Distance 28 Miles (for most of us)
Climb 939 feet
Souls retained – 100%
Max speed – not recorded but I doubt we saw 12 mph
Wind speed – Cataclysmic.
No goblins appeared during the night to claim my soul (as far as I know), breakfast was amazing and depsite the slightly idiosynchratic nature of the B&B (the number of carved wooden animals in the dining room is well into double figures) I can ‘t help but recommend it. Tanya made us the best breakfast of the trip so far and her establishment is spotless – plus her accent is fantastic. As we were eating, the room got very dark causing her to say (in best Transylvanian) “Oh spoooky!” Then she put the lights on and went to look where all the daylight had gone.
“It is very dark. There are how you say? Errm not snow but errm”
“Rain? ” we interrupt hopefully.
“No ice balls, falling from the sky. Very dark. Is breakfast nice?”
Oh great it’s hailing, exactly the sort of storm we got up especially early to avoid. Still we’re up now and by the time we are ready to leave the sky has cleared and we are off, tyres on tarmac at 0835 which is astonishing for us (yesterday it was 1040).
I do like a bit of proper weather and there are few better places to see it forming than in the massive skys’ of the Hebrides, Millie and I spend an interesting hour or so alternately avoiding being blown into the shrubbery and discussing the huge Cumulo Nimbus clouds being formed right in front of our eyes.
Of course being on a bike in a 20-30knot crosswind / headwind with no shelter imminent is perhaps not the best place to watch it from but that’s just details.
First stop is the Black House at Arnol. An Historic Scotland curated traditional black house complete with peat fire etc. And no cafe.
Look I shouldn’t dwell on this, and the woman in the shop was just lovely (I’ve yet to visit a Historic Scotland site where the staff are anything less than fantastic) but no cafe. I’m cold and I have yet to have a cup of tea this morning (except for the 3 at breakfast).
Still, not to worry we leave smelling of peat smoke and head for what is promised to be a cafe, well she said they did coffee but I swear she muttered something about “benches” and “outside”.
40 North has the tastiest selection of treats I have seen in a long time, but it is a deli, it ain’t a cafe. They have benches outside (30 knots remember, most people are wearing puffa jackets and Gore-Tex shells) so we huddle in the corner of the shop munching away in the hope she won’t ask us to leave…
Right. Only 10 miles to go. The wind is picking up and it’s forecast to hit 43 knots but so far no rain so we just plug away… After the third time Millie is nearly blown off we take refuge in a bus shelter and Suzy starts looking at the timetable.
“Shall we see if we can get a taxi Mil?” I ask her, half jokingly.
” Yes.” She replies earnestly.
Oh god. That’s a bad sign, despite outward appearances she never gives up. I look round laughing and ask if she’s any idea where I might find one and suddenly notice a chap coming out of the house opposite. And getting into a Volvo estate.
A Volvo estate with a single roof bar on top.
A roof bar to which someone has attached a tranlucent plastic box with the word ‘Taxi’ written on it.
“Excuse me!” I shout, crossing the road.
“Oh it’s yourselves! How are you getting on?” Asks the taxi driver from 2 days ago in Tarbert, the same one who had boasted that he could definitely fit our bikes in his car.
It turns out DJ, from DJ’s Taxis,
can fit 2 bikes and all our luggage in his car and saves our holiday. He is possibly the world’s greatest taxi driver.
He takes the girls whilst I plug on, heroically, through the wind to meet them at our next stop…
We’re overnighting in Ostail nan Geàrrannan tonight, an Hostel in a frankly idyllic hamlet of restored and modernised black houses, some are museums, some are self catering cottages and one is a hostel and we appear to have it to ourselves.
The sun is shining but the wind is blowing even harder so rather than a pleasant stroll on the beach we are going to hunker down in our very own black house/hostel and play cards until bedtime.
Just hope no-one else turns up…
0 Comments