Bike Touring, Fahrradreise Schottland 2020 mit Ebike und Hund (#9): Die Insel Skye (Isle of Skye)
We're heading to the Isle of Skye now We spent a day here yesterday in this garage and it was really good to have a rest. Zuri only slept the whole day. Escpecially after the hike. I was so exhausted after these 24 kilometres or how much that was and now theoretically it's not supposed to rain for the next 5 days. Let's see if that's true. And off we go to Skye. Zuri has already charmed all the people and the workers. That's always really funny.
There seem to be more cars than what fits onto the ferry, I don't know how they are going to do that now. We've pushed my bike back a bit, so that more cars can fit in here. They all fit. Madness Back there is Knoydart It's crazy how grey it all looks today. The day before yesterday it was so colourful.
We were really lucky with the weather. Let's go to the bike now. Bye; Bye, Cheers The Isle of Skye is about 80 kilometres long and up to 24 kilometres wide. It is the second largest Scottish island after Lewis and Harris.
Around 10,000 people live here on Skye, that is 6 people per square kilometre. You only realise how little that is when you compare it with the 230 people per square kilometre in Germany. What I haven't told you yet, is that the ferry for the bicycle is super cheap. I paid 3 Pounds as a pedestrian, Bicycle free and dog too. It was really worth it to go to Skye. This is a small back road.
I hope it leads out the other side. This is what Komoot suggested, That was now two minutes great... Oh man. By the way, the Isle of Skye translates as "Isle of Mist".
That seems to be well choosen with the Scottish weather conditions We are now in Broadford. We have to stop at the Post Office now, because the day after tomorrow my rain jacket from VAUDE us supposed to arrive, unfortunately in the normal post office and actually they don't have to accept UPS. That's why I wanted to ask if they could still do it because that would be great. I just went to the post office and UPS delivered the jacket this morning. A new rain jacket from VAUDE, because the old one is not really waterproof. Let's see what the new one can do.
Really really cool. They were so nice in there. Oh, we have to go up that hill. Komoot says we can also go around the bottom.
That means we don't have to go over the mountain. We can cycle around down here by the water. I hope that's correct. Then we can shorten things a bit They're all waving, it's really cool! "Road closed" Let's hope for the best and that's not true.
Wow, gigantic This is such a Komoot road. We can't get up there now. Hm, what do we do now? I have walked up this route a bit but I don't know what to do. with my bike and trailer its a bit too much. It is also getting more and more scrubby.
I don't know if I can get all the way up there. So we take the car road instead. Up the hill.
Going up the hill now. Especially on the main roads This is mainly because Skye is the most popular tourist destination in in Scotland after Edinburgh now. I have just changed the battery. that means one battery has now lasted for 53 km. Actually not so bad. It's so beautiful with the sun. So incredible.
How cleared up it all is. It all looks so colourful. Beautiful! Take a look at this view I would like to continue cycling in the sun, but I just met a guide and he said here is the last café that is open and since the one battery is already empty, I have to charge the battery first. The food is quite expensive here. That is why I have now decided to eat only chips. Because you can actually order them everywhere. They are relatively cheap and an orange juice
and now we're going to wait until the battery has charged a bit, and then hopefully enjoy the last bit of sunshine. Because you never know how much sun you get in Scotland. and Zuri is well received everywhere. It's always funny to see all these people come rushing towards her and want to fuss her the tourist guide too. He came back with his daughter and asked if he could show Zuri to his daughter. It's quite a lot of steep mountain for a diversions that we have to go back tomorrow.
But there should be quite a nice mountain panorama, which I want to look at. And maybe we'll sleep there. Now we are on the road where we want to be, It still takes a little while Let's see if we can get a better view of the mountain.
And then I would say it's about time for a place to sleep. It is now 7:30 pm. I hope that the weather is as good tomorrow. The mountains are getting closer! wow! This is forever far and super hilly. We've now cycled 15 km up into this dead end, and we have to cycle everything back again tomorrow.
There are not yet any really good places to sleep. We just met a jogger. She said there are a few good places in the forest. Mountains always make me a bit nervous in the hinterland, because all the cafes are not open because of Corona, so I always don't know if I can charge or or get stuck.
I can already feel the midges everywhere... Look at this scenery. Now we have to have a look, because that's a bit too steep going down there.
I mean, down is good, but I don't want to cycle it all up again. That's why I'm checking this out right now.... There's a car park back there. There are quite a lot of people there.
"500 yards Car Park" ok.. There should be something nice down there a fountain or a waterfall or something... So, I think it's the best, if we stay op here to sleep and then walk down I have found this small car park and I will sleep there next to this green tent. The midges are really a disaster here. But there is a least a very straight place.
and then maybe tomorrow someone can watch my bike, when I check the mountain out. Here was my night camp. Lots and lots of midges. and it's incredible how a starry night can turn into rain showers in the morning I have just eaten some nuts and we're going to see the Fairy Pool now, while it's dry. I think it's about a 5 km walk. Yes, the mountain doesn't look as impressive as yesterday.
I'm really glad that I saw it in the sunshine. I'm going to eat prunes for breakfast now and hope that they don't have a laxative effect. We have walked quite a distance now.
As you can see, up there and the fairy pools are actually... It's just a river that has lots of lots of little waterfalls, which are supposed to look quite beautiful. But I don't know. Let's see how much of it we can see in the rain
and it actually also a tourist attraction, because there are quite a lot of people here. We are now at the main postcard motif. But I have to say... For me..,
I am also a bit frustrated with the rain, because it just rains all the time. For me it tends to be just a river. I don't know. Let's see what it looks like when I'm close to it.
Zuri --> Always in front. Here is the postcard motif. It just doesn't look so nice when it rains. What do you think, Zuri? You can still walk quite a bit up the watercourse, but I find it not so spectacular, and there are also so many people here. Let's go back and pack up the tent It's so crazy too. I don't know if you see it? But up there.. How many cars there are and campervans.
We are back. Now I'll eat some breakfast, a bit of bread and then I get going It has also become quite crowded in the car park. I'm hiding in the tent right now.
Actually I am ready to go I have packed everything except the things here in the tent. But it's just teeming with midges out there. I don't know if you can see that, they are flying around out there. And I just don't want to get out.
But I have to get out, because otherwise I can't go on. It never ends with the Midges, no matter what the weather is. And my net is in my jacket, which is packed on the bike, bad. What are you doing Zuri? So we are on our way. It's 1:10 pm And it's still raining
I actually haven't even peed today because everything is full of people. We will now cycle arounde 5-6 km to the next village. I hope there will be a café. a Midge and Rain Free Zone. Even in tent the Midges were chasing us.
There is so much traffic here. It's really disturbing. It's all jammed up here. This is the attraction of the island, I think. We found a café. Unfortunately, once again no dogs allowed, but at least it's covered. That means Zuri has to wait here now. That's a bit stupid,
but I have to charge the battery in any case. Otherwise I won't make it to the next village. Zuri has now waited for an hour, very quietly here in the trailer. and unfortunately it's still raining, but at least the one battery is now fully charged. We met a jogger yesterday on the way to the Fairy Pools.
She has sent an Instagram message that I can shower at her place and also sleep if I want to, that she lives here in the village where we were just went into the cafe. I replied I would love to come because it's still raining. But she hasn't answered yet. That means, we will now cycle to the place she described to me.
where she lives and if we meet her, that would be great. If not, then we just keep going. So let's see, but it would be so nice to finally have something warm again.
And also a shower would be a dream come true. Yes, not so ideal that we have to go back up the hill we have just cycled down. And then we hope that at least we can stay with her. spend the night and take a shower.
Because if not, then we have wasted a bit of battery for nothing and there are still some mountains to come. The next town Uig or something like that is 50 kilometres away, we would try to reach that.. I think it's more like a village. But that's what we would try to reach today. And then to charge up there again She is here! Hey, Hello What is her name? Zuri Oh, you're so cute. Come in, come sit down Do you want some tea? Yeah, that would be awesome We are now on our way to a pub. I am freshly showered, all clothes are washed.
That was really a stroke of luck. Zuri also gets along great with the other dog. We're continuing now.
Finally the sun is back. I had a really good breakfast, everything is dry again, Zuri also got on well with the dog. That's really cool because Gil has a boat and she always uses it to clean the beaches of plastic rubbish here on Skye. Thank you so much No, Thank you for everything! I can't wait to tell everybody about what you're doing. You rescued me from the rain.
Oh, any time, it was my pleasure Save travels, see you later It was so good to be with Gil and not to have to spend the whole rainy day outside, to have everything dry again and I could also wash everything at her place, and charge everything. And it's really cool, because she's doing these cleaning actions with the boat, which is super cool and she's probably going to have her first bike ride in Iceland next week. Which is also pretty cool. I am already curious what's she is going to tell me about it.
Really nice, what different people you meet and into how many lives you can dip into. That's were we slept. Really beautiful house. Higher and higher up. I am a bit perplexed, where the rain is coming from again Today is supposed to be sunny.
Let's hope we can cycle through it, that it doesn't get any stronger. It's quite windy today. But sunny It's a really strong headwind. It is super hard to cycle.
It's not easy at all, it's a bit of a uphill and I still have a headwind. We made a little detour into the valley of the fairies and, according to locals the live here Let's cycle a little further, then we'll go back again. Now let's find something to drink and eat, that we can take a break. We have already cycled 50 km, Now it's about time. I wanted to go to the Fairy Inn, but it's only open to locals. Now we go back a bit and hope that they are open here That we can charge here for an hour, because otherwise the nearest town is 30 kilometres away.
They are completely booked and the restaurant also only opens in one hour. But I can still charge my battery and I could order a drink. Once more I have to sit out here.
But I'm getting used to it, that you can't get a seat any more in restaurants this summer. We were here in the hotel for two hours now and after 1,5 hours I even got fries. At the beginning they said "No, no, not even to eat outside". "The kitchen is full". But then they somehow took mercy on me. And now I have an almost full battery.
It is already really cold. It is really difficult that there are no places to really warm up, because all the restaurants are full. That you can only ever sit outside, because they don't allow dogs etc. I'm looking forward to the sleeping bag now. It is a bit warmer there It is now 7 o'clock and it's 12 degrees according to Google. I am freezing.
That's where the mountain comes in handy, because at least it makes me a bit warmer again. High up again Here depart the ferry to the Outer Hebrides, to Lewis and Harris. I asked if I should take this route to go further north to get to Ullapool. But the local woman yesterday that I met, she is a friend of a friend of a friend or something, she told me to stay on the mainland because it's much more beautiful. That's what we're going to do now Now comes a hairpin bend It is quite interesting, because I meet people all the time, who say "Oh, I saw you there yesterday, I saw you there the day before yesterday."
So we kind of all do a similar route. The people then see me again every few days. That's quite funny. A palm tree... Huge.. In Scotland...
I didn't expect this to grow here. By the way, Scottish drivers are the worst, or maybe it's the English tourists, I don't know, but it has now happened to me 3 times in 2 weeks. That cars overtook me in such a way that on the opposite lane the car had to stop and had to honk the horn, once even a truck honked because a camper van overtook me so close that the truck almost had to come to a complete stop. A (different) car stopped today on the opposite lane too It's so horrible how people overtake here. I have never seen it in any other country.
Croatia was bad because they overtook so closely. But at least they waited until it was free. Here we will sleep somewhere. Let's see where we can find a good meadow, Here this spot maybe? It's not so bad. All tarred and nice and straight. Let's take a look around the bend. I decided to go a bit further. The concrete surface would have prevented me from using pegs.
And it seemed to me a bit too windy for that. Here someone has already found a good place. All the good places sleeping places have been snatched up.
We've gone down a bit further now, but there are people everywhere, where you could sleep. It's amazing. And here was a place but there were sheep. I assume that the sheep back off a bit, when they see Zuri.
But that seems to me to be the only place without having to cycle much longer. It's about to get dark. Let's have a look. Let's make sure we don't sleep on sheep dung. But this looks quite good Okay, we have our evening view.
What I always carry around with me is this little stone, because that is always very handy when you are somewhere in the meadow, because then the stand does not sink in. The next episode will be exciting. Among other things: We go further round the Isle of Skye and meet Eddy, who will accompany us for a few days.
We experience very generous and not so generous Scots and the nature becomes breathtaking from now on. See you in the next video.
2021-10-16 20:42
