HEB 6 the end lighthouse
Day 6 last push
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| Callanish stones |
As usual I was last
to wake but surprisingly guy had slept as long as me, we got woken by Gary all
fine though it was a braw sunny morning and we had plenty time. The shower toilet
and a wee kitchen were in a stand alone pod a fair distance away. I was first
in the shower it takes pound coins to operate a timer we were all in and out in
a timely fashion, packed up good to go all the keys were collected, these
were to be posted in a box once we had finished with everything, whoops there
was a drama one of the keys had dropped through a slat in the wooden walkway
and was proving a devil to get out Tim eventually got it with a twig turned
into hook and we were off not far though, only 0.4miles down the road to the
standing stones to have a wonder round and a photo stop before bacon roles and
coffee at the visitors centre,
As we
left there was a woman in full pagan style gown and crazy hair arriving, we
were to find out much later that she had spent the night there singing to the
wee small hours filming her chants, while a cyclist we had met who was wild camping nearby
couldn’t get to sleep for her chants. We were much later setting of than normal,
the sun was out we were heading north with the wind mostly at our backs we couldn’t
have asked for better and we flew along before we knew it, we had done the five
mile to pass the pub we had been at the previous evening. I was wondering how the Scandinavian twitcher`s Eric and his wife were doing, we had spoken with them at length
while at dinner the previous evening about birds, well when I say we I mean especially
Gary. I have to admit the pair of them`s bird knowledge was impressive, I wondered
if they were still there possibly having breakfast or away out trying to spot the early bird!
When we had
left the visitor centre Ali had another issue with his panniers and was by now
not feeling the previous enthusiasm for the cycling, for the first time in the
trip he was at the back of the group, I would like to say we were like Migrating geese in V-shaped formations –
each goose slightly higher than the one behind so as to reduce wind resistance;
each one taking its turn at the front – they are a powerful metaphor for
pulling together in turbulent times. “The weather grows darker and brisker
every day and the wind is fierce and unrelenting,” says Karine Polwart in a
song inspired by the arrival of the pink-footed geese to Fala Moor in the
Lammermuir Hills. “We are each other’s wind resistance; a human skein! This
was definitely not the case with us this was our final day of cycling and at
the outset I had discussed our options with the group. Peletons are great if
you know what you are doing and accept the fact that you’re not going to see
much around you as you need to focus on the lead cyclists back wheel. I only
drafted once during the whole trip on a final leg into town when I was getting
weary and there wasn’t much scenery, nobody else did any drafting at all to my knowledge.
The other suggestion I made was to cycle in three pairs of two. this way no one would be left
alone and cars could get by groups of two easily but struggle with a line of six
cyclists, this occasionally happened but just by accident not intention some
days it would be Tim in front some days Gary many of the miles Gary and Ali
cycled beside each other with Tim and bob behind them me and guy way at the
back ( roomies together maybe) most times one of us straggling way far back for long stretches, out of
all of us cyclists bob was the most consistent of us going up and down the line
checking on the group, this day was the first day Ali was right at the back,
anybody that’s been skiing or motorbiking with me knows I like a formation in
the group and I like to know where everyone is in that formation the cycling didn’t
work out that way, there was no squadron leader or rear gunner we were a bunch
of loose cannons doing our own thing mostly.
we were at the butt of Lewis now and stopped
to look at a free museum that we passed. it was a sheiling these traditional croft dwellings were once
the norm on these islands and it was a cracking refurbished recreation of what
they were like 0ne hundred years ago, I put some money in the honesty box as it
made me happy to know these islands still had faith in humanity to leave
something like this lying open unguarded and expect stuff not to get stolen or
vandalised
The butt of Lewis (that’s
the place not mums friend) is reasonably low level gentle undulations passing
croft housing and small villages we were seeing it at its best on our final
piece of cycling, the wind was at our back the sun was out and we were flying Gary
in front with Tim behind him, Gary passed a tourist sign for a standing stone at
speed Tim turned off at it! guy who was next to pass it decided on not turning, I was behind guy at speed and decided I would give the standing stone a miss also and followed guy
and Gary, bob and Ali at the back followed Tim, for the first time of the
trip the group was split into two!
the group re-joined a fair bit down the road and we seen the photos of the large standing stone we had decided to miss, the place we regrouped was near a house which had a huge whale bone arch in its garden I was suitably impressed with,
This part of the cycle was along a large stretch of open moors peat bogs and crofting communities, similar to a huge percentage of Scotland this area suffered badly during the time known as the clearances, throughout Scotland and Ireland wealthy landowners looked to turn THEIR estates into hunting game shooting estates for grouse and deer while the people in the crofts were starving and couldn't pay their rents, most people gave up trying to fight it and went of to the Americas or Canada the young men went of to fight in the wars, and this area has many memorials to the amount of men lost, in England and wales there are places called thankful villages were a village never lost anyone in the wars, there is none of these in Scotland, when survivors of the great war returned and their people were still being starved out there villages. to make way for a sporting deer park, some men stood up against it and we passed this impressive cairn in their memory, which I had a run up inside for a photo
the group re-joined a fair bit down the road and we seen the photos of the large standing stone we had decided to miss, the place we regrouped was near a house which had a huge whale bone arch in its garden I was suitably impressed with,
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| we had came from way behind those hills |
The Pairc Estate
extends to 26,800 acres and includes 11 crofting townships with a combined
population of nearly 400. In 2011 the Pairc Community Trust received approval
from the Environment Minister, for a bid to buy the estate under the crofting
"Right to Buy" provisions of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003.
The Pairc Trust chairman said: "This is a historic step forward for our
community, and sends an unambiguous message to the landlord that the economic
and social development of Pairc in the interests of the whole community should
be ranked above private financial gain. It is a complete vindication of the
persistence which we and the whole community have shown over so many years in
trying to exercise our rights under the Act in order to plan a better future
for local crofters and residents."In December 2015, residents formally and
finally took over the land.
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| bobs turn for the pump |
We had been looking forward to a pint at the cross inn for days now this pub is only a couple of mile from the most southerly point of the HEB way our chosen end of the trip, we had a group talk a few days previously and decided we would cycle the distance out to the end lighthouse but I was tasked with arranging transport for us back to Stornoway. I had done this it was going to cost us £99 which is fine between six, I had been having an email conversation with the company throughout that mornings cycle just to check our transport was definitely sorted(it was), we had also discussed a beer at the cross Inn on route out and then cycle back to it for a few happy celebration beers while we waited on our transport(we knew we would be early it was booked for 5pm). Me and Gary arrived at the cross inn first but the place was in darkness, there was a young couple unloading a car in the drive, we asked if it was shut until the afternoon it turned out this young couple were the proud new owners of the Inn and had only got the keys three hours previously! they would not be opening up for a few days yet. Disaster for the lads, they are a lovely couple with big plans for the place the bloke was previously a cycle mechanic and is looking to expand on a cycling theme at the inn for the HEB way cycle route. We had a good long discussion with them, then the rest of the team arrived and we were all still chatting for ages, they filled our water bottles, Gary and bob got there binoculars out as there was four or five eagles flying around they reckoned it was parents and last years juveniles,
We cycled through the town called
port of Ness famous for the town folk sailing out for the Guga hunt the local
young pickled bird delicacy (apparently its an acquired taste) the local
football club is all painted up green white and gold there was a bloke out
doing the paintwork up as me and bob cycled past, I said to bob Gary will be
boaking at this teams colours. there’s a big catholic influence on these
islands I later found out Gary couldn’t resist a chat with the chap out doing a
spot of wall painting, him being a ranger’s fan couldn't resist a chat about the teams colours! All good banter though myself
and bob were starting to worry the team had cycled right to the end without us,
but we were wrong the boys were waiting at a layby close to the end, I got the
go pro on the end of its extended pole we took up formation and starting
cycling the last few meters, Doof the battery died on the go pro we stopped and
the last part of the cycle in was filmed on guys camera. I have become slack with my go pro
films anyway as it takes a lot of time to edit a wee film, I’m not sure when or if I will
get round to making a film of this trip but I do have some good footage
hopefully I will be able to get guys filming on it also,
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| the finish line group pic |
36.17 miles so far that day and We had made
it back slaps hand shakes and congratulations all round, photos were taken we
got a friendly woman to take group shots and she had some good banter with us
even chasing her hubby away from his chosen photographing spot so we could get
in, beers were opened cheers all round,
there is sign posts throughout the Heb
way they are rustic iron posts(perhaps a nod to these islands being once
referenced as the islands of rust) these posts have the shape of the islands
drilled out of them and Hebridean way cut out also, it was only then at the end
that we found out that each one of these posts has the location the post is at, its a bigger
hole on the post! (A photo opportunity lost)
My contact
with Heb shuttle had said we should head back to ness to the sports centre for
our pick up the driver was on his way, we packed up and cycled our last 1.95
mile as the Heb way cycle chums to the sports centre, panniers were taken of in readiness
for our transfer we used the sports centre toilet. The bloke at reception
was grumpy to say the least he even moaned at Gary to say the toilets weren’t free
(he had no change and there was no sign) it turns out we were just unlucky with the man at
the counter that day, the following day at the ferry terminal we spoke with another
cyclist who had been there also and had not only been greeted with kindness, he was given
a free coffee and had also got a laminated finishers certificate which I was
well jealous of, the six bikes were loaded onto the van 3 on the roof 3 on the
rack bags in the boot, and we were glad we had decided not to cycle this
section back to Stornoway as it seemed dull into a headwind, we had dinner and
beer in our heads anyway
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| start sign big hole at bottom |
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| end sign big hole at top |
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