At some point in the day James goes digging for his waterproof jacket and discovers he has left it behind. Doh!
Our target for the day was the Gaitliff hostel on Berneray, a not too distant 85km away,
but this was by far our longest day in the saddle. Thankfully the south islands are flatish, and we made good time, but we didn't stop to see much, just a battle site and a ruined castle being made safe for wanderers.
We stopped at a nature reserve for lunch, unfortunately this turned into a puncture repair stop too as the fairy visited me. The last wee kick over to Berneray from North Uist was tough though after that distance, and a shop raid was inevitable, I hadn't realised this was where the postcard "Forecasting stone" was sited.
The Gaitliff Hostel on Berneray is amazing, the buildings sit on the waterline, and if you sit long enough you see the extent of the tidal range that means the ferry to Haris has to be jet propelled and you can also watch it pick its route through the shallow channel.
Next to the hostel are some abandoned houses, of course the hostel was probably once also an abandoned house, I explored, everything was still in place from carpet to furniture and wood paneling on the wall, I couldn't take a guess when the house was abandoned, everything was just there decaying into the past.
I don't know why there is so little of note to mention here, maybe in memory one ocean view after another has merged into one, maybe the length of day also had an impact, we did take the direct routes.
GPS Plots:
Howmore to Berneray
http://ridewithgps.com/trips/347804
No comments:
Post a Comment