South Uist - Benbecula - North Uist

Typical Uist single track road.

As part of my visit to the islands I wanted to cycle the full length from Lochboisdale in South Uist to Lochmaddy in North Uist. If you want to complete the full island stretch you can start from Eriskay but as I had cycled down to there yesterday and the SSE 20 mph plus headwinds meant I that was not repeating that cycle. There is also a loop at the top of North Uist with some very attractive coastline views.

Typical scenery, scrubland, water and crofts

These islands are a place of extreme weather variations with most Atlantic storms passing through. Thankfully these winds were favourable to me for about 2/3rds of the ride providing a good tail wind which pushed the averages mph up.
I started the ride from our holiday cottage heading south before joining the only main road linking most of the island. For the most part the roads are single carriageway with passing places. When driving this means a give and take approach where you stop and let an approaching car pass as much as they let you come through. Normally there is a very high courtesy factor but from my cycling experiences over the last three years there is no doubt that the same courtesy is not as regularly applied to cyclists. I had a few issues on tight single stretches with fast oncoming traffic. Traffic coming from behind were much better, maybe my high viz strobe rear light working again.

These islands are unique with a huge amount of large and small lochs with some of the best brown trout fishing in the UK. It is also full of peaty boggy terrain rendering many lochs impossible to get to. I believe that the Outer Hebrides have 15% of the UK surface water which is staggering relative to their size. My trip is a fishing one but not today in these winds and possibly not all week, I only saw one boat out on the waters and no bank fishers during the ride.

Warning otters crossing

These islands are relatively flat with numerous small crofts and cottages dotted around but no high rise buildings. Thus the landscape has vast vistas with huge skies, fantastic sea views. Quite inspiring and humbling.

Tides Out

Riding over the causeways are always fun but poignant with the knowledge that deaths have occurred on these in winter storms. It can be a harsh environment. Plus there are the constant warnings of otters crossing but it was very low tide so no expectations of seeing them today. They are numerous but they tend to be seen with the incoming tide.

Final causeway hills at Lochmaddy in view

The tailwind pushed me on until the 22 mile mark where it became a mixture of everything. Surprisingly I hit more headwinds than expected and some of the side wind gusts were extremely challenging to keep upright particularly as my bike has a light carbon frame.

On these islands there are many churches of all denominations and linked to this many war memorials. These islands lost a lot of people particularly in the Great War and here they are well looked after and respected. It is not too long ago that everything shut down on a Sunday and even hanging out the washing to dry was a major offence. Times have changed.

 

The tide was out for most of the journey but still it provided great viewing and realising how shallow these areas are and how far out the tide goes aligned to the speed it comes in at. Don't go wandering about the sandbanks a real danger of being trapped by an incoming tide.

Lochmaddy

Finally after that very blowy last third I arrive at my destination at Lochmaddy where I will get picked up. I know super softy but that is a long enough trip in these conditions at my age. Time now for a visit to the craft centre and as all cyclists know, a reward of a slice or two of good home baking. 
Lochmaddy is where Calmac sails to Uig in Skye so I will see it again on Saturday.