Tag: Scotland

Cycling The Hebridean Way: Day 10

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Today was a bit of a transitory day; moving from the business of cycling the Hebridean Way to thinking about the long journey back home. But it did have its moments, starting with a 6am paddle / wash in the sea. That was an envigorating way to start the day. I returned to the tent to make coffee but within minutes the tent had been surrounded byโ€ฆ cows! They can be dangerous animals so with this thought in mind, my tent was packed up in record time and I was heading – tentatively – towards the gate.

Cycling The Hebridean Way: Day 9

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A memorable end to the day, wild camping next to the beach, crashing waves and the setting sun at the north-western extremity of the Outer Hebrides. Perhaps even Britain. I arrived at the Butt of Lewis at around 4pm, the end of the Hebridean Way. My only regret that they didnโ€™t manage to place the metal sign to mark the end of the route in a more photogenically accommodating positionโ€ฆ

Cycling The Hebridean Way: Day 8

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The headline of today is that, such was my progress on the bike, I am within 40km of the Butt of Lewis. And such was the weather today that, frankly, who wouldnโ€™t want to cycle across some of Britainโ€™s most spectacular landscapes to get to this point? My plan had been minimal; head north along the Hebridean Way and sort out accommodation later. Thatโ€™s a formula that has never let me down and (spoiler alert) it didnโ€™t do so today. I am now happily fed and watered on the small, friendly but quite busy site at Shawbost on the western side of Lewis.

Cycling The Hebridean Way: Horgabost

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Here’s the plan for my trip to the Outer Hebrides… …and here’s a podcast I made about cycling the Hebridean Way prior to setting off: More episodes of The Cycling Europe Podcast can be found on this page of CyclingEurope.org. And finally, since you’ve made it this far, […]

Cycling The Hebridean Way: Day 7

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Tonightโ€™s instalment of this trip to the Outer Hebrides will be brought to you mainly through the medium of video. Someone asked why I didnโ€™t add a narration to these videos. Well, it adds an extra level of complexity to do so but, as the wind today was light (anything above a gentle breeze causes horrible distortion on the iPhone microphone), Iโ€™ve added a few comments as youโ€™ll hear when you listen.

Cycling The Hebridean Way: Day 6

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Of all the islands that I have so far visited on this trip, the island of North Uist has been the least unexpected. Thatโ€™s not a criticism, just an acceptance that what I cycled through today gave me pretty much all the things that come to mind when […]

Cycling The Hebridean Way: Day 5

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Things have turned. In one way for the worse but in others for the better. Not that what preceded day 5 had been bad to turn against but you know what I meanโ€ฆ As I type Iโ€™m holed up in a small – minute one might say (โ€˜snugโ€™ an estate agent would say) – wooden shed on the south-western edge of South Uist but let me take you back to the start of the day at the campsite on Benbeculaโ€ฆ

Cycling The Hebridean Way: Day 4

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Itโ€™s been difficult to fault the Outer Hebrides so far (as you will continue to discover below). Only one very modern facet of life has let me down; mobile data coverage. Uploading text like this isnโ€™t a problem. Photos need 3G and video needs 4G. Why am I telling you all this? Well, you may find that the usual mix of text, images and video (that you have become accustomed over the yearsโ€ฆ) takes a few days to upload. Today, North Uist offered me a Vodafone 4G signal so, for the first tome since arriving on Barra, I was able to upload videos. You may want to look again at the previous two posts to watch those videos before you read this. (And come back to this post tomorrow or the day after for todayโ€™s videoโ€ฆ) On with the show!