My car had sat in a car park in Oban for nearly 2 weeks.
I had bought my train ticket in advance so had left a decent gap just incase it took longer to get home, and when I set out for Glasgow that day, I could only hope it would start, that it would be fine, that it wouldn't be loaded with civil parking notices and that some Gadgie hadn't nicked of with it.
This was also my first trip up the West Highland line by train, probably Scotland's most scenic rail journey if you go from Glasgow or at least Milngavie, to Mallaig. I have done Fort Bill to Mallaig before but not the Oban route.
It was an unusually short visit to Oban for me, even by the standards of when I'm getting a boat.
My car was fine, I drove home with the contented smile of a SAAB driver.
I didn't get on the bike after that journey for almost a week, my road bike felt so agile after riding a heavy touring bike that I was struggling to keep it in a straight line. Yet despite that I recorded what was then my fastest time on my "Wee Loop". The touring ride was an adventure through a rural area "far" from home, this was a fast blast round a rural area on my door step. Two totally different types of riding but both with their own senses of achievement.
It was though, time to plot another adventure, of a different sort. A few weeks before setting off for the Western Isles I had been visited by a friend who is staying in the Czech Republic, he reckoned I wouldn't visit since I refuse to try flying. Well, I like a challenge...
Thursday, 11 August 2011
Monday, 8 August 2011
8th August - Inverness
At Inverness railway station in the morning the East Coast "Highland Chieftain" service to London Kings Cross sat waiting to start its day long journey, it's a journey I really want to do but haven't had a chance to, the sound of even the upgraded IC125 sets thrashing over Slodh and Drumochter must be impressive (although with the turbo whistle they had prior to the engine upgrades it must have been better).
Unfortunately there was only 1 bike space on this service so James got that to Perth and was told he'd have to chance it up to Arbroath, the next available bike space was early afternoon so I was left with all morning in Inverness to spend. (It was actually the only space left so I could have been cycling to Aberdeen or Aviemore)
Part of the reason for the lack of space was due to a mainland weather problem, while we had only been drenched once in the whole of our journey the mainland had been drookit the whole week and the rains had washed away the line to Aberdeen somewhere near Elgin.
With so much time to spare I decided I'd circle the Moray firth, I headed off up along the Shore Road, and onto the Kessock Bridge before heading inland to Muir of Ord and Beauly and then back along the south of the Firth.
When I got back there was still plenty of time so I put my bags (yeah I was still riding with them!) into left luggage, tied the bike up on the station racks and went for a wander by the river out to the islands near Bught Park and back, I even discovered that the Inverness shopping centre has a clock just like the Wellgate in Dundee has, but I couldn't wait around to see if it did the same things.
I stood in the line for the train (as they do at Inverness) and the conductor approached me, sent me to the front and checked my ticket, "Ha, Bike and Coach B, there's no rack in Coach B, use the one in A as the one in C will be full with luggage." He then sent me on ahead of everyone else.
I had bought a ticket for Leuchars deliberately, because at Dundee the lift isn't big enough to take a bike up the stairs and there was no way I was going to get 40Kg of bike and luggage up the station stairs at Dundee. The train I was on stopped at Ladybank so I got off there, much to the amusement of the conductor on the Edinburgh to Aberdeen train I got on to get back up to Leuchars!
I didn't bother to point out to him that there was no way my bike was getting up the stairs at Dundee.
Alighting at Leuchars I wheeled the bike up the ramp over the bridge and set off home with what little energy I had left.
GPS Tracks:
Inverness to Beauly
http://ridewithgps.com/trips/347805
Beauly to Inverness
http://ridewithgps.com/trips/347790
Inverness Walk:
http://ridewithgps.com/trips/347810
Leuchars to Home:
http://ridewithgps.com/trips/347799
Photos:
Unfortunately there was only 1 bike space on this service so James got that to Perth and was told he'd have to chance it up to Arbroath, the next available bike space was early afternoon so I was left with all morning in Inverness to spend. (It was actually the only space left so I could have been cycling to Aberdeen or Aviemore)
Part of the reason for the lack of space was due to a mainland weather problem, while we had only been drenched once in the whole of our journey the mainland had been drookit the whole week and the rains had washed away the line to Aberdeen somewhere near Elgin.
With so much time to spare I decided I'd circle the Moray firth, I headed off up along the Shore Road, and onto the Kessock Bridge before heading inland to Muir of Ord and Beauly and then back along the south of the Firth.
When I got back there was still plenty of time so I put my bags (yeah I was still riding with them!) into left luggage, tied the bike up on the station racks and went for a wander by the river out to the islands near Bught Park and back, I even discovered that the Inverness shopping centre has a clock just like the Wellgate in Dundee has, but I couldn't wait around to see if it did the same things.
I stood in the line for the train (as they do at Inverness) and the conductor approached me, sent me to the front and checked my ticket, "Ha, Bike and Coach B, there's no rack in Coach B, use the one in A as the one in C will be full with luggage." He then sent me on ahead of everyone else.
I had bought a ticket for Leuchars deliberately, because at Dundee the lift isn't big enough to take a bike up the stairs and there was no way I was going to get 40Kg of bike and luggage up the station stairs at Dundee. The train I was on stopped at Ladybank so I got off there, much to the amusement of the conductor on the Edinburgh to Aberdeen train I got on to get back up to Leuchars!
I didn't bother to point out to him that there was no way my bike was getting up the stairs at Dundee.
Alighting at Leuchars I wheeled the bike up the ramp over the bridge and set off home with what little energy I had left.
GPS Tracks:
Inverness to Beauly
http://ridewithgps.com/trips/347805
Beauly to Inverness
http://ridewithgps.com/trips/347790
Inverness Walk:
http://ridewithgps.com/trips/347810
Leuchars to Home:
http://ridewithgps.com/trips/347799
Photos:
Sunday, 7 August 2011
7th August - Laxdale
7th of August 2011 was a Sunday.
This is the Western Isles, known for Sabath observance.
Unsurprisingly the town was quiet, except for one part of town, the ferry port.
The ferry port was buzzing with passengers waiting for the ticket office to open and very aware that the "honesty shop" had a CCTV camera pointing at you as you picked a bag of crisps and can of juice out of the basket and deposited your money in the coin box.
Amongst other cyclists there both the weight of my bike and my prop stand had gathered some attention, and again everyone thought I was riding too heavy (you know they may just be right), the 2 yorkshire men we talked to were staying at Ullapool and then heading over to Inverness, which was part of my original thoughts but by the time we were at Ardvourlie we knew it wasn't going to be possible (not only due to knackeredness but the Inverness hostel was available on the Sunday night but not the Monday)
The sailing was fairly quiet and smooth and the crew went about their maintenance duties, the same crew member who loaded the vehicles onto the car deck could later be found painting the decks and serving coffee.
When we arrived in Ullapool we confirmed the bus times, we were booked onto the return journey of the Durness - Ullapool - Inverness bike bus that runs once a day and then took a wander round the village and into various shops.
James had bought a bag in Stornway which he packed his trailer and stuff into whiel we waited the last few minutes, eventually the bus arrived and took us over the muirs to Inverness via Dingwall.
In retrospec we shoudl have gone into the station and sorted out train tickets then but we didn't consider how busy Inverness was, and while I cycled up to the hostel James couldn't cycle with the trailer packed up so had to walk it.
We then headed into the city centre for a 2nd tea of pizza.
GPS Tracks:
Laxdale to Ferry
http://ridewithgps.com/trips/347798
Photos:
This is the Western Isles, known for Sabath observance.
Unsurprisingly the town was quiet, except for one part of town, the ferry port.
The ferry port was buzzing with passengers waiting for the ticket office to open and very aware that the "honesty shop" had a CCTV camera pointing at you as you picked a bag of crisps and can of juice out of the basket and deposited your money in the coin box.
Amongst other cyclists there both the weight of my bike and my prop stand had gathered some attention, and again everyone thought I was riding too heavy (you know they may just be right), the 2 yorkshire men we talked to were staying at Ullapool and then heading over to Inverness, which was part of my original thoughts but by the time we were at Ardvourlie we knew it wasn't going to be possible (not only due to knackeredness but the Inverness hostel was available on the Sunday night but not the Monday)
The sailing was fairly quiet and smooth and the crew went about their maintenance duties, the same crew member who loaded the vehicles onto the car deck could later be found painting the decks and serving coffee.
When we arrived in Ullapool we confirmed the bus times, we were booked onto the return journey of the Durness - Ullapool - Inverness bike bus that runs once a day and then took a wander round the village and into various shops.
James had bought a bag in Stornway which he packed his trailer and stuff into whiel we waited the last few minutes, eventually the bus arrived and took us over the muirs to Inverness via Dingwall.
In retrospec we shoudl have gone into the station and sorted out train tickets then but we didn't consider how busy Inverness was, and while I cycled up to the hostel James couldn't cycle with the trailer packed up so had to walk it.
We then headed into the city centre for a 2nd tea of pizza.
GPS Tracks:
Laxdale to Ferry
http://ridewithgps.com/trips/347798
Photos:
Saturday, 6 August 2011
6th August - Carloway
The owners of the studio/accommodation provided us with an excellent full cooked breakfast including homemade jam and rolls still warm from the oven, a brilliant start to the day and I packed a couple of rolls for the journey, especially useful as I was now short of cash.
James wasn't up for the full journey to the Butt of Lewis and back down to Stornoway but decided to ride with me up to the junction at Barvas and then head down to find accomodation for the night.
We cycled up with no real wind again through Shawbost where we failed to spot the campsite marked on the map, Bragar and Arnol with little to see but houses, ocean and peat.
As James continued on to Stornoway I realised I wasn't far off being out of energy too, Jane at the Blue Pig had suggested places to leave my bags but I realised that the extra weight of the bags was making it easier for me to keep going. I stopped in at the Morven Gallery for cake and looked around the paintings, I put what loose change I had into the Linda Norgrove Foundation's collection plate unfortunately I could only scrape up a few coppers.
I stopped a few times for a rest and drink as the week of cycling was now really taking its toll on my energy levels, a couple of times I spotted items of interest such as a bus shelter with 4 places to hide from the wind, only one of them within sight of the road!
And in South Dail I heard the crunch of 2 cars colliding, I stopped and looked back, it was minor so I took the rest and then continued on, while out cycling you sometimes pass kids with little better to do than amuse you, such as once in Burntisland some girls who started doing Starjumps in a bus shelter as I passed; in this case the local kids in Cros decided to wave, I was to knackered to do much more than smile and lift my hand from the bars.
At Lionel I turned up towards the Butt of Lewis, through Eoropie where I stopped due to spotting a model lighthouse and crazy golf!
When I reached the Butt of Lewis lighthouse I took a long break, and while I was there a German registered car parked up, and out popped 2 men and an Alpe Horn which one of them started playing, it turned out he had chosen various locations around Scotland to play the Alp Horn, if only I had been at Leverburgh that morning I would have heard him play it with what his friend said was one of the most amazing echoes they'd heard.
I set off back but this time I took the other road at Eoropie straight down to the Port of Ness for another rest and spent almost all the money I had left on a can of coke. I also received a message from james saying he had got us a bunk room at the Laxdale holiday park, perfect.
I made decent progress on the way back with a mild breeze behind me, although I did stop to take a couple of pictures, and for a rest next to some Peat cuttings on the Barvas - Stornoway road before finally rolling into Laxdale.
When I found James he had already had his tea as it was getting late, so I sorted my stuff out and headed into town on foot and had a look around and watched the ferry arrive on its last journey of the day.
On the way back I bumped into James and someone who was also in our bunkroom heading to the pub, I was just too knackered so headed back and went to sleep.
GPS Tracks:
Carloway to Butt of Lewis
http://ridewithgps.com/trips/347795
Butt of Lewis to Laxdale
http://ridewithgps.com/trips/347792
Photos:
James wasn't up for the full journey to the Butt of Lewis and back down to Stornoway but decided to ride with me up to the junction at Barvas and then head down to find accomodation for the night.
We cycled up with no real wind again through Shawbost where we failed to spot the campsite marked on the map, Bragar and Arnol with little to see but houses, ocean and peat.
As James continued on to Stornoway I realised I wasn't far off being out of energy too, Jane at the Blue Pig had suggested places to leave my bags but I realised that the extra weight of the bags was making it easier for me to keep going. I stopped in at the Morven Gallery for cake and looked around the paintings, I put what loose change I had into the Linda Norgrove Foundation's collection plate unfortunately I could only scrape up a few coppers.
I stopped a few times for a rest and drink as the week of cycling was now really taking its toll on my energy levels, a couple of times I spotted items of interest such as a bus shelter with 4 places to hide from the wind, only one of them within sight of the road!
And in South Dail I heard the crunch of 2 cars colliding, I stopped and looked back, it was minor so I took the rest and then continued on, while out cycling you sometimes pass kids with little better to do than amuse you, such as once in Burntisland some girls who started doing Starjumps in a bus shelter as I passed; in this case the local kids in Cros decided to wave, I was to knackered to do much more than smile and lift my hand from the bars.
At Lionel I turned up towards the Butt of Lewis, through Eoropie where I stopped due to spotting a model lighthouse and crazy golf!
When I reached the Butt of Lewis lighthouse I took a long break, and while I was there a German registered car parked up, and out popped 2 men and an Alpe Horn which one of them started playing, it turned out he had chosen various locations around Scotland to play the Alp Horn, if only I had been at Leverburgh that morning I would have heard him play it with what his friend said was one of the most amazing echoes they'd heard.
I set off back but this time I took the other road at Eoropie straight down to the Port of Ness for another rest and spent almost all the money I had left on a can of coke. I also received a message from james saying he had got us a bunk room at the Laxdale holiday park, perfect.
I made decent progress on the way back with a mild breeze behind me, although I did stop to take a couple of pictures, and for a rest next to some Peat cuttings on the Barvas - Stornoway road before finally rolling into Laxdale.
When I found James he had already had his tea as it was getting late, so I sorted my stuff out and headed into town on foot and had a look around and watched the ferry arrive on its last journey of the day.
On the way back I bumped into James and someone who was also in our bunkroom heading to the pub, I was just too knackered so headed back and went to sleep.
GPS Tracks:
Carloway to Butt of Lewis
http://ridewithgps.com/trips/347795
Butt of Lewis to Laxdale
http://ridewithgps.com/trips/347792
Photos:
Friday, 5 August 2011
5th August - Ardvourlie
Todays aim was to visit Calanais and Garenin where there was a previously on of the Gaitliff Trust hostels, and to either find the campsite marked on the map or wild camp somewhere. The main road was fairly easy going but we were aware of a stiff breeze coming from the west which duly hit us as we turned off onto the Calanais road.
The road to Calanais took forever in the wind and we were relieved to reach the first Calanais standing stones where we left the bikes at the side of the road to wander around the stones, here we bumped into another cyclist from the Basque country we agreed to "share the wind" on our onward journey as he was heading round to Stornoway for the boat the next day. He was doing a week tour from Glasgow up round the islands and back down to Glasgow, but first we needed lunch. Unfortunately we arrived in the café at the same time as a tour bus, honesty got the better of me when I was asked if I was on the bus and missed out on a free lunch.
With lunch eaten and the main set of standing stones visited we set off at pace into the wind, unfortunately both myself and Basque friend (I never noted his name) were able to maintain a pace in echelon that James couldn't, although I didn't have long to wait when I stopped at Carloway so we could visit Garenin.
We had both miss-judged the number of shops on Lewis as in the south islands every village seems to have a shop however with Tesco and Co-Operative in operation in Stornoway all the local shops have closed down, however on the road to Garenin we spotted with luck that an art gallery had a small shop attached, it was infact an honesty box shop and by chance we got speaking to the owners, who on hearing that we were thinking of camping up at Shawbost which with my terrible Gaelic pronunciations I was saying Seabost (Sibost) informed us that their "Bothy" was free, this was essentially a garden shed with a bunkbed in it.
It didn't take much thinking to take up this offer as I eventually remembered that James hated his small tent, so with accommodation for the night sorted we set off to the Garenin village.
Garenin is a Blackhouse museum village although you can rent out some of the blackhouses and until closed could stay in the one that formed the hostel. A couple of the blackhouses are set up as museum features with one having retained the state it was in when "abandoned" and the other converted into shop and video/board exhibits.
Back at the Blue Pig I took a wander after tea up the Pentland road, this cuts across Lewis to Stornoway and was one option for the following day.
GPS Tracks
Ardvourlie to Calanais
http://ridewithgps.com/trips/347789
Calanais to Carloway
http://ridewithgps.com/trips/347793
Photos:
The road to Calanais took forever in the wind and we were relieved to reach the first Calanais standing stones where we left the bikes at the side of the road to wander around the stones, here we bumped into another cyclist from the Basque country we agreed to "share the wind" on our onward journey as he was heading round to Stornoway for the boat the next day. He was doing a week tour from Glasgow up round the islands and back down to Glasgow, but first we needed lunch. Unfortunately we arrived in the café at the same time as a tour bus, honesty got the better of me when I was asked if I was on the bus and missed out on a free lunch.
With lunch eaten and the main set of standing stones visited we set off at pace into the wind, unfortunately both myself and Basque friend (I never noted his name) were able to maintain a pace in echelon that James couldn't, although I didn't have long to wait when I stopped at Carloway so we could visit Garenin.
We had both miss-judged the number of shops on Lewis as in the south islands every village seems to have a shop however with Tesco and Co-Operative in operation in Stornoway all the local shops have closed down, however on the road to Garenin we spotted with luck that an art gallery had a small shop attached, it was infact an honesty box shop and by chance we got speaking to the owners, who on hearing that we were thinking of camping up at Shawbost which with my terrible Gaelic pronunciations I was saying Seabost (Sibost) informed us that their "Bothy" was free, this was essentially a garden shed with a bunkbed in it.
It didn't take much thinking to take up this offer as I eventually remembered that James hated his small tent, so with accommodation for the night sorted we set off to the Garenin village.
Garenin is a Blackhouse museum village although you can rent out some of the blackhouses and until closed could stay in the one that formed the hostel. A couple of the blackhouses are set up as museum features with one having retained the state it was in when "abandoned" and the other converted into shop and video/board exhibits.
Back at the Blue Pig I took a wander after tea up the Pentland road, this cuts across Lewis to Stornoway and was one option for the following day.
GPS Tracks
Ardvourlie to Calanais
http://ridewithgps.com/trips/347789
Calanais to Carloway
http://ridewithgps.com/trips/347793
Photos:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)