Fahrradreise mit Hund Schottland 2020 - Sunart, Moidart, Knoydart
Good morning, it's time for a little update I am having breakfast I went to the Coop yesterday and it felt like being in heaven. Because I was able to buy a roll. Buns are really rare in England.
And yes, now I have breakfast because it's raining outside. Around 11 o'clock, So in an 1,5 hours it is supposed to stop raining and then the chance for rain stays at around 20-30 percent. And then, we'll start cycling, because I don't feel like cycling in the rain again today. And so we will wait and see. Yes, and that's why we're going to make it a little bit comfortable now. Hard to believe, but it's 13:30 o'clock now.
And it is the first moment when it stopped raining. And so I have taken down the tent now. We are cycling towards Mallaig now the coast is supposed to be super beautiful.
I'm not so sure how much we'll be able to see today because it's very, very cloudy. You can't see all the mountains, unfortunately. But let's just see and it's horrible, as soon as the rain stops, the Mitches just come in thousands.
Do you hear that? There's a guy playing bagpipes and he is walking around his house. There are people shooting. Zuri is scared and there is a deer in the middle of the sheep field. This is a very interesting area: Bagpipes, hunters, deer, sheep. Wow, this panorama is worth seeing and here comes the next mountain! Looks pretty steep That's quite a mountainous road. The problem is also that I don't have so much battery.
One is half full and the other is almost empty I saw that there is a liquor store in Strontian. I'll have to ask (it's 11 km) if I can charge my battery there. Because otherwise there is nothing until Mallaig and that's 80 km. This is total loneliness I have now found a waterfall and I washed my hair very quickly.
I haven't washed it since Glasgow and it was really greasy. what I recommend is to use natural shampoo. There are different natural shampoos, and also extra outdoor shampoos and what I used was Zuri's water bowl. But a saucepan works just as well. and then go as far as possible away from the running water and then it's fine. In the middle of the main road here is a Cattlegrid.
That means there must be free-roaming cows around here. Zuri, I think it's going down now, and you can go back in the trailer. This is the Brit I met yesterday. I was telling you about, he invited me for tea again today and the rain is back what a surprise. I don't have my rain jacket on yet. Let's see if it stops or if I have to change jackets all the cafés and bars and everything is closed.
Now I've asked here in this very small supermarket, if I can charge my battery. They had a free plug above the refrigerated containers and now I'll wait here for an hour and then it will go on It's already 5 o'clock. I sat in front of the supermarket door on a chair for 2 hours.
It's frustrating because the rain just won't stop. It's cold, wet and my gloves are completely soaked My shoes are completely soaked too. It's just no fun any more. It is supposed to stop raining in an hour. At 6pm. (Let's hope) Tomorrow the day is supposed to be relatively dry. It's supposed to be quite good. I think Monday too and after that the rain is supposed to come back again. Man, man, man
What I wanted more than anything else was a fireplace where I could warm up. But I did not yet suspect that even this dream would come true in the Scottish loneliness. It's all up and down here. Up and down It's super exhausting.
and then together with the rain. My motivation is really at the bottom. Oh God, the hills are really steep too.
Phew, this must be the 20th hill, I've cycled up. Quite a view. Now comes the next climb.
"Sorry no tents" It is incredibly difficult this year, almost impossible. I have not yet seen a campsite where you are actually allowed to stay overnight with a tent. It's extremely hard this year. Oh, it's going up again back there.
You can see how high we are now. But we're going down now and then up, relatively high up and then it continues with more up and down. But now there is a bigger mountain to come. I'm already super exhausted from all the ups and downs. I can't let Zuri out either because it keeps going down again. "Most westerly point of the Britsh Mainland" Scenic Route Okay, let's take a look. Here is a picnic table.
All pretty overgrown. You can't really see anything here. I was wrong about the sign. I looked it up. Adnamurchan you have to turn left, then you come to the westernmost part of the British mainland.
But we don't do that. We'd better tackle the next mountain We have now found a restaurant which is also completely booked. I don't know why, today is Sunday, and it's not even one of the 50 per cent off days. I have now persuaded them to make me at least some chips, which I eat outside with all the midges, so I can at least recharge my batteries a bit.
And then we cycle again for about 1 hour and find a place to sleep. That was a real stroke of luck. I have eaten the chips here in the pub. The pub was completely full and they only had seats outside. And then I met Lauren. She's got a house here and she's 35 years old.
She hasinvited me to sleep at her place tonight. That's why we are going to her place now. I am really happy too. I can let everything dry She is super nice. She is actually from Edinburgh, but has a house here from her family. "Wow, it's so much weight" "So, see you soon" "Keep in touch and tell me how are you getting on) Yeah, I will Yeah, yeah, okay.
Bye Today you can really see something Beautiful! It was really nice at Lauren and Ian's. We had dinner together. They then lit the fireplace That means I could dry my shoes and my gloves. This morning I even got some breakfast. They gave me some food for on the way too and they actually have another house. It's Ian's parents' family house It's near the Island of Skye and they invited me to come over That means I'm going to go and have a look at Skye.
and then probably visit them again next week. Beautiful. Yes, and Zuri got some lamb yesterday. She was totally into it. the experience with Lauren came to the perfect time. I was so frustrated yesterday, with all the ups and downs and the wetness and then to have such a great experience.
That's exactly why I ride a bicycle compared to driving a car, that was really perfect. Oh, 10 percent gradient wow, what kind of mountains are these? Awesome. Beautiful.
For me it's time for a little snack now. These are still the honey waffles that Tam gave me. They are just the right thing for me now. Let's enjoy the view.
A salmon farm. There's Skye back there. That's where we're going next Those are some tough mountains. Let's see if we have to climb them
I think that's Eigg. That's also a Scottish island. And soon we will be in Mallaig and that's our destination for today. In Malaigg you can also take the famous Hogwarts Express from Harry Potter, which runs twice a day to Fort Williams.
That was funny just now. There's a couple. Them there They said that they had seen me the fourth time. The very first time in England and now a few more times in Scotland. So, where are we going now? We are now in Mallaig and here Helen has organised a container for me. It actually belongs to a friend of hers where he sleeps from time to time.
And there we are allowed to sleep tonight and so we have to go to the Industrial Unit now We have now cycled through the town and had a look at it. That went a bit wrong now, because they forgot to put the key in there. And now I can't get into the container, now I have to spontaneously look for something to sleep outside. Let's see, there is also a hostel here, but that is always difficult (with a dog). It is now 7 o'clock and we are now at the harbour in Mallaig waiting for the ferry to Knoydart.
This is supposed to be the last Wilderness in Scotland, because it is either 2 days walking distance over the mountain or with this ferry that sails here. And we are going to spend the day today in Knoydart, because it's supposed to be to be a relatively beautiful day today. And yes, yesterday, of course, everything turn out different than you think it would.
Super funny. I was in front of a fish & chips shop And then some guy asked me where I was going to sleep. And I was like: I don't know yet. I have no idea.
I wanted to sleep in the container but the key wasn't there. and then he said "Oh my friend said, that I can sleep in a container too. I'm going to ask him, if you can sleep in this container too he is doing the Skye hiking trail and is taking the ferry to Skye today. and thats why he slept in the container for a night.
The called his friend, and the friend said: yes, no problem, that I can stay there. Well, then I told Helen, who had organised this for me. And then it turned out that it's the same container and the same guy with the key. Now the GoPro battery has just run out.
Therefore yes. In any case then it turned out that this is the ex-boyfriend of Helen's daughter and at the same time the best friend of the guy I met yesterday in front of the Fish & Chips shop. Helen had only talked to the the father and that's why he didn't know that the son had taken the key with him to be able to let his friend in. In any case, it was really quite funny. And then we went into the container together and it is really huge and super practical and I also slept really well and the friend was really nice. So that was really fun how it all happend.
And on Tuesday it is supposed to to rain without end. And therefore I would like to have another night in the container and spend the day in a dry place. better than on the road and then cycle to Skye on Wednesday that's the plan. Let's go to Knoydart now. We have arrived. We are now in the only village.
This is said to be the most remote pub of the British Mainland. Unfortunately I heard that the new owner is not a nice person and that's why all the locals don't go there any more. That means that only the tourists come here.
Exactly because it is the remotest pub. According to the latest developments, the pub is up for sale and the local community wants to take it over. It's all closed as well, but I knew that because of Corona. There is a shop here, a pub and there's an eight-mile road, like, halfway round the island.
Well it is not an island, but you can't get there because there is a mountain in between. Therefore it is the only possibility. and we're just going to walk down the road and have a look around. As already mentioned, Knoydart is cut off from the road network.
The only access is by boat or on foot. The village of Inverie is home to more than half of the 120 inhabitants of Knoydart. It's not that cold today. But the midges are really bad. I try to leave as much on as possible, because they will take advantage tof every bit of skin you leave free. I've already sprayed Smidge on me, but I don't think that really helped that much.
It's really nice here. Especially with the heath. So that really makes it...
so much more beautiful because of all the purple everywhere. Really wonderful, beautiful. I have to make myself some breakfast now. I'm so hungry, I've been up since 5 o'clock and now it's 10 o'clock. Now it's time for breakfast. If Zuri lets me.
Because she always wants to cuddle as soon as I sit down. A nice thing, which I took with me. I don't know if you know this? Yeast extract, I grew up with that. This will stay ok in the heat... Oh Zuri don't dripple on me.
Come on. Go away. And you can eat it on a roll. It's so bad with the midges here. I can't even be at peace, sitting down and finish eating my roll You get eaten up. Ow.
So now we continue walking. We have found a water source where Zuri can finally have a drink. Over there, I don't know if you recognise it. there is Mallaig. where the ferry is going right now. And I think that is the ferry to Skye. So, down there lives Tiree, who unlocked the container for us yesterday, who owns it and here we've also reached the end of the road, That was 8 miles, I would guess around 12 kilometres.
And we will walk it back now. There is not much more here. But it is just so quiet. There is nobody here. It's unbelievable.
We have walked all the way to the end. Here is another very, very small sandy road But it only goes as far as to the house over there. Then it's the end of the road. And here is such a small...I don't know. Two-house village Here is the destination the bank. There we will rest for about half an hour and then we will walk all the way back.
First we'll enjoy the view. That was quite a walk. I bought some Oat biscuits, in the hope that they would taste a bit sweet and keep well, But unfortunately they taste a bit like crispbread but also not really as good as crispbread. A little disappointing What else I wanted to show you I don't know if you can see that? I'm going to change the camera now. But at the back the water is crystal clear, you can see all the way to the bottom.
Very cool Do you see that? That you can see into the water? It's that clear. Madness. Let's make our way back again. It is simply dreamlike.
I have now walked I think 16 kilometres and I can already feel that I'm getting tired. My feet don't want to carry me any more. I think I still have 4 kilometres left. And I'm actually excited too, that I can walk all this with cycling shoes. That there really are shoes that are suitable for both.
I didn't expect that. But it is no problem. The sun has gone away a bit, but it doesn't matter because the nature is still so beautiful. Zuri is also getting quite slow. There's Inverie down there. We are almost back. Zuri is already a pro at walking over cattle grids. We are back. Boah my feet are really hurting now.
That was a long way So the owner of the pub is quite unfriendly. There were people at the table and they have just had drinks from the place next door, because the pub wasn't open yet. Then he said you have to order drinks now, otherwise you have to leave the table. Then they said they would like to see the menu but that is not possible because of the internet and here there is no internet. You have to check the menu on the internet. And then he said "then you must leave the table now".
Out of the 10 people, 5 left and 3 went in and ordered something very quickly. Well, that was crazy. He always said "private, private". "then you have to leave here". "Then you have to leave immediately" so I thought that was quite unpleasant.
And now the sun comes out. We are back again. I am really tired. I've been in the Coop.
Because we have a kettle here I have now got myself such green vegetables together with spinach and some noodles, which you only have to soak. And now I can pour boiling water over it, and boil it a little bit and then I have some good dinner Zuri has already eaten dinner too. You're all worn out too. Oh! In the next episode it continues in an exciting way. Among other things: We reach the beautiful Isle of Skye.
We visit the Fairy Pools, the highlight of the island. Gill rescues us from the pouring rain, so that we can explore the rest of the island See you in the next video.
2021-09-25 09:28
