leg 5, Day 3: Leverburgh - Mallaig

 

 

What a day! It's been 5 hours since I got off the bike and I'm still dizzy with exhaustion. Today started at 05:15 on empty stomachs and in the pouring rain, and when I say pouring rain I mean absolutely torrential. We needed to get the 07:30 ferry from Tartbert (Harris) to Uig (Skye) which meant an undulating 33km pre-breakfast. 

 

The sore Achilles that I developed toward the end of yesterday was beginning to appear again which was irritating but ultimately entirely down to the fact that this year we are both severely underprepared in terms of fitness. Despite that, Nick kindly dragged me to the ferry on time and has been a star all day taking the brunt of the the extremely strong headwind whenever possible. 

 

 

I would love to say that we thought Harris was beautiful and at times we noticed that there was clearly potential but all we were really able to do was squint sufficiently to allow us to see the road ahead (just) but keep as much of the driving rain out of our eyes. 

Upon arriving at Tarbert ferry terminal we greeted a pair of female cyclists who had a very happy baby in tow behind them... They then informed us they were on a three day camping-cycling tour! Nick and I we open mouthed, both immediately imagining our wives reactions if we suggested a holiday in Scotland camping, cycling with our babies. I mean the situation is beyond unimaginable. Needless to say we were extremely impressed. 

The crossing gave us a couple of hours to compose ourselves ahead of the 93km journey from Uig to Mallaig via Portree RNLI station. The wind that had been so helpful yesterday was now pointing straight at us and made our average speed drop from 40km/hr to just above 13km/hr while exerting significantly more effort!

I'm racking my brain for some interesting details from today but all I can honestly remember is 4-5 hours of extreme discomfort, cold and towards the end a serious deficiency of energy. We had the dilemma that if we stopped to eat, we'd get semi hypothermic. Yet if we carried on, we'd risk our energy levels dropping to the point that we'd be cycling like idiots. Our solution was to eat in short 2 min breaks while grabbing a photo or too. 

The road running along the Northeast edge of Skye was also far busier than we'd like, which coupled with pouring rain and strong winds is not ideal. Fortunately however we are on much quieter roads tomorrow. There were points were despite the weather a small part of me could vaguely appreciate that we were cyclingn through beautiful scenery but this thought would quickly be replaced by how sore my arse was. 

We did bump into an equally glum looking cyclist who made it a party of 3. We rode together for 15km or so but on one ascent, Nick clipped his wheel, giving him a puncture. A quick inner tube change was needed and within a few mins we were back on track... as a duo again, but colder. 

Sorry. Did I mention that it rained today? Or that there was a strong headwind?

Eventually we arrived at the ferry terminal that would take us to Mallaig, our final destination for the day. We gorged ourselves on food. Sandwiches, crisps, coke, rice Krispy fudge things it was eye rollingly delicious and we ate a pace that would put me in serious trouble at home. Soon enough the energy returned, our hands stopped shaking and we got ourselves into some dry clothes for the ferry trip.

We always knew that days like today would happen but it doesn't make them any easier. It'll be early to bed for both of us.

 

 

 

Leg 5, Day 2: Castlebay - Leverburgh

 

Our alarm went off at 5.45am this morning, after a decidedly average night's sleep on the floor of the Barra RNLI Station.

John the mechanic had made us very welcome and comfortable, but with the constant whirring and beeping of RNLI electronics in the crew room, hours of sleep achieved were minimal...

The pitter patter of rain on the windows when we woke certainly was not what we were hoping for- neither was the whistling of wind through the roof above us! Welcome to the Outer Hebrides! 

After a quick photo outside the station at 6am, we set off into the storm. With rain lashing the side of our faces, and strong wind buffeting us on our bikes, we were soon soaked through to the skin...

 

We raced the 15km or so across Bara to Ardmor to make the 7am ferry to Eriskay. You can imagine our delight therefore twhen we saw the ferry pulling away at 6.55am just as we rode in! Great... It's not often you see Rad REALLY angry- but this was one of those moments! With the next ferry not leaving for two hours, we settled in at a small ferry shelter on the headland, along with a delightful cyclist from Glasgow who was touring the Outer Hebrides. We did our best to stay warm for the following two hours while Rad tried to calm down!

With no waterproofs between us, and being utterly soaked and cold as we were, I was starting to question Rad's insistence that waterproofs are a waste of time for long distance cycling trips.  Later in the morning when even Rad resorted to wearing a bin bag and recommending that I did too, suggested that he might have been starting to change his views on this following day 1 of the Outer Hebrides....

The boat at last pulled in and we set off for Eriskay. By the time we arrived on the other side just 20 minutes later, the weather had worsened, with even stronger winds and heavier rain now lashing us. The great news however was that this was a direct tail wind from the South, and this really did turn our fortunes around.

 

After a small hill climb, the next 93km were generally very flat and very fast, being pushed along by the tail wind in our bin bags! Averaging over 40kmph we belted up the bleak and windswept Outer Hebrides (Eriskay, then South Uist, Benbecula and finally North Uist- each connected to the next by causeways).

With only two shops along the 93 km stretch, and being Sunday when everything is closed until 12.30 up here, we needed to find food for lunch,  dinner and breakfast the next day (as we knew from the RNLI crew that nothing would be open in Leveborough on Sunday- a very religious community). We pulled in at a closed Co-op, and Rad, in the full glory of his Lycra Outfit complete with luminous beanie and bin bag top, managed by some miracle, to sweet talk the staff into letting us do our shopping while the shop remained closed! Absolute legends...

The final 30km up to Berneray to catch the ferry across to Leverburgh, saw us battered by more driving rain, and a delightful crosswind to make the final stretch that bit more challenging ... 

Rather exhausted, we pulled in to the small harbour, only to see the ferry heading off into the distance- great- twice in one day! This time, it turned out to be due to Rad's timetable reading skills or lack thereof... So we settled in to the next ferry waiting hut for a three hour stint. 

Thankfully the ferry returned and we arrived in Leverburgh in good time before our early start the following morning...

 

Leg 5, Day 1: Oban- Tobermory- Oban- Castlebay, Barra

 

We pulled into Oban railway station at 9:30pm but it felt much earlier with the sun going down later further north. It was a beautiful evening, calm water, a light breeze and a warm evening sun, quite different to departing from Oban a year earlier in the pouring rain. 

We cycled the couple of hundred metres to Oban RNLI lifeboat station and was met by John, a crew member at that station. He gave us a quick tour of the station, gave us a key and let us unpack our gear as today was an early start. 

We departed on the 07:30 ferry from Oban to Craignure, on the east coast of Mull. From there we had a very simple out and back journey up the coastal road to Tobermorey, a small fishing village famous for its row of colourful houses and star of a certain children's TV program.  It was some of the best cycling we've had all Tour- great roads, no wind, sunny weather. 

34km later we arrived at a steep decent into Tobermorey and after getting our mandatory photo of the RNLI station, we popped into a bakery for an apple strudel and had a sit down for 10 mins by the very scenic if slightly manufactured village. 

The 34km return journey was interrupted with a variety of unmissable photo opportunities but we had made good progress so was not too concerned about making the 12:30 ferry, which was in any case delayed by 30 mins. This time we were safe as our connecting ferry, taking us back past Tobermory (without stopping) and on to the Outer Hebrides. 

Before then we had a very enjoyable lunch with my mother and the Fabricious', some family friends who just happened to be moored in Oban as part of their equally impressive sailing adventure from Falmouth to Oban via Dublin! They have been loyal supporters of the Tour of Britain in the past both via generous donations and in terms of interest so it was a fitting lunch indeed. 

We left lunch to jump onto the 4 hour CalMac ferry from Oban to Castlebay which is a town on the southern end of Barra, which is in turn on the southern end of the Outer Hebrides. 

We are making a conscious effort to ensure we relax and enjoy ourselves - with so many ferries to catch some of which only occur once a week, we really don't want to let the trip feel like a continuous series of days where we are panicking hit deadlines. Imagine a week of hat feeling you have when you're running late for a flight! 

In short today was a relatively light day- 64km in good weather. I am, however slightly concerned with how tired we are, clearly the lack of training is showing already! Oh well, not much we can do about it now but have another beer!