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I know some have done it, and the expected direction would be s to n, but I think I read something which suggested that N to S was actually a better direction, but I can't remember why, or if I dreamt it.
Anyone?
We were up there on family hol last May and met loads of people doing it from both directions. It gets windy up there so if that's an issue then have a look at the weather forecast shortly before going across. Also the ferry to Barra from Oban is 5 hours so do you want this, quite rough journey over with or to end with. Regarding climbing there's nothing in it either way although going up to Stornaway is boring. Don't suppose this helps as I wasn't cycle touring (took my road bike to escape) but it's a sensational place esp. the hostel on Bernaray, worth a look even if you don't stay there.
I did it S to N Geoff - and got a headwind for my troubles. I spoke to a few others who had a similar experience. On the up-side, a North Easterly is often accompanied by clear air, a South Westerly is normally wet. We had one hour of rain for the whole week....
If I was doing it again, I'd still go S to N. Get the Barra ferry trip over with at the start and leave a shorter trip at the end. I cycled back to Inverness from Ullapool to get the train home. The one thing I'd likely change would be to spend a bit more time around North Uist, but there are all sorts of [i]ferry[/i] good reasons why we did it the way we did...
Let me know if you want any details of accommodation, things to see etc.
Should I publish a link to my photos/ride report???
You really should cycle both sides of Harris 🙂
Over 20 years ago I did it north starting from Stornoway to south ending in Barra. Didn't think about it as I was getting a lift to Ullapool. I guess things will have a changed a bit - in those days I had to stay Saturday and Sunday night in the same place as I couldn't transact business on the Sunday so couldn't move on to somewhere else. Had a fantastic time, people were very friendly and it stayed dry, mostly sunny for all bar 2 days. It was windy a fair bit of the time but it tended to change direction so wouldn't have made much difference - better sun tan heading south though.
Thanks for the reply folks. Colin - links and details of accommodation would be good, I'll pm you.
I'm actually getting this stuff together for an aunt and uncle. They usually go on 3 month cycling or walking epics in the summer, but want something shorter and closer to home after one of them had a new heart valve fitted at Christmas. Not bad for a couple of 75 year olds!
You really should cycle both sides of Harris
+1 it really is an island of 2 halfs!
We did the trip in a South to North in a motorhome last summer and if cycling I'd do the same. As with druid's post above we also didn't leave enough time for North Uist and Bernaray and would definitely spend more time there next time as they're possible the most spectacular of all the islands.
If doing it south to north there is a monster road climb once you get to Harris, but it wouldn't be much better heading south either as it looked pretty steep heading south from Tarbert anyway. The southern islands are pretty flat in comparison.