become jealous of your trip especially now that the miles are behind you, the jackets and fleece have come off and your at some tropical looking beaches albeit in the northern latitudes. Have a safe end of the trip and journey home. See you soon, S, G, A, Z and T

[mary smith]

Whew . . . !
We didn't know how much more armchair cycling we could take! You have provided quite the "reading ride" for those of us back home! We've been whipped by the wind, soaked by the rain and sore from hilly bike battles. Every once in a while we take a break from reading your blog and ride to town for beer and chocolates! (^_^) Thank you for providing such a wonderful travel diary. Smithy and I are headed to visit Dolly's family on Sunday . . . we hope to get together with Claire. Have a safe trip home, and God Bless You! Mary

[Fran Block]

It's been a lot of fun
reading your blogs, figuring out who wrote it without looking at the name. For us vicarious travelers, you've been the best. Many thanks, Fran