2024 Summer Tour - Day 2 (Barra)

Day 2 Barra Tuesday 28th May 

I slept well and woke to sunny spells but drizzly rain came on. Today we planned to potter around on Barra, but given the forecast (very heavy rain in the afternoon), we weren’t sure how much cycling we’d actually do. 

In the end, we decided to cycle down to Vatersay, and then to head for the airport and maybe take in a snack lunch somewhere. 

It was pretty heavily overcast when we set off for Vatersay straight into a steep 12% climb from the B&B! Once over that, the cycling was a bit easier – over the hill and down to the Vatersay causeway. One story I have read says that the Vatersay causeway was built after a prize bull named Bernie was drowned while being taken between Barra and Vatersay. I’ve no idea if that is true, but it makes a great story! 

We rode past the wreckage of a World War 2 Catalina, which seems to have acquired a memorial. We didn’t stop as we’d done so on a previous visit. We saw seals, more hooded crows, and what may have been ravens. At Vatersay’s famous beaches, the dunes are more fenced off nowadays to protect them from erosion. A lot of camper vans and cyclists. 

Beach at Vatersay

Looking back at Vatersay beach from the climb

We rode back to Barra and past the B&B and still no rain had started, which was good, so we rode up the west side of the island, past the Isle of Barra Beach Hotel. We’d stayed there on a couple of previous visits to Barra but I’m not sure it’s operating at the moment as it is up for sale. 

Then past the Greim at Grinn seafood shack (too early for a lunch stop, but we planned to stop there on the way back), and on to the Northbay turn and then up to the airport. There was a bit of drizzly rain by this point. The tide was in, but seemed to be receding fast and the red airsocks were out. On a previous visit we’d had a welcome cup of tea and cake at the cafe in the airport, but this time the building seemed deserted. There were numerous vehicles in the car park, perhaps waiting for the plane to arrive when the tide was out. Because the planes land on the cockle strand beach, it's the only UK airport who's schedule is dependent on the tides.

We turned back into a headwind, which made the drizzle a bit fierce, and retraced our route to the Greim at Grinn seafood shack we’d passed earlier. I had scallops and black pudding in a roll, Carol had fried haddock wrap with salad. These made for an excellent lunch! Highly recommended.

Carol at the Grein@Grinn seafood shack.

Then we headed back towards the B&B. The drizzle got a bit worse and for the last 5 or 10 minutes it was quite heavy. We got back to the B&B by about 1.30pm. We got dried off and changed, then took it easy through the afternoon, until the rain stopped, when we popped out for a walk to the Co-Op.  

Nature points: Saw a couple of gannets diving, and what may have been a pair of ravens. We were stared at by seals as we crossed to Vatersay. 

Just 43.58km today - here's the route on Garmin Connect