Day 8 - Ravenspoint Hostel to Uig (42 km)Sunday in the Outer Hebrides is a day of rest and prayer. The shops don't open, and the roads are incredibly quiet other than the cars heading to church. It was also the day we were catching our ferry off of the Island, and between us and that ferry was the climb through the North Harris Mountains past Clisham.
Before the hills, though, we were treated to a sunlit view over the large sea loch Ravenspoint overlooks.
It's amazing how the sun brings out beauty in landscapes that has seemed flat and uninviting in the clouds the previous day.
Along the route there was a monument to the Island Crofters, and one explaining that this was where Bonny Prince Charlie had landed when on the run in the 18th Century. The first of many Jacobite sites we would pass on the remainder of the tour.
All the time in the distance we could see the Hills coming, with a little cloud gathering over them to add atmosphere
The climb over the top has an oddity that really irritated me the first time I rode it. Normally if you can see a transmitter mast, that's at the top of the hill and you can target it. However on this climb the road goes round the back of the transmitter, gets even steeper and carries on.
It's a slow ride to the top with luggage, and the hills on either side tower up, imposing themselves on your mind. Every now and then you find a piece of the old, single track road that used to be the main road over the hill, and even sometimes some bridges
Then there's a very long, fast decent, looking out over the Atlantic towards Taransay.
Of course the Atlantic is on the far side of the Island, so the road then swings inland and brings you past a conspicuously modern and bright white Secondary School/Sport Centre, and then down to the Ferry terminal
Our ferry, the MV Hebrides backed out of the narrow harbour and then set off for Skye. We met another tourist on the ferry, who was doing a short island tour. While I was talking to him, he suddenly jumped up and ran to the window. Beside the boat briefly was a pod of Dolphins
Unfortunately they were gone by the time I managed to get a camera out of my bag, and even more unfortunately Ruthie missed them as she was in the toilets at the time. Still a wonderful sight seeing them bouncing around in the ferry's wake.
From the ferry it was then a very short ride to the campsite, simply ride off the pier and turn left at the end. We were now on Skye