Rides bikes, paddles sea kayaks, takes pictures. Life on the road & my home in Cornwall.
A quick spin north
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When I last wrote the long range forecast suggested a weather window might form for a sea kayak journey to explore the uninhabited islands and islets that form the most southerly limits of the Outer Hebrides. With a few days in hand in the meantime I decided to hop on my bike and head north from Barra for a few days to explore some favourite places from the landward side, previously only seen from the seat of a sea kayak.
The ferry across the Sound of Barra dropped me on tiny Eriskay at midday. The weather was somewhat less than agreeable with gale force winds and rather a lot of rain… not really a day for sight-seeing, and when the weather is poor both South and North Uist can be soul-crushingly bleak… especially if you haven’t got the legs. I didn’t at first but after an hour or so found my legs properly and made the 120km north to the ferry slip on Berneray at the top of North Uist in time for the 5 o-clock ferry across to Harris. The sun did come out for me briefly on Benbecula so I stopped for some cake, but other than that it was a non-stop ride. I enjoyed it, in that perverse fashion that sometimes happens when the weather is stormy.
I think I can tell the rest of the story in pictures… but in short it was a terrific few days. The anticipated weather window did also happen so after riding a lap of Harris and enjoying a poke around Berneray I had to dash all the way back south, take my camping gear off the bike and sling it in my sea kayak for a 3 day journey south… but that is another story and will be the subject of the next blog post (here). Stay tuned… it was fabulous.
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4 thoughts on “A quick spin north”
Wow, this is fantastic! How lucky you are to be in such a beautiful place. And who cares about the weather? No such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing, yada yada. Thank you for this gorgeous post. (We love the Harris bus shelter, heehee!) Hope to see it all in person someday. Big hugs, Jean & Alex
Wow, this is fantastic! How lucky you are to be in such a beautiful place. And who cares about the weather? No such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing, yada yada. Thank you for this gorgeous post. (We love the Harris bus shelter, heehee!) Hope to see it all in person someday. Big hugs, Jean & Alex
ah, pleased that you enjoyed :-)
Soooo very different from overpopulated China…
ummm… yes..!