One pannier on my cycle

* This is one of the 'lost' posts from a few days ago, fixed duting a long rain delay in Scalpay tearoom *

I'm now embarking on a three day tour of the west and north, returning to Stornoway.  By a stroke of luck, a new hostel has opened in the last few weeks in the far west of Lewis, the one place I was certain I'd have to camp.  Having managed to book my next two nights' accommodation, there was no need for the camping pannier, and I left it in Stornoway.

I left a bit late, heading west into the wind, which had moderated to only strong, along a single track road through featureless high moorland, but feeling pleased about the one pannier situation.  To celebrate, I adapted the song One Wheel On My Wagon ... I imagine you can fill in the details if you know the song, replacing the Cherokees with the banshees (wind) and the hidden cave by a hidden cafe.  This was sufficient to keep me happy for ten miles and several rain squalls.

The single track eventually joined a bigger road, with the same scenery.  After the main road turned off north, things started to get interesting.  I was now in the far west area of Uig, and rocky hills sprang up.  The rock around here is called Lewisian Gneiss, and I have to sat it was a gneiss change.

The road wiggled round several lochs, and I passed a group of four cyclists, observing with some schadenfreude, that thay all had two panniers.  26 miles out of Stornoway, I stopped at the first cafe, a lovely place in an old schoolroom, stringing my stay out as long as possible. I met a couple of motorcyclists who I'd got to know previously, and a very helpful lady from the café pointed all the places we should and shouldn't visit.

The bunkhouse was only a couple of miles further on, and I left my remaining pannier,  and composed a new verse for my song.  Simple pleasures.

The district of Uig is very scenic, partly because of the hills, but also the coastline, which has a mix of golden beaches and wild rocky shores and cliffs.  I followed all the recommended routes and found some very wild coastline, plus a couple of very exposed beach campsites, which wouldn't have been much fun.  It's very remote, although they do have a good community shop and a community centre incorporating a café.

After the struggle out west against hills and wind, the return trip was a delight,  as was the hostel, Otter Bunkhouse.  It's about five metres from the sea, and you can often see otters playing on the shore. Just not tonight.