Bike Touring the Hebridean Way - Scotland

It's been over a year since I last went on a bike trip. Since then the touring bike has been used sparingly. The most exciting place I've been on the bike has been trips to the shops. I've used many excuses to justify the long wait to go travelling by bike. The most obvious one has affected us all. Now that is no longer a viable excuse. I blame being too busy with work or saving to buy a house or some other boring excuse. I've gone from crossing continents on a bicycle to spending far too much time watching Netflix and just generally being more lethargic and as a result putting on a bit of weight. I'd managed to set aside two weeks in the summer to commit to a bike tour in the UK. I would be travelling with my girlfriend Katie who is an experienced bike tourer. Katie had fallen out of love with bike travel after returning to the UK after her world bike trip. This journey was an opportunity for her to find that joy in bike travel again. We had decided to head to the Outer Hebrides and attempt to cycle the Hebridean Way. This 200 mile route would take us from the most southern island of Fatassay to the butt of Lewes. The Outer Hebrides are a remote set of islands off the west coast of Scotland. To get there from our home in Yorkshire we would need to travel for 12 hours by train and then take a 5 hour ferry just to get to the start point. We have just arrived in Oban. That was a beast of a train ride. 12, 13 hours. How are you feeling? Yeah, it's alright actually. It's amazing when you're on it. It feels quite long but as soon as you get off it, it's done and we're here. We've both got some half decent sleep. Mouth open, dribbling sleep. I did get a photo of you sleeping. I'll insert that in now. Of course you did. I knew you would. I had a mask on though so you couldn't see my mouth open. We are now going to go and find a guest house we are staying at. It's one of the lowest rated guest houses in Oban. I didn't tell you. Happy holidays. I didn't know this until earlier. I looked at it and it's got like a 6 rating on... It's alright. It's not wild camping. There's a place next to it that's 8. They don't do any breakfast. They do nothing basically. It's just a room. We're on a budget tonight. It's cheap. We're going to stay there tonight and then tomorrow we're going to be getting a ferry just from here, just down there to make our way over to... Where are we going? We're going to Barra. Then we'll cycle down to the start of the Hebridean Way which is on Bassay. So we're all showered clean, refreshed after our mammoth train journey from Yorkshire to Oban. And we've ordered some beautiful fish tacos. I've not dug in yet but what a view. Look at this. It's some fish tacos. That's good. The ferry to the Outer Hebrides turned out to be very popular with bike tourists. This is always a good sign when travelling by bike. It's noisy, isn't it? We've just landed in Castle Bay. We're just going to be taking our stuff off the ferry. Probably going to have to wait for all the cars to get off before we can really get off here. So we've got a bit of a wait. Not too bad though. I quite like that. Alright, let's do this. So these are the first pedal strokes of the journey. And it's up a hill. So what's your first thoughts? Three minutes onto the Hebrides. I love it. Just the island, the layout of the towns and villages on the Hebrides are just so different to anything else that you see anywhere else in the UK. It's good. Really nice. Wow. We have just arrived at our first camping spot. Isn't it beautiful? It's very pretty. How was today? So good. This is the start point of the Hebridean Way. It's not often you get to see the remaining wreckages of a World War 2 jet. Catalina. It's pretty crazy that it's still here. Probably shows how remote this island is. Here's the memorial which gives you the names of those men who died and survived. So this is just leaving the bay on the Hebridean Way. Look at this beach. It's true. That is beautiful. This is amazing. Look at this. So this is our only hill of the day. Smashing it. Going up to about 100 metres and then back down. We've arrived at our first ferry terminal. Charging all the stuff that needs to be charged. Did you enjoy our bike ride today? Yes, it was lovely. What was your highlight? Seeing a white-tailed eagle this morning when I got up and out of my tent and I was brushing my teeth. That's a nice sight. And then the beaches are so blue. Let's wait for this next ferry. And there goes the ferry we just came in on to that bay. Here come some more cyclists. We're leading the way, but not for long. Casey and I are hoping we've found a pretty good wild camping spot. Just followed a dirt track that leads on the map to nowhere. And this is what we're looking at so far. We've got some coast. We've got a route out of the fence. That's good, isn't it? No fence jumping. It's a little bit windy. We've come to the end of our first proper cycling day. I want to show you our wild camping spot. Look at this. There's no other humans here. Casey's cooking a coffee. Adam's cooking the dinner. That makes me sound really selfish. I'm not excited. What are you going to do? What are you going to do? That's so true. I'm on holiday. Good morning. Katie's a bit braver than me. There's midges about. There's not much wind right now. We've just woken up on our second night wild camping. And again, no rain so far. Very happy. So we're going to now make our way to a small town. Little shops. Get some breakfast. And then make our way north. I'm going to be saying make our way north for the whole journey. Shall we do it? Yes, and interlude. We've just seen dolphins. So we've been all the way past the bay this morning while we were putting our tent down which was a lovely start to the day. Unfortunately, I've got no video footage of the dolphins. So insert random dolphin video here. It was really nice seeing dolphins first thing. That's a good way to start the day. Let's do this. There's a lot of colours. I don't know where to go. See a lot of colours. Only feeling blue. There's a lot of colours. Lost within a haze. It's a nondescript old village. Don't rely on others. To get you through the maze. The dreams are not the same for me. Standing by the shore. While you're on the open sea. Cannot take this in. So we're just coming up to what is the holy grail of these islands so far. The co-op. Three ice creams for a quid. There's only two of us. We're going to have to fight it out for the last one. You'll definitely win. We're going to have to go out in the rain. How do you feel about it? I hate cycling in the rain. There's a lot of admin going on in the tent right now. That's all of our stuff. We've had a nice breakfast of cold tortilla wrap. So disappointed. No coffee. We've got about 40km or so to get to today. And we are getting a ferry. Our final ferry off the islands in the Outer Hebrides. The rain is forecast to finish by 4pm. So it's raining all day. Wind though, it should be on our side. Positive. We'll be alright. Let's do this. Apparently I say that all the time. Let's do this. She comes from the warm tent. From the cocoon. This is always the worst bit, isn't it? Yes. Alright, we didn't have a tank. Let's do this. First rainy day since we started. It's been, to be honest, for the Outer Hebrides, the weather has been exceptional. Exceptional. So to get one rainy day now, and actually I think tomorrow even looks even worse. It's not the end of the world. It is to be expected. This is one of the things of touring in the UK in August. You get horrendous weather occasionally, and then you get great weather. When it's great, it's beautiful. When it's like this, I'd rather be somewhere warm. Hebridean smokehouse. I bought some peat smoked salmon. £12. Holiday mode. Go and put your mask on. The weather is bad. It's been a pretty wet and windy morning. I haven't filmed an awful lot. It's been tough. Our bike's up. Lovely little cafe, bistro. Going to get some food. Once again we have made it to a ferry stop. Going to eat some of my £12 salmon. Here's the waiting room. Today was a tough day. Reminds me of some of the big long days I've had in the past. In the rain. Takes it out of you. Bit emotional. We've had some cake. We've had some food. Now we're going to get a ferry to Leverbra. And we will be on the last, that's the last ferry of all the island hopping. The last, last ferry we have will be to get off the islands completely. And that's it. Good fun. Let's have some salmon. Something about peat smoked salmon just tastes amazing. We've just left our final island hopping ferry. We have one more ferry left that will take us off the Hebrides and back to mainland Scotland. We are at the bottom of Harris where they make tweed. They make officers jackets for posh head army guys and Scottish people that like to shoot things. Would you say that's correct? That is an accurate representation of the people who wear Harris tweed. Correct. It's just a woolen jacket. Look at this beautiful landscape. It's so different. And the weather is so different. This is the same day as the rainy day by the way people. Just so you're aware. So tonight we're going to be staying in a bed and breakfast. First time we've slept inside for a while. Really looking forward to it. It's all good. We've arrived at our B&B for the night. Hello. Hi, I'm Shauna. I'm Adam, nice to meet you. Hiya. Good food. Good food and good company. It's been a decent climb today. It's our only decent climb on South Harris. Got some good views from it. I've long since not had a climb for a while. I feel very out of fitness. Feels good there. Downhill, let's do this. Checked into the hotel and this is the state of the weather we are missing. Decided to hide from the rain and get another night in a hotel which was a great decision as there was this band playing and it was the first time we'd listened to any live music in over 18 months. A very good night indeed. Let's say goodbye to the best view. This is the best view. Any B&B, look at this. Absolutely beautiful. Shall we go ride a bike? We've had our rest day. Let's go ride some bikes. Some day you'll know You know what I'm going to say I've been feeling this way for far too long And now you're gone Away from all of my Can't make Thoughts on the views? It's so beautiful. We've just come up a big-ish hill and then we've just come out into this really wild rocky valley which feels very Scottish and rugged and rocky but it's really beautiful. This is some of the most beautiful mountain scenery I've ever cycled in. North Paris, you legend. Thought it would be useful to show Scotland is sometimes miserable and wet and rainy. This is the reality of being on a bike tour. In Scotland. Go to Spain or Portugal if you'd like better weather. I don't like the rain. Not when it's like this and it's cold and wet. Just for the record as much as you see Adam as this like buoyant character is actually as miserable as Sin. I'm happy. And it's actually quite funny. Don't like the rain. I'm a fair-weather tourer. They're having some bourbon biscuits. Spin it. Co-op special. For those Americans out there. I just made the last bit. This is what a bit of a bourbon biscuit looks like. Just to test it. Nibbles. Bourbon biscuits are like chocolatey biscuits basically. Don't know why they're called bourbon. Someone tell us in the comments. If you know why bourbon biscuits are called a bourbon biscuit come Google it. Come back and let us know. Alright, see you in a bit. Oh my God. This is the most random pizza stop ever. This is so good. Half it. So happy. Fancy just cycling past a pizza container the side of the road at 7 minutes past 2 in the afternoon when you're really ready for lunch. It's not raining. There's no midges. I'm happy. I just needed some food. Wasn't happy before the food. Now I'm happy. Calanish is home to one of the most impressive megalithic sites in Britain. Calanish Stone Circle was built around 5000 years ago which makes these stones older than the pyramids of Giza Stonehenge and Jesus. We've found a little camping spot. We're next to the sea. And a lock. But two things. So we can have a little dip in some sea water. Have a dip in some fresh water. Now very ready for some food. Some pasta. That's pretty much all we have. Pasta and noodles. And our camping spot has got two benches. It's a camper's delight. I'm going to turn this camera off and go to sleep. And then tomorrow is our last day. Woo! We're on the last few hundred metres of the Hebridean Way. How do you feel Katie? Amazing! We did it! We've finished! This behind me is the lighthouse at the Butt of Lewis. And this is it. Done. Complete. This is probably the first ever bike tour I've actually finished. Thank you. Well done for you too. Katie dragged me along. I did drag you! Genuinely, there was about two or three points where I very seriously considered just getting a ferry to Skye. There was a road that just goes straight to Saunaway. Let's do that. We did it though. Well done. Are you pleased that we did it? Good, good. That's all that matters then. Right, that's the end of this little series. It's been good, hasn't it? It's been good. I'm going to put the camera away for a bit now and just enjoy the last few days on the islands. Right, see you. Bye! I will stay right here.