Day 4 An Geàrrannan to Loch Erisort Inn

Miles covered 32
Falls – none
Greatest temperature difference experinced in a 20 minute period – 8 degrees
Average speed – very high due tailwind
Neolithic monuments visited – 2

I can’t recommend the hostel highly enough – it’s utterly unique – we all had the best night’s sleep so far and I was woken by the gentle sound of hail on the skylight over my face.
Wait. The sound of hail?
Oh.  Oh dear.
We press on with the plan and get up early for an early breakfast and try to ignore the pitter patter of ice balls (as I going to call them from now on thanks to Tanya) on the roof.  The sound subsides and we look outaide to be greeted by this – a massive storm heading our way.

Right, it’s Sunday in the Hebrides and as such nothing is open except the Churches so if we are going to get anywhere we are going to have to pedal. So we dress appropriately

And as soon as the shower is past we are off.
This is what cycling holidays are supposed to be – deserted highways, sunny weather, a gentle tailwind and breathtaking views. We chat, we pedal, and we chat some more.
At the half way point we pass the Standing Stones of Calanais

Which are excellent. But here are some more views.

We stop for lunch behind a rock to shelter and notice another front approaching so, in a rare display of deiciveness, we jump on the bikes and try and outrun it.
You can’t outrun a storm on bikes but you can get pushed in front of it, so whist watching the temp drop from +12 to a fearsome +4, we push on seeing 20-25mph on deserted roads…
(There may have been some ice balls and perhaps a little sleet but we’ll ignore that).

The weather turns on us again later in the day but by the time it does we are almost home and it’s our best cycling day so far.  We arrive at the Loch Erisort Inn before 1400!

Do you remember those Tennent signs, the yellow ones that light up. The Erisort Inn has one outside and has that ever been a positive indicator of a quality pub?
We walk into a bar which feels local, dressed self conciously in full on cycling gear (lycra). It’s not a good look.
Bernie (the landlord) introduces himself and his wife and shows us up to our room and it is lovely. Bright, spacious, spotlessly clean and we have a BATH!
I felt bad for ever doubting the place, Bernie couldn’t be nicer, in fact when he hears Suzy discussing the weather tomrrow (45 knot headwind from 1100) he even offers us a lift to Tarbert, some 30 miles away, in the morning. We politely decline but it’s a generous offer.

After a shower for some of us (a power shower, made by what must be a Kaarcher subsidiary) and a BATH for Suzy we settle down in the bar to play pool, get drunk and eat food. Steak and Ale pie – widely voted to be the best meal of the trip so far, and includes home cooked chips.

The bar’s everything you think it is – a wide range of inexplicable ephemera, about all of which Bernie has a story to share, and groups of friendly locals to chat to.

Last day tomorrow and it’s a ride in a gale to Tarbert…