While South Uist to Berneray was to be the longest day, this was to be the toughest, the original aim was to get to Stornoway or a campsite past Calanais, however we learnt through other cyclists that a youth centre just before the Harris-Lewis border had no residents and would be open to the public.
The ferry meandered it's way through the sound of Harris, and dropped us off at Leverburgh, gone now were the relatively flat lands of the southern isles, the first "mountain" range over to Tarbert loomed, we passed the Harris golf course with its signs proclaiming that "No golf to be played on Sunday", the first signs of strict Calvinism. The road climbed and dropped, climbed and dropped and then not long after passing Taransay we climbed into the centre of south Harris.
James dropped behind as I got into a climbing rhythm, up and up, and up some more, some proper roadies were out descending to Leverburgh as I approached the summit, "Not far to go to the summit" one called as he kept control of his speed so he could say so, "Ha I'm heading for Stornoway" I replied, "Oh well, you've got a fair bit of climbing yet" he called as he passed. Indeed we do, but first the climbing was to be rewarded with a fast descent into Tarbert, I think I was 5 or more minutes head of James by the time I pulled up at the tourist information centre. Bikes parked and covered from the drizzle we went to find lunch, the hotel at the ferry terminal had the best looking menu, which I duly consumed: Cullen Skink with Soda Bread to start, a Steak Chiabatta with fries in the middle and jsut to weigh me down the Sticky Toffee Pudding to finish.
I think James may have had a salad.
A quick shop stop before setting off added some biscuits to the food loading and a bottle of beer to my bag weight, and off we set up An Clisham, just short of 200m of climbing in 4km, I remember on my first visit going up this hill on an old half cab bus, single track road, it's all changed now, wide single carriageway, and modern buses, and probably shallower gradients but it is still a tough climb, on the steepest section I made a mistake, I looked back to see how far ahead I was of James, there he was in the distance walking, walking a section his GPS told us was in excess of 18%, I got off and walked to the junction. At the summit I stopped and waited, and watched the slowly approaching vision of Orange P7 towing a bright yellow trailer crawling slowly up the hill, being passed by various vehicles including the mobile library.
Eventually he pulled into the layby created out of the old road, knackered, as knackered as I was when I had stopped, we rested for a while and then set off. I dropped him again as the road plunged down into the abyss beside Loch Seaforth, the loch is where Harris and Lewis meet, they aren't really separate islands as there is no channel between them, I got to the Ardvourlie centre after an exhillirating descent, one that was worth the toil up An Clisham, one I'd rather do going north than south as I think it's the steeper side. Again I waited for James, as I waited the other cyclists who had told us about the centre appeared from inside, they had been there a while and the warden had gone back to Stornoway so we had to wait for a dorm to be opened for us.
As everyone else sat and watched Dr Who I went for a wander to see the area, peaceful quiet, right time for that beer... "No alcohol allowed to be consumed on the premises", oh well it was destined to stay in the bag until I got home.
GPS Tracks:
Berneray Hostel to Ferry:
http://ridewithgps.com/trips/347791
Sound of Harris Ferry
http://ridewithgps.com/trips/347338
Leverburgh to Tarbert
http://ridewithgps.com/trips/347806
Tarbert to Ardvourlie
http://ridewithgps.com/trips/347807
Photos:
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