It was a windy night but that meant there were no midges in the morning. The sky was still cloudy and the engines of the ferry had continued through the night to power the lights. It took on its passengers and left at 07:30am. I was packed up and on my way before 8. The wind was as strong as last night but as my planned cycle today was a circular route around North Uist that shouldn’t be a problem as there should be an equal amount of tail wind to head wind.

Camp at Lochmaddy

I left my bike to walk to Sornach Stone circle

I left Lochmaddy along the deserted road and soon reached the A867 and turned left. The strong wind was directly behind me and although it was nice to ride at speed with little effort I knew I’d have to pay for it later. At Beinn Langais I looked to my left and saw the Chambered Cairn on the hill. I didn’t visit it as my cycling shoes aren’t waterproof and the access is along a soggy path. I did take the left minor road to the hotel and left my bike to walk to the Sornach Stone circle. I returned, tied the gates closed as requested and continued to the west coast of the island.

At the junction of the A865 I stopped at a small shop, but it hadn’t opened yet. I turned right and hadn’t been going long before I came to a shop called the Hebridean Smokehouse which had a sign outside saying they sold pies amongst other things. It was open but they didn’t have any pies yet. The man said there was a shop about 5miles along the road. I think the place was called Bayhead and I picked up some shortbread and took a diversion left to explore some of the lanes. There wasn’t much to see except a large school but that was empty due to the holidays. As I rounded the NW end of the island I now had to pay for my earlier easy ride and was riding directly into a fierce wind.

Sornach Stone circle

on the west side of North Uist

thatched cottage on North Uist

One of the advantages of travelling by bike is being able to stop and check out things. A monument to the 1921 Paiblesgarry Land Raid was on the left and further on a large stone on the right had a plaque on it saying it was lifted to arms height by Donald Mor Maclellan in c1876. There was a substantial Co-op shop at Solas and another monument, this one to a land clearance by the owner in the mid 1800s. I continued into the wind and reached the turn off north to the ferry terminal at Berneray.

wide view to the west

Before reaching the causeway was an interesting ancient stronghold on a small island on the right. It was Dun an Sticir an Iron Age Stronghold and later a Medieval stronghold. I reached the jetty on the causeway to the island much sooner than I’d originally planned. I was going to cycle round North Uist and camp the night by the jetty and get the first ferry in the morning. It was only just 12noon and there was a ferry due at 13:30 so I decided to catch that instead. I carried on along the road and on to the Island. There was now quite bit of sunshine around and the bays were very attractive. At the end of the road was the Hostel, which was a thatched cottage by the shore and accessed by an area of wonderful green grass. On my way back to the ferry I looked in the Berneray Historical Society building which had some interesting displays on.

inside the museum is this picture of
Janet (Jessie) MacKay and Malcolm MacLeod
on their wedding day 26 June 1890

next to the wedding photo is Janet's wedding dress

Back at the ferry jetty there were 3 other cyclist waiting to for the ferry. We were on our way by 13:30 for the crossing of the Sound of Harris to Leverburgh. The sandwich van I’d stopped at the last time I was here was open so I stopped for a £2.50 bacon butty. I’d planned to head north using the A859 along the west side of the island. I was still battling into a fierce headwind but the wonderful white beaches made up for it. I didn’t want to get too far ahead of schedule. I kept an eye out for suitable camping spots and saw a few with small streams nearby. Unfortunately I couldn’t find a mobile phone signal. Where the road leaves the seashore I decided to camp even though there still wasn’t a signal. The views out to the bay were excellent and the sun made the tent very warm. During the evening the clouds rolled in again.

the causeway monument on Berneray

Prince Charles opens the causeway 8 Apr 1999

 
whte sands on the west side of Harris