2024 Summer Tour - Day 3 (Castlebay to Lochmaddy)

Day 3 Eriskay, South Uist, Benbecula and North Uist, Wednesday 29th May 

The plan for today was to ride through Eriskay, South Uist, Benbecula and North Uist to Lochmaddy, where I had booked accommodation. We were up fairly early because we planned to ride to Ardmhor ferry terminal for the first Eriskay ferry at 0925 and we thought it prudent to allow some time for mechanical hiccups. In the event the ride was straightforward, so we arrived early, and had to hang around for a while before the ferry came in.  

Machair on Barra 

The weather seemed to be brightening, as per the forecast, though really we never saw a lot of sunshine until the evening. Unfortunately, it looked as though we would face a stiff headwind for most of the 58 miles today. 

The ferry approaches - Ardmhor, Barra

Ferry leaving Eriskay for Barra

Once off the ferry, there’s a hefty climb up the big hill on Eriskay (we paused to take a photo, but also this was an excuse for a short breather!), then descended and crossed the causeway to South Uist. Here the headwind was really obvious. Because we had a projected long day in the saddle with a headwind, we opted to just head north on the island’s main road, a lot of which is single track. 

There aren’t many places with cafes on the Uists. There is one in West Kilbride just after the causeway from Eriskay, but this was a bit too soon for a stop. So we carried on up the road and eventually stopped at the Kildonan Museum to avail ourselves of the cafe there – coffee/tea and scones provided fuel! 

We also made a lunch stop near the Our Lady of the Isles statue – there was a convenient bin to lean the bike on! We heated up a pouch of curry and rice on our trusty Trangia cooker. A pair of cyclists that we recognised from Barra came by and one of them pedalled up the track to the statue while we chatted to the other one. Lunch was a sachet of chick pea curry with rice. 

Lunch stop by the bins, South Uist

Restarting the ride, we called at the Co-Op in Benbecula for snacks, and then pressed on. It was getting a bit tough by now, with a little fatigue and the ever-present headwind of around 15 to 17 mph. On the single track sections of road, we found ourselves having to stop quite frequently at times, which not only lowers the average speed but is quite fatiguing in its own right. 

Eventually we reached Clachan and turned off for the last 7.5 miles to Locchmaddy, where the sun appeared, albeit briefly. We stopped for a drink and a snack before carrying on. From here on the road was wider and had gentler gradients and the wind was more of a side wind, so we were making faster progress. 

After we got to Redburn Guest House, the sun was peeping out from the clouds and before long we had the long-promised sunshine.  

We wandered over to the Hamersay House hotel for a beer and for dinner – I had (more) scallops for starter, then lemon sole for main course, while Carol had the peculiar sounding black pudding “bon bons” for starter (they were actually very good!) then haddock and chips for main course. I had a bottle of Skye Black and Orkney Corncrake. 

After dinner, we went out for a walk in Lochmaddy in the evening sunshine. Not has changed since our last visit, which must have been a decade ago!