Before
I go any further I should point out, for the avoidance of any confusion (which
can be caused by the date at the top of the blog!) that I am now writing a more
detailed account of the Hebridean Cycle which Richard Dugdale and I completed on
26 May, but due to restrictions on the amount I could carry, I had no laptop
and had to rely on my iPhone to post rudimentary blogs, using only photos taken
on the phone. As I took lots more
photos, some of them not bad even though I say so myself, I wanted to follow up
with blogs containing more detail and more photos – so this is it. I hope you
enjoy it – if you do (or don’t) feel free to post a comment at the end.
Port Ellen, Islay
After
tearing ourselves away from Gerry and Linda’s hospitality we cycled into Port
Ellen, where there is a big maltings factory serving various distilleries, and
then went to have a look at the Laphroaig distillery where there is a rather
confusing road sign – perhaps they’d had a few when they made it?
Which way? - the road to the Laphroaig Distillery
It was cold and grey, and as we turned back
to head north back up to Port Askaig the wind was once more in our faces, and
feeling pretty relentless.
Bleak? but beautiful
It
was a long ride up the middle of the island and it felt like it would take all
day. There were a few Buzzards,
Goldfinches, and I saw a Chough, a rare red-billed crow with a call that sounds
like a cross between a Jackdaw and a ricochet.
The countryside was bleak, with the occasional farmstead and no traffic
at all.
The Jura ferry battling against wind and tide
Eventually
we arrived at Port Askaig with just enough time for me to nip to the loo before
the ferry across the narrow sound to Jura.
But when I came back out, with five minutes to spare, the ferry had
gone! We hadn’t realised that they use
the timetable as merely a rough guide.
It looked like we were in for a wait of over an hour, although it turned
out that they decided to do the 1310 crossing at 1300. This ferry is run by Argyll and Bute Council
and the operators seem a little surly.
Mind
you, perhaps they had good reason, because the combination of strong winds and
a fearsome tide through the narrows made navigation a tricky affair – the boat
seemed to be sideways most of the time and looked like it would miss the
landing stage. There was plenty of
construction work going on at a hydro-electric scheme on the Jura side, so
plenty of big wagons on the tiny ferry.
Feolin, the first port of call on Jura
If
you look on the ferry
website you’ll see that it runs to a place called Feolin on Jura. This
consists of one or two houses only. In
fact Jura, despite being quite a big island (the fifth biggest Scottish island,
I think), has very few houses altogether – fewer than 100 people live on the
island, making it the most sparsely populated piece of real estate in the
country, I reckon.
Looking back along the Jura coastal road - the picture doesn't do it justice!
The Jura Distillery at Craighouse
But
the first mile or two of road on the way to the ‘capital’ of Craighouse are
absolutely totally unbelievably beautiful, looking out over the sea and back to
Islay and across to Kintyre. After that
it became another bit of a slog over moorland for the eight miles or so to yet
another distillery – Jura malt – the pier and the little cluster of houses that
makes up the village. Fortunately there is a tearoom so we had the obligatory
cuppa and scone.
Craighouse jetty
The
distinctive hills known as the Paps of Jura dominate here. Richard recalled
that sad day in 1993 when four of our friends were killed when their plane
crashed into the mountains en route to Mull.
Richard should have been on that plane but had to cry off at the last
minute, so he must still have a strange cocktail of feelings – sadness mixed
with personal relief I guess.
The Paps of Jura from near Craighouse
We
turned around and cycled back to Feolin, where the contractors were all getting
ready to leave for their weekend off. The
ferry really struggled to berth (the tide was now running in the opposite
direction) but we made it, although not without the bikes getting a good
spraying of salt water.
Luvverly....
On the way back to Islay
After
a brief wait in Port Askaig we boarded the big ferry back to the mainland, and
after the two-hour crossing we were soon back at Suse and John’s house. Their
daughter Emily was visiting with her husband (also called Richard). He is
planning to cycle from Land’s End to John o’Groats later this year so there was
no shortage of conversation over dinner!
The following day they were planning to do the Gigha
Challenge, while we had a long day ahead – 80 or 90 miles to Oban, via Seil
Island, Easdale and Luing – and with full panniers and a headwind, it could be
hard work!
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