Wednesday 7 May: Barra and Vatersay by bike

 A hatless night at last! The dawn chorus is curlews and oyster catchers…. And campers leaving to catch the early ferry. We have morning tea and breakfast in the sunshine before setting off on our bikes to do a loop around Barra. The road is undulating through scenery reminiscent of Brittany and the Lake District with occasional signs of habitation. We cycle to Barra Airport where the small planes take off from and land on the vast expanse of sand at low tide. No planes at this time but a few fisherman taking the sand for bait. Eventually back to Castlebay where we had hoped for a coffee but can’t find anything appealing. We make do with the local Barra Distillery where they distill gin, rum and whisky. We buy some Atlantic Gin to take home and a small bottle of local rum in case the nights get cold again! Back to base for coffee and an early lunch before heading off on the bikes again over to Vatersay. Joined to Barra by a causeway it is the southernmost inhabited island of the Outer Hebrides. There are a couple of steep climbs before we get to the most amazing white sanded beaches on the isthmus. The water is so clear that we are even tempted in for a swim. Of sorts! Certainly refreshing. Another 6 miles home. We’re going out for a curry tonight! Just back to watch the sunset. Another 5 mile cycle round trip but a good evening, lively atmosphere and tasty food. Delicious scallop pekora but probably should have chosen lamb rather than monkfish. Finished with a trio of single malt whiskies so we may not sleep well tonight even though it’s warmer! 









Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thursday 8 May: to Eriskay and South Uist

Image
 A leisurely start as we have breakfast and pack up in the sunshine. We can’t believe how fortunate we are with the weather. It feels warmer, or we’re acclimatising, and I even put on shorts. We are dismayed to find the amber warning light coming on again and resign ourselves to calling Green Flag for assistance later on. We get to the ferry port on the north of Barra and have a calm and sunny crossing to Eriskay at 11.10 seeing a seal colony basing on the rocks and sheep grazing on a minute island. We then do a circular walk around the island with glorious views of the white sands and turquoise seas and scatterings of habitation. We go to Am Politician pub famed in Whisky Galore and sit outside for lunch  I have monkfish scampi and Simon has the most amazing scallops the size of a baby’s fist. Delicious. A 6 minute drive across the causeway to South Uist where we find our pitch at Kilbride campsite and call Green Flag. Amazingly someone will visit us with diagnostics from a g...
Read more

Sunday 11 May: to South Harris

Image
 There’s a bit of rain in the early hours but only drizzle by the time we’re up and it seems to be improving quickly. We drive out northwards through North Uist and then over a small causeway to Berneray where we wait for the ferry to Harris. It’s another pleasant crossing and we chat to a pleasant couple from Nova Scotia who know all the birds. Great views of gannets, arctic terns, eiders and great northern divers and some seals basking in the rocks. It’s only 10 miles to our campsite at Horgabost and it’s very scenic along the way with white sands and turquoise waters. The campsite is idyllically situated albeit fairly rustic and as everything is fully booked we expect the facilities will be busy. After lunch we walk to Luskentyre and admire the colours of the sands and waters of the bay. It’s getting a bit chilly so we’ll probably be spending the evening inside the van tonight. 
Read more