In Glasgow for a rest day and some bike repairs

Our campsite on a secluded beach on the Isle of Arran

Enjoying the sunshine after a dip in the ocean on a 30 degree day

The hottest day on the trip so far whilst on the Isle of Arran

Ferry to the Isle of Mull

A bay just outside of Mallaig

Leaving Portree to head south and explore the rest of Skye

What a treat - cooking in a real kitchen at the hostel

Arriving into Portree on the Isle of Skye

After a few days of rain, we checked into the Portree hostel to dry out

The ferry to the Isle of Skye

Uist Island

From Harris it was on to Uist where we camped at Berneray on mid summers eve (21st June) and saw an incredible sunset (at 11pm!!). Unfortunately we were completely rained out and pushed of the roads (literally) by howling winds. So, unfortuatnely our stay was brief, and it was straight onto Uig on the Isle of Skye where we checked into a hostel.

Campsite at Chaipaval (Harris) and the hill with great views is in the background

A view from the hill next to Chaipaval (on Harris)

A ruined church on the south coast of Harris

Hebride Islands - Harris

Harris wa the next island, and even in the rain, was much more impressive that Lewis. We cycled down the West coast of Harris and saw some of the most spectacular beaches ever (they would even rival some of Australia’s best beaches!). Camped down near Leverburgh which according to some of the locals, has 2 beaches rated amongst the top ten in the world! Well, we fell for the beauty of these beaches and stupidly decided to have a swim. Very quickly figured out why no one else was swimming and got out before hypothermia set in!

Calainish Standing Stones Lewis

Hebride Islands - Lewis

From Ullapool, we caught a ferry to Stornaway, on one of the 'Outer Hebridie' Islands, just off the west coast of Scotland. First one was ‘Lewis’ which to be honest, after the scenery we have just had, seemed to be quite flat and not particularly interesting! It did have some amazing standing stones though at Callanish.

Another amazing view from the Achnahaird campsite. Camping isn't so bad afterall!!!

What a perfect spot for a breakdown - mountains and a lovely little beach. Didn't mind stopping here at all.

Handa Island

In Bettyhill, we had stopped at a café to treat ourselves to a hot lunch of local fish and chips. An older couple seemed intrigued (either by Mick or our strange dress) and proceeded to talk for us for what seemed like hours. They gave us plenty of suggestions of places to go, things to do etc. One of which was a recommendation to visit Handa Island, a bird sanctuary off the west coast further down. So, we took their advice and headed to Handa.
Funnily enough we arrived at Handa Island several days later only to find the old couple sitting in their car reading the paper. Not sure if they had actually decided to visit again, or if they were waiting to check up on us, but we met again! I have always thought of bird watching as quite a daggy past time, but Handa Island turned out to be an amazing place! We learnt all about razorbills (there were 11,000 pairs of them), guillemots (66,000 of those), great skuas, and puffins! Met some sensational people too!! So, Handa was worth the visit.
Mick had befriended the driver who had taken us out to Handa and managed to orgnaise us some fresh seafood for dinner.......so, we trekked back up to our campsite on the hill (a massive hill), cooked up 2 fresg lobsters on our trusty little camping stove, and ate like kings in front of a view of mountains, lochs and the ocean! Life doesn’t get much better than this!!!

The view from our 'wild' camping spot, where we sat and ate our lobster dinner...just stunning. This must be heaven!

Beautifully cooked lobsters straight from the camping stove........delicious!!!!

Fresh Lobsters from the bay in Tarbet

Kin Loch on route to Tarbet

Smoo Cave in Durness

Another of those old, stone bridges...

An ice cream in Durness at the Oasis bar

Wild horses near Ben Hope (en route from Altnahara to Durness)

A beach at Durness

A beautiful spot for a quick rest near Durness

Loch Eribol

It seems around every corner there is another old stone ruin

Another wet day on the road

One of those little shelters for the shepherds...but we're pretty sure they don't use them anymore as they are slowly crumbling..

A secluded little beach, and a perfect spot for lunch somewhere between Wick and Thurso (along the North coast of Scotland)

View from the lighthouse

En route from Wick to Thurso, we cycled out to a headland, where there was a beautiful old lighthouse

Dunnet Head - Most northerly point

Great headland on the way from John O'Groates to Thurso.

John O'Groates (Jan De Groot)

Named after the dutch guy who ran ferrys to the Orkneys 500 years ago. Not a cool town however so we moved on quick!

Perth – John O’Groats, 5 - 10th June

From Perth, we gradually made our way north to John O'Groats, the most North Western point of Scotland. We passed through the Grampian mountains and the Scottish ski resorts up at Lecht Pass. Not quite the same as skiing in Europe, but there is mountains, lifts and snow so I guess that’s all you need to ski!
After passing through the mountain districts, we had a well needed rest day in Grantown-on-Spey, a lovely little village made famous by salmon fishing! A day trip to Aviemore to get some technical support on the bike front made it a leisurely day without panniers.
En-route from Granton-on-Spey to Inverness, we stopped at Cawdor Castle. This place was absolutely beautiful. Mick was spotted chatting to the “Countess of Cawdor” – think he was trying to get us an invite to stay for dinner, but nothing came of that! So, after a stroll around the castle (can’t believe people actually live in these incredible places), the immaculately kept gardens, and the rainforest trails out the back, it was back to the bike. Not before spotting some highland cattle in the castle paddocks. These are gorgous cows with scruffy long brown hair – very cute! From John O'Groats we followed the coast across the top of Scotland. The scenery seemed to become more amazing every day, and by the time we started to come down the West Coast, it was spectacular the whole way. The top nth western corner is stunning...rugged coastline, beautiful pristine beaches, lochs, stone ruins and mountains everywhere.

Some Scottish scenery

hh

Cawdor Castle

Enjoying the immaculate gardens at Cawdor Castle

Cawdor Castle en route from Grantown-on-Spey to Inverness

a lunch stop at the beautiful Dulse bridge. This is a famous swimming hole too (but it was a bit too chilly for us)

Arriving in Perth on a wet day

Arriving into Edinburgh

Next we caught the train to Edinburgh and spent our first night in a tent. Turned out to be wet, would you know it! Sat was our first big day where we managed 50 miles (80km) from Edinburgh to Perth. Wasn't too hilly, but we were exhausted by the end. Had nice weather for the first half, then rain, thunder, hail (!!!!) and within minutes the roads were like rivers. We finally arrived in Perth looking like drowned rats, but found a campsite and commenced drying all our gear.
They say here that "if you can't see the hills then it's raining, and if you can, then it's about to". Whilst in the mountains at least, this is pretty much accurate!