Andrew Romswell said:I've come across this blog of pictures of beaches:
http://silversprite.wordpress.com/tag/beaches
They certainly look good ... and various "top beaches in the world"
lists in newspapers put the beaches at or near the best anywhere. It's
a long string of islands so a bike seems best, and I've found a few
bike hire places out there online.
Intrigued, and may visit ... but looked up the cost of getting there by
plane (ouch) or ferry (ouch). Not cheap :-(
Has anyone else been to the Outer Hebrides to see the beaches? Are they
really as deserted and beautiful as those pictured (or has some
jiggery-pokery in photoshop gone on here?)? And what's the cheapest way
of getting there from London?
Andrew
p.s. The Outer Hebrides are also apparently known as the "Western
Isles".
In May 2004 I took the Caledonian Sleeper night train from London Euston
to Edinburgh for GBP 19 (Bargain Berth/advance purchase rate), cycled to
Ullapool, took the ferry to Stromness, cycled to Tarbert, took the ferry
to Uig on Skye, and continued south through Ardnamurchan, Mull, & Arran
and one last ferry back to the mainland (you didn't say how much time
you had...).
I would expect plane fares to be hideously expensive, but were the ferry
rates you saw for foot passengers or cars? I remember noticing a huge
difference between foot passenger/cyclist rates and the cost of taking a
car on the ferry. I remember feeling pretty pleased with myself as I
cycled on and off the ferries next to the cars, too.
CalMac offers "Island Hopscotch" combination tickets, discounted tickets
for various itineraries on their routes between various islands and the
mainland. These are a good deal for cyclists because you don't pay the
few pounds extra for a bicycle.
The only cheap way I can think of to visit the Western Isles seems to be
the way I did it, getting some kind of cheap advance purchase rail fare
to Glasgow or Edinburgh or maybe somewhere a little closer to the west
coast, and doing a one or two week cycle tour of the western Highlands
and the Hebrides. Any more traditional method of travel is likely to
cost enough money to take most of the fun out of the trip, as you seem
to have discovered. Fortunately this is an excellent part of the world
for cycle touring, although if/when I visit Scotland again I will
probably bypass Skye in favor of the Uists and some of the small islands.
My main interest in visiting Lewis & Harris was the standing stones at
Callanais and the Broch at Dun Carlaway, but the islands are very
pretty, very thinly populated, and the beaches are good too. No
photoshopping as far as I can see in those pictures, the Outer Islands
really are a beautiful part of the world.
The folks at uk.rec.cycling might be able to tell you more.
HTH,
mark
