12th June 2019
The most ambitious, thrilling day of my life had finally arrived. I don’t think I have ever been so nervous and close to death before until now…
Today was the day we were cycling some of Southern Harris. We got up at 7am to a squeaky “Good Morning Aidan” voice recorded alarm – made by yours truly. I jumped into the shower and prepared for the bike hire to arrive. The guy thought we only hired 3 until the day before so he quickly rattled another one together. Impressive. Thankfully, he never charged us for that and the bikes came to a price of £55. Splitting that between 4 was hard. We also got a cooked breakfast before the trek ahead.
Once we got the bikes ready our plans slowly lost ambition. Originally, we were going to cycle the whole of the Southern part of the island. In hindsight, thank god that changed. Then the plan was to go to Luskentyre and back. I would have loved to stick to this as photos of this astounding beach make my heart content, but my body would have been a wreck if we even tried. Still cycling to this day more likely. The completed plan was to go around a huge circle near the No. 5 hostel which took us past SCADABAY and other various tiny towns.
For novice users of the bike this was fun and wild. Sheep roaming about scared Stobie more than I but man, I have to admit sheep are startling – those mighty horns on the ram and the aggressive baaing. Frightening.
The steep hills were much easier to walk – better to not waste stamina. These hills were all worth it when you saw the astonishing views of the sea and the mountains, together in perfect harmony.
Going down was really intense and I really had a need for speed. Braking was my friend. The wind was extremely powerful, halting the bikes with a single push.
A few hours on the cycle saw us at Bay Cafe after a winding down road. I got some luxurious shortbread to go along with the cheese roll I prepared earlier.
Once leaving the cafe I decided to focus my camera on the waters nearby. To my unknown attention I zoomed in on seals playing in the choppy sea. Some were lazily lying nearby. It was amazing watching wild animals living there life on the island. Just remember… “YE CANNY CLAP A SEAL”
This cycle was about 6 hours long and as we neared the end I felt my lifeless body letting go. I was absolutely knackered. Legs were wobbling like jelly with each stretch. Surprisingly, my fractured foot felt relaxed in my walking boots.
Once back at the Hostel, we had burgers (in the kitchen though as the wind was too forceful for the BBQ) and chilled out. I felt like I couldn’t walk for days…
But too bad, because we are journeying to the Callanish Stones in the next blog.
Lost in Travel 