Around Scotland: OUTER HEBRIDES BY BIKE -day 3- LEVERBURGH TO TARBERT

Saturday 10 June 2017

OUTER HEBRIDES BY BIKE -day 3- LEVERBURGH TO TARBERT

we woke up to heavy clouds and sky threatening us with rain any minute.

plan for the day was to take a ferry to leverburgh (isle of harris) and cycle past tarbet and clisham ascent to scaladale centre where we would spend the night.

so after a 'not so great' sleep at the fantastic cottage hostel we caught an early ferry at 7.10am and set sail towards harris. while crossing we couldnt decide which way to take- should we take western road which was easier and passed the famous beaches of harris (which we have already seen) or maybe we should take quieter but harder eastern road which avoids all the beaches but the scenery is mountainous..?

the crossing takes 1 hour and arrives to a small settlement. from previous trip i remembered that there was a cafe-bus near ferry pier, and yeah, there it still was. omg, best bacon & sausage roll on the hebrides, believe me, i've tried them everywhere :)

finally we decided for a western route and after several minutes we already cycled with views to the most amazing and famous beaches in scotland. all the time we felt rain in the air, trying to catch up with us. finally it caught us at seilebost. the moment we decided to leave bikes and go for a beach walk, it started raining. not very heavily but still. we got back on bikes soon, right after loch fincastle, the ascent began. it was a long ascent, a bit steep, with head wind and rain. not very pleasant. only then we realised that should we take eastern road from leverburgh we would be cycling in rain all the time as this was direction it was coming from, across the hills. good decision we made! :)

when we reached the highest point, past uamh ard, the visibility was very limited, it was raining properly and i was wet, tired and cold. the way down hill towards tarbert was all too short haha but it was great to finally arrive somewhere where we could sit in a pub, dry and grab something warm.

it was raining and raining, what was worse, the wind increased and BBC weather forecast said it's closing on 27mph. yeah, it looked like this outside the window.

again, after much deliberation we decided to call it a day and stay overnight in tarbert, tackle the clisham ascent next day when the wind stops. and so we did. at least we had a chance to explore tarbert a little bit, do small shopping and cook a proper meal in the hostel

again great decision, as the next morning was very, very calm when we settled towards the mighty clisham

tego ranka za oknem powitaly nas ciezkie chmury i grozba deszczu w kazdej chwili.

plan dnia obejmowal przeplyniecie na wyspe harris i jazde do tarbert a pozniej do scaladale centre, gdzie planowalysmy spedzic noc.

tak wiec po takiej sobie nocy w pieknie polozonym, klimatycznym domku hostelu wlapalysmy prom o 7.10 na harrisa. podczas rejsu decydowalysmy ktora droga jechac -zachodnia, ktora jest latwiejsza i zabierze nas do wielu slynnych plaz, czy raczej droga wschodnia ktora jest trudniejsza, gorzysta, ale nia jeszcze nie jechalysmy nigdy?

rejs trwa okolo 1 godzine wiec szybko dotarlysmy do malej wioski leverburgh. z poprzedniej wizyty pamietalam ze byl tu autobus-kafejka, i oto prosze, wciaz tam jest :) najlepsza bulka z bekonem i kielbaska na calych hebrydach, powaznie, wiem co mowie, probowalam je wszedzie!

ostatecznie zdecydowalysmy sie na zachodnia droge i zaraz po opuszczeniu osady zaczely sie widoki na nieziemskie plaze. wciaz czulysmy deszcz w powietrzu, staral sie nas dogonic i w koncu mu sie udalo. zatrzymalysmy sie w seilebost na spacer po plazy i w tym samym momencie zaczelo padac. nie jakos mocno, ale padalo i padalo. wiec ze spaceru nici. ponadto pomyslalysmy ze gdybysmy jechaly wschodnia droga to caly czas by nam padalo, bo stamtad wlasnie przychodzil deszcz, zza gor. nooo, dobra decyzja :)

zaraz po minieciu loch fincastle zaczela sie gorka. mozolny, dlugi podjazd, w deszczu, pod wiatr, widocznosc spadala gwaltownie wraz ze zdobywana przez nas wysokoscia. w koncu osiagnelysmy najwyzszy punkt i jakie to niesprawiedliwe, tyle czasu i wysilku by wjechac a potem z gorki chwilka tylko..

do tarbert dotarlysmy mokre, zmeczone i zziebniete. na szczescie zaraz zainstalowalysmy sie w pubie. szybkie suszenie i cieple jedzenie :)

wciaz padalo, ponadto prognoza zapowiadala silne wiatry na popoludnie, do 27mph i rzeczywiscie za oknem tak wygladalo..

przedyskutowalysmy opcje i postanowilysmy zostac w tarbert juz na popoludnie i noc i ruszyc dalej nastepnego dnia. nie wyobrazalam sobie podjazdu pod clishama pod tak silny wiatr.

zostajac w tarbert mialysmy przynajmniej okazje rozejrzec sie po okolicy, zrobic male zakupy i ugotowac sobie w hostelu porzadny obiad

kolejna dobra decyzja, rano okazalo sie ze wiatr sie uspokoil i panuja swietne warunki na dalsza jazde :)