I had visited the Hebrides with the bike in July of this year but I didn’t have enough time to complete all of the 185 miles of the Hebridean Way from Barra to the Butt of Lewis. I really enjoyed the trip and so I decided to go back again in September and complete the whole thing, to make it more interesting I would be starting and finishing in a different place to last time. Last July i drove up to Oban with the bike in the boot but this left me the problem of what to do with the car when I was off cycling. also it meant that I would have to return to Oban to retrieve the car when I was finished, which was not ideal. This time I would be using the train and my intended route was to head for North Ayrshire town of Ardrossan where the ferry departs for Brodick on Arran, then cycle North to Lochranza to catch the small ferry to Claonaig on the North Kintyre peninsula, then cycle up to Oban and maybe spend a day exploring Mull. I would then return to Oban briefly to catch the ferry to Barra on the Outer Hebrides. After finishing the ride I would head for Stornaway and get the ferry to Ullapool and then cycle to Inverness to catch the train back home. The ferry from Ardrossan to Brodick only takes 55 minutes and bikes go free, so it only cost me £4 to get to Arran. Once off the ferry I turned right and cycled North heading for Lochranza Youth Hostel which is only 14 miles away, it’s flat until just after Sannox then it’s a steady climb over “The Boguille” and a rapid descent down to the beautifully located Lochranza. The next morning I caught the early ferry for the 30 minute crossing to Cloanaig on the North Kintyre Peninsula. I headed North to Kennacraig (ferry goes to Islay from here…) and turned right along the A83, just before Tarbert i turned left and took the quiet undulating road around the Knapdale Peninsula which eventually rejoined the A83 again and entered Lochgilphead where I stopped at a cafe for much needed pie and chips. Leaving Lochgilphead and heading northwards again I picked up a quiet road along the Crinan Canal for a while then the B8025 heading for Kilmartin heading for the quiet road on the North side of Loch Awe. This road was actually in very good condition and had recently been resurfaced, I think with European money, to make it easier for big lorries to get the timber out, the drawback was it was extremely undulating with lots of short steep climbs coming one after the other, it was a relief to finally get to Annat and head left to Taynuilt, from here I took another small road along Glen Logan and eventually rolled into Oban at about 5.30pm. The next day I caught the early morning ferry to Craignure on the Isle of Mull, I was booked into Tobermory Youth Hostel for tonight so I had a full day to explore the island. From Craignure I cycled South through the mountains of Glen More and descended down to the road junction at Loch Scridain, here I had a decision to make….

I really wanted to visit the island of Iona but it would be a detour of at least 40 miles to do so and I would still have a long ride to get to Tobermory after that. In the end I decided to go for it and kept up a steady pace all the way to Fionnphort where a regular ferry does the short hop to Iona. The crossing was quite choppy and the ferry captain said that they would be halting sailing early because of an impending storm, so I had about an hour on the island and made my way up to the famous Abbey for a look around before returning to Mull and the 20 mile ride back to the head of Loch Scridain to continue my journey to Tobermory. It was quite calm cycling through Gleann Seilisdeir but when I descended down to Loch Na Keal the weather got quite wild with some very strong gusts making cycling hazardous. I had intended on cycling round the coast past Loch Tuath to Tobermory but in these conditions I had to bail and headed across the narrow neck of land to Salen and reached Tobermory via the main A849 road, the rain was very heavy by now but I couldn’t get much wetter and it was a relief to finally reach the hostel. I left Tobermory early in the morning to cycle back to Craignure and to catch the 09.45am ferry back to Oban as I was going to get the afternoon ferry out to Barra this afternoon, an island at the Southern end of the Outer Hebrides. The ferry from Oban to Castlebay on Barra takes 4hrs 45 minutes and during the voyage I got chatting to Helena a student from Glasgow who was also going to do the Hebridean Way, we agreed that after we landed we would team up and do the short ride over the causeway to Vatersay and to try and find the elusive sign signalling the start of the Hebridean Way which had eluded me last time, the poingent Annie Jane memorial is close by too, so we visited that also. After this Helena checked into the Dunard Hostel in Castlebay and I cycled off into the twilight heading for Barra Airport (Traigh Mhor) to bivi on the beach. Early the next morning I cycled further North on Barra and had a look around small church of Cille Bharra before catching the ferry for the 40 min voyage from Barra to the small island of Eriskay, which is connected to South Uist by a long causeway.

South Uist is fairly flat and the cycling is easy (providing the wind isn’t a problem!). I stopped off again at the Kildonan Museum cafe for some hot food, which has what looks like a Viking longboat parked outside it. The Hebridean Way continues Northwards along the main road and every now and then there is a detour off into the Machair, a low lying, fertile grassy plain, before returning to the road, then past Our Lady Of The Isles statue and over another causeway to Benbecular. This time I took the coast road which passes a supermarket and the airport. Yet another causeway takes you onto North Uist, i took the West coast route and the terrain here along the single track road is more undulating and harder work than earlier in the day. Eventually the final causeway of the day came into view, the one leading to Bernarey, last time I was here I stayed at the picturesque Gatliff Trust hostel but this time I decided to check out John’s Bunkhouse and I’m pleased I did as it was a very comfortable and pleasant place to stay. Chatting to a couple of other cyclists who were also staying at the Bunkhouse it was clear that the weather the day after tomorrow was going to be pretty horrendous for cycling, with rain and very strong winds forcast. I wasn’t booked in anywhere for accommodation tomorrow yet so I decided the best plan was to catch the 07.15am ferry from Bernarey to Leverburgh on Harris and see how far I could go. Harris is quite mountainous and has some long road climbs but with a strong Westerly blowing most of the day they didn’t really seem that bad and I was making really good progress and very soon I was past the turn off for Rhenigidale, which was as far as I got last time, with all the big hills behind me. The section where I turned off the main A859 and headed West to Callanish was torturous however and was straight into the wind. I stopped off to see the impressive Callanich standing stones and also made a small detour to see Blackhouse village at Gearranan.

Now the wind was greatly helping me and I was flying along the never ending road on the top of Lewis and reached Port Nis at 4.30 pm, from here it another 2 miles or so on a side road to the iconic end of this ride, the impressive Butt of Lewis Lighthouse. Now I had to find somewhere to stay for the night, the weather was changing, it was getting cold and windy and rain wasn’t far away, i tried at the pub a couple of miles back up the road and they suggested Galson farm about 4 miles away so I headed there and very luckily I got the last bed. It was only a small farm type hostel with 6 beds but it was warm and cosy and had a small kitchen to cook dinner, what more could you want after a long day in the saddle? As forecast the weather the next day was very bad, i had 20 miles to do to get to Stornaway so I made an early start. Progress was painfully slow against the wind and as soon as I turned South onto the exposed A857 that heads up and over the moors to Stornaway it became quite dangerous with very strong side gusts forcing me to walk at times, it was a massive relief to finally drop down into town. I checked into the cosy Heb Hostel and headed straight for a hot shower and some dry clothes then had a wander round town and explored the culinary delights of Stornaway. Before catching the 3.00pm ferry to Ullapool the next day I had time to cycle the length of the Eye Peninsula and visit another impressive lighthouse at Tiumpan Head, on the way back I made a small detour to see the Iolaire Memorial recalling the loss of over 200 lives as HMY Iolaire, which was carrying troops home from the First World War, hit rocks and sank very close to Stornaway in 1919. I stopped that night at the lovely Ullapool Youth Hostel and the following morning set off at 8.00am to cycle the final 60 miles of this holiday to Inverness Youth Hostel,  the next day I caught the train home.