I arrived in Lerwick the Shetlands at 7.00 a.m on the ferry from Kirkwall.

It was Sunday and being Scotland, the place was effectively closed.  The only place to buy anything was Tesco on the outskirts of town.  I bought some yoghurt and blueberries and had a healthy breakfast.   I then headed into town and found a café open.  A ran into a German cycle, also on bikes.   I had  noticed them  on the ferry the night before.  They had already decided to take the ferry straight back south to Aberdeen.  They were clearly unimpressed with the Shetlands.

After a coffee, undaunted I headed north into the mist. I wasn’t long before the rain started.  The wind then started to blow from the north. I though the Germans may have had the right idea.   I stopped in shop about 5 miles short of the ferry that goes to the next island north which call Yell.  The owner of the shop told me that she had moved from Unst wich is the most northerly is Unst.  She told me that she had “moved south, but that is as far south that she would like to move”.

I rode on and took ferry to Yell.  It was pouring rain.  I was one of only a handful of people on the ferry.  A couple from Manchester were also of the ferry. They said that Shetlands are a great place to bring up children.  The problem with such places is that once the children have been brought up, they leave.

After ferry, told that there was a good camping place at  Burravoe Pier. The ride seemed to take forever.  I enjoyed a Frozen meal cooked  in the  microwave – I must have been hungry.  During a short break in the rain I pitched the tent.

Chatted to a bloke who was a mathematic lecturer at the Newcastle upon Tyne University.  He and his wife had decided to move to the Shetlands for a year to “think and get their heads together”.  Their 10 y.o.  daughter “hated it at first”, but now the year is coming to an end she does not want to leave.  He told me that he was worked out a way to develop mathematical models to predict populations of otters and other wildlife.

After dinner, I rush into the tent.  It had really started to piss down with rain and the wind had increased.

I woke up to the sound on the rain pelting down.  I suspect that it had rained all night.  The forecast on the radio was for the rain to clear.  I stayed in the tent for an hour waiting for the forecast to bear fruit

Rode to Midyell.  Sign showed the town was in two directions – too many roads and not enough towns.

There was a short ride to the next ferry to Unst.  Stopped in the café for a cheese burger.  This appeared to be the healthiest fare on the menu.

I rode north as quickly as I could.   I had been told the nearest shop  was at Baltasound.  I stopped there for provisions for my evening meal.  The only things to be had were ham, cheese and a tomato.

I headed to Saxa beach.  The last part of the road was a killer.  It was so steep that the front wheel left the ground.  I had not been forced to walk the bike up a hill for the whole trip. I took the rear panniers and rack bag off left them by the side of the road.  I continued up the hill.

The coast line is very spectacular. There is short drop down to Saxa Beach.  There is a farmhouse at the end of the road.  As I stopped, a 4WD tuned up.  As it turned out the driver was a member of the family that owns the farmhouse and farm.  She told me that they do not live in the farmhouse anymore.  It is rented out on a holiday let basis.  She asked me to sign the visitors’ book and gave me a dram of whisky as a reward for my efforts.

As I head back south ,that being the only direction you can go, the mist started to roll in.  It was incredibly thick and cold.

I stay the night in a hostel in Uyeasound.  There three other people in the place.  At least two more than I expected.

Flickr Link

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjHj9P7A

Garmin  Links

Day 1

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/350705451

Day 2

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/350705378

LEJOG Day 28

Only 12 miles to go.

The weather looked very ordinary at 6 a.m.  Breakfast was served by what appeared to be the younger brother of the waitress from the night before.  What are the child labour laws in Scotland?

The weather was not much better when I left the hotel around 9.30 a.m.  The ferry from John o Groats to the Orkneys was leaving in an hour.  I had put myself under pressure.  There were a number of cyclists, in pairs and groups, heading south.  The ‘ E to E’  season has started.

I kept up a reasonable pace that would see me with 10 mins for the obligatory photos before the ferry was to depart.  As it turned out, when I arrived in John o Groats and bought my ticket to Berwick, the ferry was late.  That gave me time for the photos and a bit more.  The book I am reading tells that the “average time spent in John o Groats is 15 mins”.  I suspect that is 10 mins too long.  Apart from the signs, both Lands End and John o Groats do not have a huge amount to offer.

I have been to the most southerly point (Cape Otway) and Easterly point (Cape Byron) of mainland Australia.  Neither of these places make a big thing of these facts.  I guess they are not on the way to anywhere.  Also, not many people do the west to east or north to south trips.

The ferry across the Berwick takes only 40 mins.  The tide travels fast.  You can see it in the water and it swirling around.

I asked a driver of a bus, the directions to Kirkall.  He laughed -” there is only one way, take the road and head north.  The weather was wet and misty.  I am not sure what the countryside is like behind the mist.  I encountered a case of ‘road rage’.  What the driver was in a rush about is anyone’s guess. Maybe they wanted to see if the mist was as thick further north.

I stopped for a pie and ale in a hotel.  The waitress was from Nottingham and had very interesting ascent – a  mixture of Nottinghamshire and Orkney.  She told me she likes the winter here.  She said that when “it gets dark and 2.00 p.m. people get very social”.

After lunch I rode across Scarpa Flow.   This was the main naval base for the Royal Navy in both WW1 and WW2.   A German torpedoed a British ship in the first two weeks of WW2.  Winston Churchill ordered that construction of concrete barriers to protect the fleet.  These were complete in August 1945.  They do serve some purpose though, they causeways linking small island to the main island.   Much of the work building the barriers was performed by Italian POWs.  A chapel they built has been preserved.  It is worth a visit.

When I arrived in Kirkwall, I happened across a bike shop – time for a tyre check. The Rohloff was again the topic of discussion.

I was still wet.  I decided to check into a hostel.  It turned out to be good – rare in the UK.

I walked into Kirkwall.  Like all places this far north, the buildings are very austere.   They would not look out of place in Soviet Russia.

I had a curry in a Hotel washed down by Scarpa Special Ale.

Flickr Link

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjH4CwGR

Garmin Link

http://connect.garmin.com/dashboard?cid=43330469

LEJOG Day 27

I had a very ordinary meal in the Bettyhill Hotel.  I spoke to chef, a Cockney at the bar after the meal.  He told me that he had “come into the industry late in life – 27 years old”.   I asked: why that was?  expect him to say that he had tried other things and decided to try cooking.  He told me that he had been in prison for grievous bodily harm. He went on say that the victim had “hurt his girl, you know what I mean”.  (N.B no ? required).

The barmaid had obviously heard the story many times before and rolled her eyes.  I decided to ask her a question.  I asked her how long she had worked on the Hotel.  She told me that she was a uni student in Glasgow and worked in the Hotel over summer.  She was studying music and Gaelic.   I asked some more questions and we chat about her music and learning and teaching Gaelic.  The Cockney kept butting in and trying the return the conversation about him.  I suspect will not be long before someone does him some grievous bodily harm.

I woke up in a very hot tent.  Notwithstanding the evening meal experience I returned to the Hotel for breakfast as there was no other option.  Breakfast was Ok.

The ride east was tough at first – long up followed by long downs all into a fairly strong wind.  After a while the ground flattened out, but the wind persisted.  Before getting to Thurso, I passed the Dounreay nuclear power station.  According to the book I am reading on the ride, “it is now a nuclear storage facility, having been decommissioned in the 1990’s. Judging by the number cars in the carpark,  it appeared that a lot of people are required to store nuclear stuff.

As I continued east, I was overtaken by a stream of cars.  It was like a Canberra rush hour – all of the cars with the driver only.  It appeared that had come from the Dounreay facility.  Whatever these people do, it does not have to be done after 4.30 p.m.

I arrived in Thurso and soon left.

I could have ridden to John o Groats, however I wasn’t fussed.  The book told me it an ordinary place.

I spotted a hotel in Dunnett.  It was cold, wet and windy.  I decided to stay.  The waitress appeared too young to be legally working.  She also seemed incapable of understanding that I did not want chips and potatoes with my salmon.

It was good to sleep in a bed again.

Flickr Link

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjH3Yer6

 

LEJOG Day 26

I am of the final stages of the LEJOG.

Lairg was quiet at night and turned out to be even more quiet during the day. I was able to get breakfast at the Hotel as a ‘non resident’.   As far as I could see there were precious few ‘residents’.  I would have expected that the owners would have been pleased to get some custom.  I guess I was hoping for too much.

I head north towards Tongue.  Unlike any other two days on this trip, the scenery on this day and the day before was pretty much the same.

I stopped for tea and scones in pub in middle of nowhere.  I chatted to a couple on Adventure Bikes – he on a BMW GS 1200 and she on Honda 850.  I can’t get over the number of these bike getting around.

The ride into Tongue was a bit tough as I was heading into the wind.

After stopping more tea, in Tongue I head East along the coast.  The wind seemed to have turned easterly.  Now that is unfair.

Around 6.30 pm. I arrived in Bettyhill.  That was far enough.  The camping ground was virtually empty.  The owner blamed the “Government raising the price of fuel.

Flickr Link

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjH2dW8D

Garmin Link

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/346688003

 

LEJOG Day 25

After a rest day in Ullapool I headed off the Lairg.

The weather was amasingly hot.  The country side was picturesque, but very consistent.  There are very few towns in his part of Scotland.  The ‘A’ Road is actually “The One and Only’ road.

There was virtually no one in the Lairg Caravan Park.  I had brief chat with a German couple that were riding to the Orkney’s on the same route as me.

A very ordinary meal in the Hotel was downed with some the horrible McEwan cold fizzy Ale.

Flickr Link

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjGZFnjh

Garmin Link

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/346111010

 

LEJOG Day 24

This was a really simple day.

It was a very short ride into Stornoway to catch the ferry to Ullapool.  Before catching the ferry, I stopped for breakfast in café run by some Thai women.  It was the most disorganised  place I have been to for years.  However, the food was good and they seemed to be enjoying themselves.

One of the other patrons was a bloke on a recumbent bike.  He was also waiting for the ferry.  We headed off the ferry together.  Waiting for the ferry we met a bloke on huge Suzuki Motorbike.  Check the Flickr Link –   an  amasing thing.

On the ferry the bloke told me about his bike and how he had built it.  As well as powering it with his feet, he was also able to power it with his arms – clever stuff.  He also told me about the grips and a process he had invented to manufacture them.  He has patents out on the design and manufacturing process for the grips.

The bloke also told me able a girl he had met in the Hebrides.  She was “dolphin watching”.  Apparently she had “great Hampshre accent”.  It seemed that she had lots of other desirable attributes.

Went I arrived in Ullapool I decided this would be a good spot to stay for a day.  The camping ground is close to the town and the place has a few nice pubs.  The weather was fantastic.

I had a good Indian Curry in the company of the bloke with the recumbent bike.

Ullapool is a real tourist spot.  It is very popular with old fart my age on Adventure Bikes – BMW GSs and Triumph Tiger.  You often see them travelling in pairs.  The general consensus seemed to be the both bikes are great. It just comes down to whether you a BMW or Triumph person.

The Rest Day was great.

Flickr Link

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjGZ6xai

 

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.

Flickr Link

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjGXrSK6

 

LEJOG Day 22

When I woke up the rain was quite heavy.  I dismantled the tent as quickly as possible and headed to the Church View Hotel for breakfast.

I chatted to a couple in the hotel that lived in Newcastle.  They were both doctors working for the NHS.  They had a lost to say about the reforms of the system that the Coalition Government is implementing.  Needless to say, they were not impressed.  I told them that my family came from Sunderland and who that city was fairing.  They confirmed my view that the city is still in decline.

By the time I finished breakfast the rain had stopped, but it was still very windy and misty.  I headed north to the ferry that goes to Harris.  It is short trip, but slow, as the ferry has to snake around submerged rocks and small islands.

I took that ‘scenic’ coastal route north on an unclassified road.  There was virtually no traffic.  The scenery was quite surreal, with exposed rock and small lakes.  The swirling mist added to the scene.

I arrived into Tarbert and checked into the Harris Hotel.  It is a very  ‘olde world’ place -elderly gentlemen  wearing sports jackets and ties, and ladies wearing pearls for dinner.

After dinner I dropped into the bar opposite.  It sold Loch Ness real ale.  The barman told me that they only sell real ale to tourists.  The local prefer fizzy crap.

I was good to sleep in a bed for the first in a while.

Flickr Link

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjGXs51Z

Garmin Link

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/344060597

 

LEJOG Day 21

I woke up in Barra with the wind blowing a gale.  I ventured out of the tent to the amenities block.  Not too many amenities to be had.  I ran into a bloke who I had had it brief chat to the night before.  He had said that he had lived in Canberra. He asked me if I would like couple of tea.  I had arranged to have breakfast at the Hotel down the road, but it was not open for non-residents for an hour.  I took up the offer of a cup of tea in a campervan not affected by the wind.

It turned out the bloke was an ex-diplomat who had a posting in Canberra.  He had a lot to say, mainly about his area of expertise.  This was the impact of corporate behaviour on Foreign Policy.  He also had some interesting comments on urban planning.  He and his wife lived in a small village in Kent and he was active in stopping developers expanding the village.  I thought about a past relationship I had with the daughter of a bloke who made a ‘shit load’ building a few houses on the outskirts of a village in Kent.

I was finally able to extricate myself from the chat with the ex-Diplomat.  I headed up the Hotel for breakfast.  Smoked salmon and scrambled eggs was a good choice.

I then head north to the ferry terminal.  For whatever reason there was a problem with timing of the ferry.  I was not the only confusion potential traveller.  The Hotel near the terminal had a bumper crowd for lunch as we waited for the next ferry.

A short ferry ride saw me in North Uist.  The wind was now howling.  I head north as great speed (in the context of a fully laden bike and big lunch) not sure where I would end up.  There were lots of houses sprinkled around, but actual towns.

I finally saw a sign saying “Camping Ground 2 klms”  – sometimes miles are dispensed with.   The place turned out to be a farm.  The couple that ran the place were very enterprising and had set-up and basic but great facility.  They pick that I was from Australia and told me more than I wanted to know about their trip to see the wife’s sister in Curumbin Queensland.

I had no need to eat dinner on account of the big lunch.  The wind was stronger the ever.  I took shelter in the ‘cook house’.  It was crowded (8 of us).  There was group of 20 something Glaswegians that were on their way to a Folk Music Festival in Stornaway on the Isle of Lewis.  The headline act of Thursday Night was Val Morrison.  They asked me if: “ I had heard of Val Morrison”.  I was not sure if they were taking the piss.

I headed back to the Vaude.  I was pleased to see it still up right –great German design that tent.

Flickr Link

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjGX9KV2

Garmin Link

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/344060637

LEJOG Day 20

I woke up in Oban under a slightly wet tent. The walk to the amenities block was very wet. My luck with weather seemed to have vanished.

I returned to dismantle my tent. As I performed this well-practiced task I engaged in conversation with bloke next to me. He had a very interesting Renault van with a reversible passenger seat that enable him to convert the back seat area to sort of office. The ‘luggage area was large enough to hold a mountain bike and a road bike. He told me that he simply drove to a place, say Oban, with the bikes and hiking boots and then did whichever of the three pursuits wherever he felt like it. Good one.

I went into town and found a bike shop for the obligatory tyre pressure check. I asked the bike shop owner how business was going? He told me that it was terrible: “I am being killed by the Internet”. We chatted about the demise of small ‘High Street’ shops. I observed that Oban seemed to be doing Ok. He told me that Fort William, a town to the north, was doing really badly. I can recall Fort William being a prosperous town over 30 years ago. Again, it is interesting how some towns thrive and some do not.

Waiting for the ferry I ran into a couple of German blokes. One has a ‘Silk Road’ touring bike. I have looked serious at these bikes. It had a Rohloff, hydraulic disc brakes, Brooks and so on. I guess I have all the bits. I may look at buying frame.

The trip to Barra is long. It takes you past the Isle of Mull. I recalled the Paul McCartney and Wings song ‘Mull of Kintyre. It was released iin late 1977 and was number for seemingly months. I was wiring in London at the time. The radio was often on. BBC counted down the top 5 selling singles leading up to 12 .00. It seemed that that blood song was the theme for the 12 oclock news.

I had a chat with the staff I the ferry. They were a very happy lot. They work two weeks on and two weeks off. They all seemed to like that.

Arriving Barra there was short ride the camping ground near the Barra Beach Hotel. It was very windy.
After setting up the tent I walked up to the Hotel for a beer. The only Ale was a John Smiths. I chatted with a bloke from Liverpool works servicing diesel and gas generators. He told me that business was booming. This was due to private householders and small land holders, including farmers as well as institutions such as banks and hospitals, installing generators. He claimed that this is due to concerns about the capacity of the National Network to meet demand in the future. Also there are many households and farms generating their own electricity using solar and wind that need to be supplemented with diesel or gas back-up generators.

A very windy walk back to the camping ground in fading twilight at 11.00 pm. The Vaude was tested that night.

Flickr Link