Hebridean Way, Vatersay and Barra (2018 Memories Part 1)

Introduction

I'm planning to write a small collection of posts about the rides from 2018; a year where I completely fell off the blogging bandwagon! Here is the first of these; a day spent riding the tandem on the southern part of the Hebridean Way.

The Day

I had become aware of the Hebridean Way and fancied cycling it. Ideally I would like to try the thing end-to-end as a single ride but doubts over terrain and ferries made me want to ride it slightly differently on first acquaintance. And so The Stoker and I took Tanny the tandem and the old faithful road bike to the Outer Hebrides in early May. We arrived on a day when you couldn't see anything thanks to the drizzle and low cloud and the next day dawned grey but with the promise of better to come. With that in mind we headed off from the hotel on South Uist towards the ferry to Barra.
We decided to stick to the main road on the way there and come back on the Hebridean Way itself as a way of having a ride that was as much of a loop as possible. And there was a wee headwind so we didn't want to run the risk of missing the ferry. The Uists are fairly flat and some nice cycling brought us easily to the causeway to the small island of Eriskay where we would get the ferry.
Eriskay introduced some slopes in the road; quite steep ones at that. The drop into the ferry terminus left me with a little concern as to our ability to get up it again when we came back at the other end of the day. We waited in the gloom for the ferry to arrive and we crossed the water to Barra with no views to speak of. At least the crossing was calm.

The view from the ferry terminus on Eriskay

It was still quite dull when we arrived at Barra and we set off with the lights on. The Hebridean Way travels down the west side of Barra but there is a road on the east side so we took that; again looking to make as much of a loop as possible. This was also the advice of the ferryman; a clockwise circuit.  The road rose up and dipped down along the rocky coastline with its little inlets. With the weather grey it was forbidding place although I suspect in the sunshine it would look very different.
The last climb before Castlebay was a very steep pull up from the coast and had us working quite hard. Unfortunately we were overtaken by a car right at the top and I spent the descent into the main town on the brakes and using quite colourful language about drivers who don't understand the power of tandems when they go downhill! The cloud was just beginning to rise by now and views were becoming more plentiful. And the castle in the bay looked very impressive.

It really was quite dull. And chilly!

We rode on to Vatersay and the beginning of the cycle route. Out of Castlebay the road headed south and, once again, pitched upwards. This took us up to the Barra war memorial remembering the dead and missing from WWI and WWII. We passed a couple of tourists on hire bikes; they did not look happy. After another speedy descent (and a mental note that we'd have to re-climb this) we rounded the coast to find the causeway to Vatersay.
The fourth island of the day had flatter roads but they still managed to roll gently up and down testing the legs. Presently we came to the settlement at the end of the road. There are two small branches of tarmac here and I picked the one to the left as a place to turn the bike. I hadn't done my research well enough as the start marker for the Hebridean Way was down the other one. Still, that gives me a reason to return.
We turned the bike and started on our journey home. This stretch of road is beside a glorious beach. If beaches are your thing you won't be disappointed here! We are more inclined towards cafes (especially on riding days) and we popped into one conveniently placed at the other end of said beach. There were a few other bikes there but mostly of the touring variety with many panniers. I would not fancy doing some of the climbs with a heavily laden bike. I'm coming round to the idea that I like riding long distances with as little baggage as possible.
After a nice coffee and cake we were back on the road. As we were doing a round about tour I was concerned about making the afternoon ferry, especially with unknown roads and ones that seemed to be presenting hilly surprises. So we got back to it.
The south side of the big hill back to Castlebay wasn't so bad (or maybe it was the injection of cake) and we then turned onto more new road and the western side of Barra. It couldn't be much more different to the eastern side if it tried! It's much softer and the beaches looked fantastic once again.

It was definitely brightening up

There was more sand here than rock (or so it appeared - the picture doesn't show it) and we really enjoyed the ride around. The roads felt flatter too and with the sun firmly out and blue sky above we had a lot of fun. Before we knew it we were back at the turning for the ferry with way too much time on our hands so I suggested travelling on a little way and visiting Barra airport. This may seem a little odd but the runway on Barra is the beach! So it is definitely worth a visit. The Stoker agreed and we headed on. As we turned the corner I saw the beach and then, looking up slightly, I saw a plane coming into land. It was a strange sight. Stranger was the sight of the passengers disembarking and trudging over the sand to the airport building.

A plane on a beach. Whatever next?

The place is definitely a tourist attraction and there were plenty of others doing what we were; gawking! After some further excitement watching the plane take off again (through the puddles in the sand) we got back on Tanny and headed for the ferry pier.

Waiting for the ferry. Tanny doesn't like standing about much.

We were rather early so enjoyed waiting in the sun for the boat to arrive. The oddest thing here was the number of other cyclists waiting for the same thing. I think we almost out-numbered the cars and vans. The trip back to Eriskay was very different from the morning's sailing and we saw all the little islands and rocks we had missed in the morning. Again, thankfully, the sea was calm and the crossing occurred without any incident.
Once we were off the ferry we were left looking at the climb back out. It didn't look any better in the sunshine than it had in the mist. However, our legs were obviously all right and we made it up and over easily enough. For a few miles we were just reversing our outward ride; this time I spotted the Otter Crossing sign on the causeway though.
Eventually we came to the turning and headed down closer to the coast. We were back in the flat lands, windswept and grassy. You don't really see the sea here; you just know that it is over there. The roads were good and we passed a number of houses down here. For such a barren place it seemed odd to see so much habitation. The hotel was not far away and we made it home with ease.
It was a great day out. Three rides, punctuated by ferry trips and other hanging about. For a day that had started so gloomily it turned out to be fabulous. And the roads, in the main, were fine. I think there has been some investment into the Hebridean Way here and it made all the difference.
The question was; what would the next day bring? I had big plans but the weather forecast was not encouraging. To find out you'll have to wait. Hopefully it won't be long before I post the next one!

Rides