I’ll apologise in advance this may be more waffle than photos on this occasion, I will also apologise as I fear that, further editions of this blog may be prone to middle aged melancholy.

I was never really into being a Cub or a Scout, for some unknown reason I did have a spell in the Boys Brigade, it wasn’t for me! I do remember that being in the Brigade it was a requirement to learn to play the bugle. In customary fashion I’ll leave that one there! Suffice it to say that the bugle and I did not mix well and I think my family have maybe finally forgiven me for that life choice! Regardless of my engagement or lack of with such organisations, I’ve always, much to the hilarity of my children, been a great supporter of the moto ‘be prepared’. You will know by now that some of that preparation has been dictated by a series of unfortunate events, bike and vehicle related which means carrying a number of spares, but on this occasion not a full set of Citroen relay brake discs and pads! The brakes, by the way, are fully functioning and holding up nicely, phew.

Finally getting to the point.. after we left Harris and arrived on North Uist it was initially a lovely day and we managed a cycle out to Bernaray – arguably the best beach in the world.

It’s absolutely stunning and about 4 miles of golden sand, did we see anyone else? No! In fact, it’s so stunning that the Thai tourist board once posted a picture of Berneray beach claiming it as one of its own! Just love the view back across from here to the Harris Mountains.

As stunning as it was the weather quickly changed and we arrived at the campsite in a miserable 4 degrees and it was blowing a whopper of a gale, no doubt referred to round these parts as a gentle breeze! Thankfully being prepared led to us packing both full summer (he wrote laughing) and full winter outfits.. We weren’t the only ones, it wasn’t odd to see people walking around on the 2nd June wearing hats and gloves and scarves.. obviously.

Thankfully and the best piece of advice, if not the only piece of advice I may ever feel entitled to give, to any camper and maybe in life in general, is always have a roll of duct tape. Turns out it’s really handy for all manner of things you never planned it for like keeping the wardrobe (not as glamorous as it sounds, it’s basically a cupboard) door closed to stop all four seasons of clothes from falling out while on the move. The other night it was also really handy to seal shut one of the roof lights as it felt there was a significant risk of it being blown open and blown away! The other thing I carry in abundance are bungee chords, mainly for securing the bike cover. Putting that on in said storm must have been a sight to see and, thankfully didn’t lead to me taking up an unexpected foray into kite surfing.

I will say that the storm brought me the status of ‘legend’ in fact I think the words were ‘total legend’ and I may have missed a word out of that. Basically two guys arrived on bikes in the middle of said storm and started to pitch their tent.. dutifully I made them a cup of tea and gave them a Tunnocks wafer. Digression alert, so here’s a thing, anything made by Tunnocks is by law obligatory to consume when north of the border. In fact let’s leave the border out of it.. at any point anywhere in the country or maybe even the world. Teacakes, caramel and the much sought after Tunnocks Log. Hard to choose a favourite so sometimes, here’s the advice again, it’s just best to have one of each.

Digression aside I arrived with said cups of tea and Tunnocks wafers to rapturous shouts of ‘mate, mate, he’s even got caramel wafers we flipping love these’ . Note in the spirit of editing I have also changed a word here! These words promptly followed by the most hipster type of the pair saying to me, ‘you are a total legend’ and I’ll definitely just leave that one there!!

Needless to say we survived the great storm and the weather picked up enough for us to attempt a walk with some rather nice views. You are probably all bored of my words now so I’ll include sone photos.

Still not warm enough for a swim but wholesome paddle undertaken. Followed by more views.

And then

A complete attack of hails stones.. not for long but long enough to make us dance and

They were really were the size of garden peas.. ouch they hurt!

We’ve moved on again to South Uist (heading closer and closer to the end of our trip, hence the impending melancholy) via the low laying Benbecula where we climbed the highest hill.

In anticipation of visiting the Polochar Inn, a favourite family haunt over the years but, as we recently discovered under new ownership which can only mean one thing! The only difference with Fawlty Towers being that neither Basil, Sybil, nor Manwell appeared to be in sight. They could of course, have been out the back. Anyway long story short.. the service was either non existent or over attentive. There was no red wine and they had run out of Baileys and decaf coffee. The landlady seemed to spend all of her time running around saying does anyone want me for anything. At one point she announced to the restaurant that she liked it when it went quiet and was looking forward to her own glass of wine – as long as it wasn’t red she would have been ok! Anyway the food was ok and we’ve come back to our camp spot

To a rather nice sun set

From here it’s off to Barra and Vatersay for 4 nights and then returning to Oban with a few more days of fun and adventure. Who knows maybe we will bump into the elusive, Basil, Sybil or Manwell, there are certainly likely to be other characters to meet along the way!