Inner and Outer Hebrides

In the north west of mainland Scotland are the Inner and Outer Hebrides, groups of islands with very changing landscape, ancient history and breathtaking white beaches.

But in order to get there I first have to cycle along the coast to Ullapool from where the ferry departs. The strip of road is a killer! Not only it seriously challenges your physical condition - it also eats up whatever is leaft of your soul after having been thoroughly soaked for several days. The road winds up and down with accents as steep as 25%. (With a car you would have to shift to first gear for this). As soon as you arrive on top, sweaty, steaming and with heavy breathing, you immediately embark on a neckbreaking downhill. The road is extremely narrow here, just wide enough for a minibus. My bicycle is equipped with pretty good brakes. But with the rain and the steep decends they don't work at all. I either have to push my bike or just hope that there will be no traffic coming from the front.

After an entire day of up and down (with the same amount of energy that made me advance 10 kilometers on the coast I could surely have crossed the Swiss Alps!) I am psychologically exhausted and close to a moral breakdown. What saves me in the end is my adrenaline from a new personal speed record during this trip: 73km/h fully loaded on a single track road :)
(I refuse to be a victim - no pushing a bike downhill!)

Finally I arrive in Ullapool, exhausted but at least just in time to see the German soccer team loose against Spain in the European finals (hihi). In a cozy pub I get drunk with two Germans and a Spaniard... definitely not a good preparation for an early rise in order to catch the ferry to Stornoway on Lewis and Harris Island the next morning!




Lewis and Harris Island (Outer Hebrides) welcome me with plenty of wind and rain. Again I soak to the bone. I nevertheless manage to have a look at ancient standing stone formations, sleep next to a romatic lighthouse and on day 3 dry off in the sun on a white beach.
In the end, the crazy weather also has a positive aspect: the mushrooms are just as confused as everyone else up here. So they start pushing up as if it was autumn. I collect them on the roadside for breakfast ommelettes and evening beef stew. Yummy!

Towards the north...

On my way towards the northern shore I pass by deserted valleys with gravel roads and incredibly splendid lush green nature.
The wind hits Scotland hard, so often there are no trees and just little shrub. Whatever resists the wind is usually eaten by the sheep.
Except for the thissle with its well developed defence. It is the Scottish national flower - you find it on some of the Scottish one pound coins and otherwise everywhere over Scotland.



Sometimes when I open my tent in the morning there is a funny surprise waiting for me. Well, to be fair, I guess those two rams in front of my door were just as surprised as I was. Luckily, after a short first-contact-staredown they opt for the peaceful option and tolerate me and the funny sounds that emerge from my early morning coffee cooking.





My days are getting a certain routine now. I usually get up around 8 and prepare breakfast. Packing, dressing and loading takes roughly an hour so I normally leave the place where I sleep around 10.
Every day I start off cycling in a low gear and pretty slow for about half an hour to warm up my muscles. Every hour or so i stop and have a snack and tea or coffee. The thermos I originally carried with me during the winter proves very handy even in the summer - I just boil water during breakfast and then usually have tea and coffee until the afternoon.

Every day, the scenery changes a little. Hills, forests, beaches, cliffs, moores, dunes, highways. Just looking at the scenery is so entertaining I hardly ever get bored. And if so, I listen to music or play roadside scrabble (see picture) or give my contribution to the heritage of standing stones... :)
One rainy day I arrive at the little wooden birdwatch shelter on the picture above. What a luxury! There is a bench, a table and windows in all directions!!! I stay for two days, read, relax and watch herons, ducks and oyster pickers at work.



When I arrive on the north shores I decide to climb "Ben Hope", a smaller peak that offers a nice view onto the highlands and the coastline. Ahhhhh...!
The road to Ben Hope has been one of the most beautiful during my whole trip. If anybody is interested to cycle up here, this strip isquite easy with fantastic views and suitable even for children.
Send me a message and we can work out your route details.

North of Edinburgh

In the center of Edinburgh, a beautiful canal leads towards Glasgow. The canal had been built in the times of the industrial revolution to transport large amounts of coal into Edinburgh. Alongside the water runs a towpath which had been used to pull the boats. It is now a walking and cycling path.
The canal is quiet and beautiful, winding through the landscape, at times leading over high and ancient viaducts. I am astonished by the art of engineering that had been used to construct the canal. And then I am baffled: the canal running over aquaducts - ok - even the romans had thought of this. But a tunnel?! Suddenly the chanal plus towpath disappear under a massive hill. And boats actually go underground. Lots of fun!

The British are not only masters of canal building, they also love to erect fences and walls wherever there is an empty space. The public has a "right to roam" though - land owners have to grant access to their land. This means there are millions of gates all over Britain that facilitate that lifestock stays put while hikers and bikers enjoy their freedom.

But sometimes I find gates in comical positions. The gate on the picture above has no fence, leave alone any area that would make sense to be fenced in: it is situated right between a road and the ocean. Building a fence would allow for about 10 suare meter of pasture... that would be sufficient for ONE sheep or maybe - twenty hamsters?

Welcome to Great Britain!

Rain and sheep - what else did I expect?

Back in Norway, (to be precise: back in Trondheim) I took the occasion to visit the production of Lundhags (see Equipment overview) one more time. They had supplied me with fantastic outdoor gear for the winter and now their new summer collection is out.
Here on the coast it finally rains and a cold wind is bashing into my face from the North-West. I am able to test my new jacket and pants. Very light fabric! It weighs almost nothing and has a minimum pack size. But it keeps me perfectly warm and the wind and water out. Great. Thank you Lundhags!!!

The cycling path along the coast is fantastically marked! It is part of the North Sea Route that follows the shores of the North Sea for 5000km through Britain, Benelux, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway. I meet lots and lots of cyclists here following this route bit by bit, Another holiday, another country. A fantastic international idea.




Compared to the Norwegians (who usually look at their own shoes when they talk to you and look at your shoes when they try to hit on you), I perceive the British as very polite. Everyone greets you with a jolly "hello" and asks where you are headed or where you come from, how you like Britain...



The coast between Newcastle and Edinburgh is a mix of sandy beaches and rough cliffs and volcanic rocks. I often sleep right behind the dunes and enjoy the evenings looking at the sea, the birds, the waves.

In Edinburgh I meet my mother Margit and her friend Gabi who are on a holiday trip through the highlands. We set off to explore the capital of Scotland with its unique ancient architecture - very tall stone buildings and small alleyways (so calles "closes"). Edinburgh ran short of space and so the buildings had to be erected higher than usual.




I stroll around without knowing where I am heading and find an old cemetary where Adam Smith (18th century Economist, Philosopher), author of "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations" is buried. Inmidst massive monumental graves I find this tiny plate (see picture) with just his head and name on it and think to myself: "What a modest man he must have been..." when I realize that the green is sprinkled with these little plates. They lead to a gravestone the size of a shopping window surrounded with tall fences. Not the most modest way to end.

Gabi, Margit and I spend a couple of relaxing days on a camping site outside Edinburgh and enjoy the sunny weather in the city center with coffees, ales and bar food. Holland wins against France and Czech Republic looses against Turkey. Tonight, Germany will play. But by then I will be on the road again, somewhere between Edinburgh and Glasgow on my way into the Scottish Highlands...

Queen of Scandinavia - from Bergen to Newcastle

I love ships. Big ones, small ones. This one is a big one. Its name is Queen of Scandinavia. 10 decks, casino, several restaurants, tax free shop and the usual "Mermaid Bar".
Boarding the ship I meet the guys from Mungus HiFi in their van on the way back to Glasgow :)

The trip takes 27 relaxing hours. I had to take a cabin but now I am happy about it - it is a single cabin - just me, my book, a couple of Grolsch beers and a massive pack of roasted nuts.




Cycling on the left side (which is the right side if the right side is the wrong side - you decide) Newcastle is exiting. But I stay just long enough to find a map of Great Britain, an ATM and a pint of Cider. Then I follow the coastal cycling path direction north - Scotland. After my Norwegian days of abstinence, my tolerance for alcohol is now pretty low. With the pint of cider in my legs I don't get very far. I soon crash for the night in the sandy dunes of Whitley Bay.