2014 Summer Tour Day 5 – Maraig to Waternish

I woke to hear cuckoos, which is always a good way to start the day! After yesterday’s easy day, we were looking forward to at least some relatively easy cycling. We had no huge rush for the morning’s ferry, as Tarbert is only about 10 miles from the B&B, and the ferry leaves at 11:50am on Saturdays.

After another fine breakfast, this time porage followed by smoked salmon and scrambled eggs, we loaded up the tandem and set off up the steep climb to the main road. I’m still getting used to which Rohloff gear to select for particular gradients, but gear 3 seemed to work OK!

The temperature was still pretty low, around 7°C, and the low cloud was bringing some drizzle on the north wind. This, together with the plunge down the sleep side of the Clisham climb meant we’d chosen some pretty warm clothing. We zoomed down the hill and flashed past the Dutch woman we’d met back in Oban, calling out a greeting that was probably lost as we were doing 40-something miles an hour!

The disc brake was making some odd noises intermittently in the descent, but didn’t seem to be particularly worn from what I could see. Replacing brake pads wasn’t something I wanted to do halfway down Clisham in the wind and drizzle, particularly as this would require unbolting the rear rack to access the pads. When we got home, I checked the pads, they didn’t need replacing.

In Tarbert, there was an enormous number of cars waiting for the ferry. We were surprised that they all fitted on board! We were last to board, and last to disembark at Uig.

Leaving Tarbert

Rolling out in Uig, it was definitely warmer than on Harris. We shed some of our outer layers and set off down the road. Our destination was the Lochbay B&B, on the Waternish peninsula, and we’d booked a table at the nearby Lochbay Seafood Restaurant at 6.30 pm, so we didn’t want to hang around!

The road out of Uig climbs a fair bit to a vew point that gives splendid views back down to Uig harbour, but rather than pausing we pressed on down the road with the Cuillins ever present directly ahead.

The ever present Cuillins

About 12 miles down the road, we turned down a singletrack B road before rejoining on A road in the direction of Dunvegan. After Edinbane we had the longest climb of the day, and it was here that we realised we were really over dressed, as by now we were riding under blue skies and bathed in sunshine. The climb dragged on and on as we got hotter and hotter, but eventually we reached some respite in the descent at the other side.

Waternish, Skye. Sunny at last!

Then it was a pretty nice ride along a B road to Lochbay, where we were welcomed to the B&B by a cheery bloke mowing his lawn, who immediately made us a cup of tea.

After cleaning ourselves up and changing into some more respectable clothes, we wandered down to the seafood restaurant. We were there a bit before our reservation, so we sat outside in the Sunshine drinking beer – some beer from Ullapool for me (An Teallach), Fraoch heather ale for Carol -until our table was ready.

Sitting in the sun outside Lochbay Seafood Restaurant, Skye

Our food was excellent. Starters were oysters (me) and smoked salmon salad (Carol), and we both had Gigha halibut for main course. Desserts were equally good.

After this most excellent dinner, we wandered back to the B&B where after a brief chat with another guest, I lay down to read a book and promptly fell asleep!

And so to bed…

Links to individual pages
20th May Day 1 – Oban to Lochboisdale
21st May Day 2 – Lochboisdale to Lochmaddy
22nd May Day 3 – Lochmaddy to Maraig
23rd May Day 4 – Harris
24th May Day 5 – Maraig to Waternish
25th May Day 6 – Waternish to Broadford
26th May Day 7 – Broadford to Acharacle
27th may Day 8 – Acharacle to Oban