Day 7, 8 and 9 Exploring Stornoway and Lewis

Out last couple of days were spent exploring Stornoway and Lews with the Douglas’s in their big comfortable car. We saw Lewis Castle on our own on Saturday and on Sunday Ian drove us over to Uig and another huge expanse of sand. The wind was down, and the rain stayed away which was a blessing! We flew out of Stornoway in the early afternoon, back to Edinburgh.

Hilary and Ian’s beautiful house

The Hebridean humour! There was water coming out of the bottle

We saw some of these but not too many. Going closely past one in car or on bike was a little scary.

The Wee Shop

Dalmore beach

Ian and Howard and Ruaridh

The house and the beach from the top of the hill

A carving of one of the Lewis chessmen, in Uig. Legend has it there are more to be found! 

The wind was down - a bit! 

The Callanish Stones - we will come back and see them close up another time

Look at the folding in the rock

There were sheep everywhere

Dalmore Beach

Hilary and Ruaridh

Things we noted but haven’t mentioned:

1) Cuckoos: We heard cuckoos every day! Who knew that the Outer Hebrides was home to a large number of them! And I saw at least one of them

2) Corncrakes: these are rare and getting rarer. We often heard them growing up in Shapinsay and I knew that the Outer Hebrides was likely to have them too. I heard one only twice, sadly.

3) We also saw an eagle being mobbed by crows.

4)  The complete route was 185 miles although we probably did a little more. Here the complete route with our stops:

4) Here is the route in profile. The highest part was the huge hill after Tarbert.

Day 6 Borve to Stornaway

 

We had a cosy if slightly claustrophobic night in our beautiful glamping pod, listening to the rain and wind outside! Sadly it hadn’t abated much when it was time to depart (10 am with a cereal bar and coffee for breakfast - more than enough!). Sadly it was a very rainy morning with showers constantly coming in from the northwest. They weren’t as extreme as yesterday though - no hail stones, so apart from a couple of brief bus stop stops we just carried on. It’s a long and boring cycle across bleak moorland. But the wind and rain were on our back quarter so we made good time. 

We went straight to the hotel (gosh the streets of Stornaway are busy - a bit of a shock after our rural cycling) to leave our stuff, have our coffee and discuss what we might do before we put the bikes back. It was decided we’d go out to the Iolaire Memorial about 2.5 miles out of town. Such a sad story, and they have built a beautiful new monument, so we are glad we went. 

201 men died and 79 survived, within sight of their home post, on New Years Day, returning from the Great War.

John F. macLeod (left) saved more than 30 men by getting a rope to shore. . It worked well until the boat turned and broke the rope

Back to the Hub as instructed to return the bikes to Alistair. Sadly the cafe there had no space for us (it looked super) so walked into town and, dodging the rain again had a soup at the HS-1 cafe. When we had finished we wandered back to the hotel, having checked the bus times for tomorrow. Checked in and ready for the next part of the adventure 

We went and had a nice celebratory drink at the very cosy Crown and then wandered up for our dinner at the Harbour Kitchen - a restaurant very difficult to get a reservation in! Lovely sea food with a national reputation according to their Facebook page - see below.

Day 5 Dalmor to The Butt of Lewis and then back to Borve

 

After yesterdays exertions we had a slightly longer lie than usual and Hilary and Ian provide a lovely breakfast for us before setting off again. We were on the road about 9.50 with a very strong wind and the threat of heavy showers. For the most part the wind propelled us very fast in a north easterly direction, and by some miracle bus shelters appeared just exactly when needed! 

We could write a long essay on the bus shelters we have known in Lewis and Harris. However the most necessary one was just as we were close the Butt of Lewis itself. Ian called them mushrooms but later we heard a more colourful description. But since this time the heavy shower contained hail stones and every bin in the village blew over as it struck, we were very happy to have any shelter! 

From there, once the weather cleared we had only a mile or so to go to the lighthouse and the end of the road. There we met Jackie, a woman on her own who had done it in 4 days on a standard road bike and we were full of admiration of her! 

The Butt of Lewis itself is pretty spectacular so we enjoyed the sights, took some photos and then headed back to Ness for lunch, catching another brief but wild squall after leaving the lighthouse - so strong we were both nearly knocked sideways! 

The recommendation for lunch was the Wobbly Dog in Ness. Without being told about it we would never have found it, and what a find it was! Great food, a warm welcome, an owner full of stories ( he tells visitors that the mushroom bus shelters are helicopter landing pads)  and a dry and warm place to sit. This was the first time in the whole journey we were able to sit at a table and order an ordinary lunch. Take note folks! 

After a very comfortable hour or so it was a tough cycle back to Borve. We sheltered once beside a church to let a squall through but otherwise just barrelled on. It took us about an hour of cycling to get back to our glamping pod (where we had left our gear this morning). So pleased to get here! And it is so cosy, cute and well equipped! 

We had a nice meal at the Borve Hotel. I had Chicken Balmoral (and had the choice of the usual stalwarts of beer battered fish, steak and Guinness pie etc etc! )