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I'm going to leave my family for a few days and try squeeze in a small but completely selfish solo bike tour this summer. I'd love to Ride the length of the Hebrides, which from south Uist to stornoway stretches for all of 130miles. I could normally ride that comfortably in two days, however, with trains, ferries.....etc, reality i guess might be 4. Itinerary probably train from Aberdeen to oban, ferry to castle bay, ride to stornoway, ferry to Ullapool, ride to Inverness and catch train home. Any experiences of such a route, in particular realistic timescales, would be greatly appreciated.
No experience of that particular route but I have done a couple of big tours out west. This might have to be done as well.
Why stop at Inverness? Your almost home. I know its a big day but its got some fantastic options for routes. Nothing like riding back to your door from such a trip.
I take it your on a road bike?
I would travel light, plan your food and overnight stops.
try the CTC forum
i am planning that trip. Plenty of others have done it. Don't rush it though. Too nice
Midges. Precautions. Take.
Otherwise brilliant idea.
i may be doing that very cycle next month.
if you're doing it prior to the end of may then the midgie count shouldn't be too bad. after that you;re taking your chances. anytime towards the end of summer is just plain madness and that's before taking the cleggs into acount.
learn (quick) to love the wind. i've seen me on an otherwise lovely day have to abandon just becaus i kept getting blown off the bike. mit can make a short journey very, very long!
the roads are not super. expect punctures. what there are of hills are easy enough with the possible exception of the clisham, esp in the direction you're going, will get the blood flowing in your legs but it's not that hard.
everyone seems to go up the main road to tarbert which is lovely, true, but i've a soft spot for the golden road on the east side of harris. if you've time to do that as a loop i'd highly recommend it.
take more rather than less days and stop a lot, assuming the cold, rain and wind aren't doing that for you. it's a genuinely lovely place and worth taking your time over
If you want to do a bit of body surfing go up the west coast of Harris.
If you want even greater scenery and a more varied ride take the golden road (east side), but there's nothing wrong with the west.
Presumably you'll be landing at Leverburgh. If you head south to Rodel you may find it interesting.
If you have reasonably wide tyres on your bike and it's dry, you can take a more interesting route from Tarbert by heading east to Urgha and taking the old track north across to Maraig (may involve some pushing if laden) but worth it for the scenery.
I hope to be doing the island hop shortly too.