Ride all the OS mapsOne day after St Kilda, after 63 miles of cycling back across Skye in nice weather, and then a truly scenic 5 hour train journey from Mallaig on the Hogwarts Express, I found myself in the centre of Glasgow. Although it is a place I know well, it came as rather a shock to the […]
It took me 54 years; but on Saturday I went to St Kilda. It was worth the wait. Well worth it. What an amazing place. For those who are not familiar, St Kilda is the most remote outpost of Britain. It is a small but spectacular archipelago in the Atlantic, some 40 miles north-west of […]
It is a sign of how hard yesterday’s ride really was that I gave up trying to write about it last night. It’s the first time in 18 days that I needed to sleep more than I needed to finish the daily blog. I’m a night owl and I can usually keep going as long […]
Today was a long, tough ride and I am glad it is over. It was great in many ways to cross the Isle of Skye, and the scenery was at times spectacular. But the wind was strong, in my face and unrelenting. It also brought with it passing showers that punctuated the sunshine and produced […]
Today started early, and for me that is never easy. My alarm went off at 5.30am and I was on the ferry out of Stornoway at 7am. The sun, which had shown scant interest in the place on my visits thus far, stuck 2 fingers up at the forecast of heavy rain and made it […]
Today was my first truly “non-map” day, but it was a day to remember nonetheless. The morning got off to a beautiful sunny start. Our first stop, 15 mins to the west by van, was the stunning Farr Bay. On my end-to-end in June 2008 we stayed at the inn here and walked alone on […]
The car ferry to the Scottish mainland leaves at 11.30am about half a mile from where we stayed in St Margaret’s Hope, so it was a relatively easy start to the day. I had scrambled eggs with salmon for breakfast and I think they gave me almost the whole fish! The smooth crossing took an […]
Well, it has begun. Or at least I have left home and travelled towards the far North! Three trains took us and our bikes to Aberdeen, via an overnight stop in Edinburgh, and now we are on the overnight ferry to Lerwick in Shetland. It suddenly feels more like a proper adventure. So far the […]
Today is Tuesday 3rd May. That means 3 more sleeps before I leave home and begin the journey up to the top of the Shetland Islands. I think everything is almost ready. On Friday, Jenni and I will take a train to Manchester – and then another longer one to Edinburgh – and we will […]