Western Isles and Skye

bobmcstuff

Hi, doing a bit of a plan for a week long tour of the Western Isles and Skye, this will be likely the week commencing Monday May 7th.

1 Manchester - Beattock, Friday, drive 3 hrs (after work) 2 Beattock - Oban, Saturday, drive 3 hrs 3 Oban - Castlebay, Saturday, ferry 13:30 4 Castlebay-Ardmhor (Barra), Sunday cycle 9-25 miles (up to us) 5 Ardmhor-Eriskay, Sunday, Ferry 15:45 or 17:30 6 Eriskay-Berneray (Uist), Monday - Tuesday, cycle 59-70 miles 7 Berneray-Leverburgh, Tuesday, Ferry 13:30 or 17:20 (earlier preferred) 8 Leverburgh-Tarbert (Lewis/Harris), Wednesday - Thursday, cycle 19-150 miles 9 Tarbert-Uig, Thursday, Ferry 11:40 10 Uig-Whisky on Skye! - Sligachan?, Thursday, cycle 25 miles (to pub) 11 Sligachan-Oban (Skye plus mainland), Friday-Saturday, cycle 123-135 miles 12 Oban-Beattock, Saturday, drive 3 hrs 13 Beattock-Manchester, Sunday, Drive 3 hrs

(my brother lives in Beattock, hence the stopover).

Main things which concern me at the moment are the limited amount of time on Lewis and Harris for actually seeing the place (getting between Leverburgh and Tarbert is easy but hardly covers any of the island), then the ride back from Skye to Oban will be a fair way with a drive at the end of the final day.

I did originally look at getting the Stornoway to Ullapool ferry but that leaves a hell of a long way back down to Oban.

The Thursday is my birthday so looking at staying possibly in a bunkhouse (will wild camp the rest of the time, mostly), preferably with a decent pub, the Sligachan looks like it might fit the bill - open to recommendations though.

Any tips on routes or stopping places much appreciated

mrb123

Best pub on Skye IMHO is the Old Inn at Carbost. They have a bunkhouse next door, plus it's a stone's throw from the Talisker distillery.

bobmcstuff

MrB123 wrote:

Best pub on Skye IMHO is the Old Inn at Carbost. They have a bunkhouse next door, plus it's a stone's throw from the Talisker distillery.

Thanks for the tip

A bit of extra cycling but could be worth it!

look565wong

There is a new whiskey distillery in Tarbert just right next to the Calmac Ferry terminal, very handy & I think it's well worth a visit!

It's newly built & it looks fab, we didn't manage a we tour as our ferry was very early in the morning when we were visiting the islands last July!

Obviously, being in Scotland, it's going to be windy (always seems to be a head wind too) just make sure you sit on your brothers wheel & get some shelter

The Northern part of Harris (the latter part of the route from Stornaway to Larbert) is rather hilly (lots of ups & downs), not sure about the Southern part (from Leverburgh to Tarbert), but I imagine it'll be similar, so maybe a climbing friendly cassette at the back might be a good idea?

Have a lovely time up here & enjoy those wee drams!

Cheers

haydenm

Look565wong wrote:

Obviously, being in Scotland, it's going to be windy (always seems to be a head wind too) just make sure you sit on your brothers wheel & get some shelter

He can get f*cked with that! I have the added advantage of being really short so I am rubbish to follow. Must be payback for all that height-ist bullying I've received all my life

Monty Dog

Visited the Isles last summer in our camper - the Golden Road along the east coast of Harris to Tarbert is glorious but there is barely any flat - it just goes up or down. Lots of traffic on Skye even in May

bobmcstuff

Thanks for the tips guys.

Current plan is to leave the car in Crianlarich, train to Oban, then train back to Crianlarich from Fort William on the Saturday. Seemed to give the best timings while allowing us to be at Talisker for my birthday and not have a mental cycle back to Oban.

Monty Dog wrote:

Visited the Isles last summer in our camper - the Golden Road along the east coast of Harris to Tarbert is glorious but there is barely any flat - it just goes up or down. Lots of traffic on Skye even in May

Cheers, yeah I've cycles other bits of the North West mainland coast and it was like that, character building

I live in Manchester, so while I'd prefer no traffic I'm sure I'll cope.

bobmcstuff

bobmcstuff wrote:

MrB123 wrote:

Best pub on Skye IMHO is the Old Inn at Carbost. They have a bunkhouse next door, plus it's a stone's throw from the Talisker distillery.

Thanks for the tip

A bit of extra cycling but could be worth it!

Also we have booked the bunkhouse at Carbost

haydenm

MrB123 wrote:

Best pub on Skye IMHO is the Old Inn at Carbost. They have a bunkhouse next door, plus it's a stone's throw from the Talisker distillery.

We drank £100s of pounds of whisky, Bobmcstuff had an excellent birthday and cycling the next day was not pleasant. Great tip, thanks

mrb123

HaydenM wrote:

MrB123 wrote:

Best pub on Skye IMHO is the Old Inn at Carbost. They have a bunkhouse next door, plus it's a stone's throw from the Talisker distillery.

We drank £100s of pounds of whisky, Bobmcstuff had an excellent birthday and cycling the next day was not pleasant. Great tip, thanks

Pleased to hear it, was wondering how you got on!