General > Out & About

Out in the Outer Hebrides.

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MrDavo:
Somewhere on my bucket list for years, we took the Sportster, which I just keep as a holiday bike these days, to the outer Hebrides, because, why not? I'm not getting any younger so I have to do it while I can. We rode up to Oban, then its a 4 hour ferry to Barra, the most southerly island. We then worked our way up to the most Northerly island, Lewis & Harris, and came back to Ullapool from Stowaway.

Stunningly beautiful, and pretty deserted even in season, the weather alternated between gorgeous and dire, which the locals tell me is par for the course. I'm not keen on riding in strong winds, though the weight of the Harley becomes a plus. My weather app kept promising 3 days of windsocks, though our landlady declared it 'just a breeze' as the sea wasn't hitting her windows. As we left she said 'It's shifted to westerly now, that's not what you want' Thanks for that! When we arrived at our hotel in Stornaway, having braved sideways rain and that Westerly, I was ready for a large whiskey, after telling us that it was too early to serve alcohol, the barman gave us a free one anyway!

Back in Ulapool I rode off the ferry and nearly fell off, I knew straight away I had a rear puncture! The AA washed their hands of us, after nearly 40 years a member and 430 miles from home, (I knew I'd forgotten something, it was to re-tax my bike!) but when we went for a walk into town on the beach, the only person we met, Craig, had a mate with a bike shop, and gave us his number. Malcolm, a proper biker from BRC in Muir of Ord, which was on our way back to Inverness. He borrowed a van and came and picked us up, unexpectedly he had a 500x16 inner tube for an HD (offset valve), his wife took us to a cafe while he fixed the flat. He said he has plenty of work, but gets a kick out of saving bikers' holidays - hundereds come each year to do the North Coast 500, some not so well prepared. The nail he gave me was very old and rusty, the wife wondered if I should get the bike a tetanus shot.

A bunch of views, in no particular order.







Sheep take over a croft - the history of the highland clearances is awful, crofters were treated as mere slaves by landowners who bought Islands as playthings. On Uist the new owner, Lord Gordon, demanded all the tenants come to a mandatory meeting in Lochboisdale, from where they were bundled onto a ship to Newfoundland, Canada! When they got there there was nothing, they just had the clothes they stood up in.

Eriskey, where the SS Politician ran aground with 20,000 cases of best malt whiskey, inspiring the film Whiskey Galore.

Barra Airport, the world's only tidal airport with a daily service to Glasgow.

View from a petrol station (rare) on Harris.



Malc's bike shop, where we got rescued.

philward:
Clever sheep in that 5th picture Dave, never seen a sheep balancing on a fence post before. Sounds a great holiday by the way

taysidedragon:
It looks like you had a great time. It's bonny when the sun is out. 👍

paul G:
Some great pictures  :)

Matt_Harrington:
Some great shots there. I've always fancied touching donw on the sand at Barra...
Matt

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