Cycling the Outer Hebrides - from Barra to Stornoway

[2seas]

In a couple of weeks a friend and I will be cycling from Barra to Stornoway. The current plan is a follows:

- Day 0; Ferry from Oban to Barra and stay the night in Barra
- Day 1; Barra to North Uist (via ferry) and stay the night
- Day 2; North Uist to Harris (via ferry) and find somewhere to stay around Tarbert and book some activities for the following day. Should be there around lunchtime so maybe squeeze in an activity
- Day 3; Kayaking around Tarbert / Wildlife watching boat trip / Hiking
- Day 4; Tarbert to Stornoway
- Day 5; Day trip to Port of Ness and back to Stornoway
- Day 6; Ferry back from Stornoway to Ullapool and back home

If anyone has experience of the islands and/or cycling there it would be great if you could share your suggestions on the plan above and anything else worth seeing and doing. Are there any must do's? Or any particularly good roads?

[2seas]

Gizmoish said:

Unless I'm mistaken, your route doesn't take you past Callanish / Calanais. Well worth the trip. Drop in on the black houses at Gearrannan too.

You're not mistaken - I didn't call that out specifically but it is in the general plan. We're also planning some sea kayaking around Harris and visiting the Luskentyre beach.

[2seas]

Evo141n said:

Day 0: Dinner in Café Kisimul in Castle Bay
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g67...

Day 2: Accommodation: Am Bothan Bunkhouse, phone up 'cause they also have a local contact for sea kayaking
http://www.ambothan.com/

Day 4: Watch out! as you come down the north face of the Clisham Mountain, I know a few folk come a cropper on this and spent the next week or so in Stornoway Hospital.

Dinner in Stornoway: Digby Chick http://www.digbychick.co.uk/
or the County Hotel does a great curry night on a Thursday IIRC http://www.countyhotelstornoway.co.uk/

If you can get round the Gearrannan, the Standing Stones and the Broch all very good to view.

Keep an eye on Calmac as the Stornoway to Ullapool ferry is due to be replace this year and the current boat Isle of Lewis is prone to breaking down.

Oh good roads if you cut across the old Pentland 'peat road' from Carloway to Marybank just out side Stornoway, good surface and a nice quite single track road, just watch for out for the odd boy racer in his Scooby, mind you you'll hear them coming a mile away.

Hope that helps a little

That helps a great deal - thank you very much for taking the time to post all that. It sounds like you've done this trip before - how did you find it? How was the midgie/wind situation? People keep warning me about that..

[2seas]

thewhangie said:

Have you booked your accomodation? I stay in Oban and its mobbed just now,I'm also just back from a week on Lewis and it was busy as well.

You dont want to be scratching around at night for somewhere to stay.

I had the road bike over on Lewis and had a great few blasts.

Good to know - we were going to book the first and last nights and then just wing it for most of the rest which would allow us to be more flexible in our plans, but maybe on your advice it would be better to book everything in advance. Not planning on staying in Oban though - first night will be in Barra.

Do we need to book the ferries in advance too? I assumed being foot passengers with bikes we could just sort that out the day before..

[2seas]

One bottle of skin so soft has arrived

Any advice on where we can leave a car for a week in Ullapool near the ferry?

I called up the ferry company but they don't allow advance bookings for foot/cycle passengers. Is there any risk we might not get a space on the ferry or is there always room? Just wondering how early we may have to pitch up...

[2seas]

SFV said:

It's a big ferry from Ullapool, so there should always be space for foot passengers and cycles. That'll be why they don't worry about reservations.

No restrictions on parking a couple of streets back from the Ullapool seafront, so I would be parking on one of those roads that run parallel to the seafront.

Cool thanks - how about the ferry from Oban to Castlebay?

[2seas]

Evo141n said:

Both Ferries are fine for foot (cycle) passengers.
Parkin just into Ullapool is fine, we used to leave my integrale here for a week with no problems while visiting the island.
BTW How are you retrieving the car once you get back to Oban?

We're actually starting from Oban. Taking two cars to Ullapool and leaving one there, then we drive to Oban and leave the other car there and board the ferry. Then a week later once we arrive in Ullapool we pick up the first car, go to Oban and get the second and then back home.

Sounds convoluted (and it is) but it works out the cheapest and a lot less of a ballache then faffing around with trains/buses.

[2seas]

Craikeybaby said:

The ferry to Harris actually goes from Berneray - just over the causeway from North Uist, when I was there in 2012 I stayed at a nice little B&B on Berneray, overlooking the beach - I can't remember the name of it off the top of my head, but could find out if you want me to. The road up from south Uist to Berneray was a good drive.

If you've got time, the calanish stones and dun broch on the west of Lewis are worth a visit as mentioned above.

Thanks - we're planning to catch the early ferry from Barra to Eriskay then cycle up to Berneray for the last ferry to Harris. We get in to Eriskay at 10am and need to be at Berneray for 5.20pm which I think is plenty of time...

We're staying a night in a place right next to the Calanish stones so I look forward to checking them out. It blows my mind that they're close to 5000 years old!

[2seas]

thewhangie said:

Have you found somewhere to leave the car in Oban?

Yeah a mate of mine lives nearby and has given me advice on where I can park for a week.

[2seas]

thewhangie said:

If you're stuck I have a big driveway that's near the ferry port.

That would be preferable to a public road if you don't mind? It would be for a week starting this Friday.. PM me if that's ok.

[2seas]

We changed our plans. We went straight to Ullapool and took the ferry to Stornoway and managed a couple of days of sunny cycling around Lewis and Harris (loved it). Then we retreated back to the mainland and spent the rest of the week doing a route from Pitlochry to Sterling with a few big detours (loved this also). We did most of national cycle route 7 (highly recommended) and some others too. The scenery was amazing and the quieter roads and cycle routes made the whole experience that much better.

I've just moved up to Inverness and I'll be based here for the next couple of months so I hope to try out many more of the fantastic roads in this part of the country and hopefully get back over to the Hebrides to try some of the other islands.