HEB 4 ferry to harris and tarbert stay

Day 4 north uist

  The Cycle in the morning of our departure from the excellent tractor shed facility was perfect glorious sunshine with stunning views the road was undulating but not overly taxing, bob stopped with me for a while to point out st Kilda island way off in the distance hazy on the horizon behind the Monach isles,

            There was a sea eagle in the air and on a few occasions bob and Gary stopped and got their binoculars out for a closer look at the birds, lapwings giving Arial displays  over pristine beaches plenty picturesque hamlets with thatched cottages, in short A beautiful mornings cycle of 21.29miles with hardly a breeze took us 2hours 38mins  to the Berneray ferry terminal we were getting the 13:30 sailing to leverburgh,
      As per norm we were there in plenty time early and were hoping for a café but there was nothing at this end of the crossing we were ravenous and new the ferry would be too small to have a café either but it did have a coffee machine which had one of those vegetable soup options. Packet soup like this is not normally my thing but I thought this hot cup was wonderful

                The ferry journey over is made all the more scenic by the fact the boat has to weave through the skerries and tiny islands strictly following the green and red buoys, this pleasant journey was only spoiled at times when the ferry turned fast or hit a decent wave then all the car alarms would go off, we had learned our lesson this time and were off the boat in plenty of time, we decided on lunch at the surprisingly large harbour bar restaurant, my phone was low on battery so I plugged it in at a table near the window, then we all got sat around a big table in the middle and ordered beers to drink while we had a look at the menu, soup and sandwiches all round it was for the troops, ordering food when out is tricky for me just now as I am doing a year off eating zero beef or dairy! it can make me seem weird to my friends and restaurant staff when I am ordering stuff they know I’m not vegetarian as I often order fish ham or chicken sometimes but ask for it without butter or cream, on that day everyone had Cullen skink except me who had cream of broccoli which I was guaranteed had no cream or dairy in it,( Alistair's first ever Cullen skink) the food was tasty enough lunch with half the crew including myself ordering a second beer, Even though we knew it before arrival and had came loaded with cash only Gary had money(real notes not cards!) left the rest of us borrowed £40 from him to top up the well battered kitty, which bob was doing a tremendous job of looking after, we had been a long way from a cashline machine for a while,  the staff were admiring a rather large lobster that had just been brought into the kitchen very much alive,
            we went to set of all outside sorting our bikes clothing gloves glasses etc. Gary said has everybody got everything! Nope I had left my phone on charge cheers for the reminder Gary, there was nearly a repeat of when I left my phone on charge at Sumburgh airport and the pilot turned the flight back from the runway take off to go collect it for me out his wee captains window hatch! you would think after that embarrassing episode I would have learned my lesson,

                 The thing about harbours is they are at sea level! This can often mean the first thing you have after a ferry journey is a climb up a hill as this was the case here we were heading for Tarbert and were now on the isle of harris, we cycled up passed a stunning looking golf course and plenty of classic thatched croft houses looking picture postcard perfect in the sun with countless picturesque beaches,

       we stopped at the edge of town wondering about our directions with the towns one way system, wondering where the restaurants and shops were, cycled of to the left and nearly tripped over our hostel for the night, the man at the desk couldn’t be more helpful as it turns out it was actually his wife’s job, she was unwell and he had to help her out he was a great help to us with his local knowledge, we dumped our panniers of at reception then wheeled our bikes round a side alley up some stairs and into a hut in the garden for the night, we had a 6 person dorm room booked and the shower room was good  

                Bob had an issue we had to get a shop as he was feeling guilty of having had whisky at night but not having brought a bottle with him, and now there being none left he was keen to buy a bottle for that night, there’s two grocery shops in Tarbert the one that was shut was the licenced the shop we were in was not licenced! The man in the shop happened to know the owner of another licenced store 2-3 mile out of town which he could see if that was still open. There was no way we were going to cycle that and back! The shop keeper said no problem I will phone over and they will deliver it here to me and you can pay for it, MAGIC this is what happened the shop owner dispatched her daughter over in her car and bob got his bottle delivered,

                We walked along to the Harris hotel which has a bar and a restaurant the restaurant was big and looked busy, the barman I the bar where we were said if we wanted to eat in the restaurant we should book a table, or we could order pizza in the bar and eat it there, we opted for pizza at the bar which was more than satisfactory, we stayed for a few beers after pizza then went back to the hostel and to drink bobs bottle in the hostel kitchen

It had been 21.29mile in 2hrs 34mins from the ferry to Tarbert that along with the mornings 21.37mile gave us a total cycle that day of 42.66miles