At the meeting last night in the Flowerpot, kindly attended by Les Sims to allow us to benefit from his considerable experience of Scotland, it was quickly agreed that we would take up Maldwyn's suggestion of a ride from Castlebay on Barra to Stornoway on Lewis with intermediate stops at Carinish and Tarbert. We would travel back via the Ullapool ferry and a ride from there to Inverness.
A provisional date of Thursday 23rd May was agreed as the day to arrive at Castlebay - a trip finishing with about 5 hours on a Calmac ferry from Oban. This is based on 2012 summer timetables. The national Rail 2013 summer timetable should take effect from Mid May and so should be available by February.We would hope to have the Calmac 2013 summer timetable by then as well.
It seems sensible, therefore, to have a next meeting in Mid February when we should have enough data to make final plans but with the maximum booking-ahead time still available. Perhaps we can agree a date early in 2013 when Clyde is likely to know when he will be in the UK.
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Furthe to my alloted task of sourcing accomodation in Castlebay I very quickly came across this hostel. Sounds good??
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dunardhostel.co.uk/
I agree, Dunard Hostel looks ideal.
ReplyDeleteLouise finishes Uni in early June for her summer break, so the 23rd would be ideal for me.
I got in touch with the warden of a hostel near Tarbert (Rhenigidale). It is one of three belonging to Gatliff Hebridean Hostels Trust, which uses a curious system of reservation: you cannot reserve in advance -
ReplyDeleteyou just turn up. Once there, you can reserve further nights (which is useless for us!) I think we'll have to give that one a miss - it all sounds too risky!
Dunard looks good - and you can book! And it's in town, which presumably has a pub. It'll still be open when we arrive, will it? Or do they close at 9 in these remote parts?
ReplyDeleteStill not sure of closing time, but yes, there are pubs! http://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/towns/barra/western-isles/
ReplyDeleteHas anyone noticed the wind blowing from the south in the Western Iseles since we decided to ride there?!
ReplyDeleteIf the climate maintains its normal weather pattern there will be a queue of depressions out in the Atlantic waiting to hit the North of Scotland with winds rotating anticlockwise around the low pressures. Initially winds are likely to be from the south rather than the north, but then swing round to the north as the depression passes and pressure rises. Or the normal pattern could be blocked by high pressure over or around Britain and winds could come from north, south, east or west.
DeleteThe logical strategy would be to peddle as fast as possible when the wind is behind us and slow down or stop when it is against us, confident in the expectation that the wind direction will change in a few hours. The journey may take longer than planned.
Martin
Well that has covered all the meteorological eventualities!! Game on.
ReplyDeleteMaldwyn
I would normally be around mid-Feb, so a meeting then would be fine.
ReplyDelete