LEJOG Day 23
There is only one option head north of the Isle of Lewis. The first part of the ride involved a long ‘up’. According to the Garmin it was a 200 metre rise – it seemed more. There was some reasonable scenery along the way. However by this stage I have become spoiled for spectacular scenery. I rode steadily to Stornoway.
I arrived in the late afternoon. The place was buzzing. Clearly heaps of people were in town for the Celtic and Hebrides Folk Festival. I headed to the camping ground. They had opened their ‘overflow’ area to cope with the crowds. I found a good spot and started to pitch my tent. My neighbours offered to help. They were from Chichester and, not surprisingly, were in town for the festival. They told me that they both worked for a Buddhist Monastery. He was the Business Manager and she was the Office Manager. They told me that the “ monks were not allowed to deal with money”. The monastery was however, a fairly big business”.
I headed into town to buy a ticket for the Folk Festival. The booking office was a circus. There were three people selling both tickets and merchandise. At one point all three were dealing with people trying on T shirts and taking forever. A Scottish, bloke in the queue got very irate and made his displeasure of have to wait known to all –“ just sell fu&king tickets” .
I had yet another Salmon meal
It was a short walk to the Festival grounds , situated below the Castle. As I entered the grounds, I heard the unmistakable voice of Van Morrison. He was playing traditional folk music. The audience was an eclectic lot- all ages, some obviously locals and heaps of tourists. There were food and drink booths and with a good select fare.
Morrison finished the concert with his ‘greatest hits’ including Brown Eyed Girl and Gloria. When I got back to my tent at about 11.00 pm, it was still not dark.
A top night.
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