North Uist
Bliss
Sun 22 May 2016 21:47
Traigh Iar beach
I think it must get mighty windy here!
The Outer Hebrides are so, so beautiful, and we are so extraordinarily lucky to be seeing them in the most perfect conditions.
The forecast today was for sunshine and showers, so the plan was to cycle around the island, about 25 miles, which meant we would see the golden beaches of the west coast, which are tricky to access by boat, there's not much in the way of anchorages that side due to the geography and the prevailing south-westerly wind.
We were up and ready to leave at about 9.30, packed lunch, load of washing done (about time, we haven't seen a washing machine in well over a week!), when a dark cloud appeared, best let that one go through we decided. Two hours later; boat now thoroughly cleaned, another washing load done and The Archers omnibus edition listened to, the shower passed and we set off. We cycled anti-clockwise , anxious to see a beach before the showers returned. We found a beach. We found the most beautiful, deserted beach, I think it is called Traigh Iar ; a cove about 2 miles long, perfect sand and the clearest blue sea you could dream of, obviously we had to swim, it was cold, but not really, really cold, we stayed in about 7 minutes I reckon, and weren't shivering when we emerged. There was a woman walking her dog, that was all, 2 miles of perfect beach and one other person in sight. We ate our lunch and walked back to our bicycles to continue our ride.
Amazingly we didn't get any more rain, a head wind, although not strong, for about 20 miles of the, what turned out to be about 32 miles, whoops! Undulating single track roads, hardly any traffic, a 5,000 year old burial chamber, and an impressive stone circle, finished off with a pint of local ale in the pub, before showers and then supper on boat, what a day!
There's not much more we want to see on North Uist, tomorrow we'll head off, the wind is set to be light, north-easterly for the next few days. We may head off to an anchorage on the Monarch Isles, very, very remote, so there'll be no wifi, no mobile signal, just us probably, and some sea birds.
Sent from my iPad.