Author: Rob Ainsley

The ferry to Oban took me and Mark into summer. On the mainland it was glorious sunny weather, Scotland at its May best. After the windswept austerity of the Hebrides it was a surprise to see things like trees, and our own shadows, again. The scenery south from Oban was wonderful, lochy and green and…

The good news is today that there was no wind. The bad news is that there was fog instead. So you could cycle at a normal speed again, you just couldn’t see anything. Still, in the tantalising periods of terrible visibility between those of no visibility, I nipped across from Barra to Vatersay, the last…

A torrid night of gale force winds and driving rain reduced my tent, and most of its contents, to a sodden lump this morning. At least I know now that the various bits of ‘lightweight’ camping kit I bought really are lightweight – I could see them floating around the tent at 1.30am. So, another…

Today was mostly another long, tough day cycling right into a strong headwind. A beautiful (and wind-free) early morning’s ride along the remarkable Golden Road, though, which threads it way down the east coast of Harris through fishing villages. After lunch, island-hopping in earnest through astounding landscapes of mountains, lochs, cobalt sea and custard beaches:…

An astoundingly beautiful ferry ride on a clear blue May morning took me to Stornoway in the Outer Hebrides. From there it was a long, tough slog into the wind through some austere and rocky landscapes. This is what cycling on the moon is probably like, only at least there’s no wind there. En route…

Headwinds not so bad today, and some awesome, awesome scenery on remote back roads. Yesterday was tough so I’ve had an easy day today, with the prospect of fish and chips for dinner and a pint in the pub overlooking the harbour. Ullapool is a harbour town, so it’s a great place for fish –…

I was up and off just after 5am this morning, partly because I was mindful of the weather forecast (strengthening headwinds throughout the day, increasing to 30mph by lunchtime) and partly because the tent was soaked following the rainstorm that woke me at 3am. But I was rewarded by this sight of a Durness shepherd…

Finally got to Cape Wrath today, to start the trip proper. Getting there involves a tiny, infrequent ferry boat from Durness across to the virtually uninhabited Cape Wrath peninsula. On the peninsula itself, it’s a desolate 11-mile track to the lighthouse, the notional most north-westerly point on the British mainland. Everyone else on the boat…

I woke up to this scene from the sleeper train window this morning. Fresh snow on the mountains. Oh. The nearest you can get to Cape Wrath by train is Lairg, 60 miles away. I cycled from there along Loch Shin to Laxford Bridge, then up to Durness (nearest town to Cape Wrath), where I’m…

Am on the Sleeper to Inverness – leave Euston in ten minutes. Bargain Berth, £19, obtained through nerdy monitoring of the ScotRail site with an auto-refresh widget on the morning they became available online back in February. All rather exciting as we wait to leave. And especially pleased that the sleeper berth includes a complimentary…