Off to Barra
The bikes we all loaded, bags were packed, and everything was set. Tim and I had a few beers chatting about the days ahead and then decided sleep was a good idea. It was 2am when I posted the first blog, but at 7 when the alarm we went of it was straight out of bed and all systems go. Callum and Logan got up and headed off to nursery with Joyce, Neil arrived and we got on the road. There was a wee bit rush hour traffic getting out the central belt but no issues at all. We had whatsapps from the rest of the team who were at central station in Glasgow so the whole team, were in transit one way or the other. We left the rain in Linlithgow and as we headed west the sky's were brightening.
We arrived in Oban and got the bikes unpacked from the van about 10 minutes before the lads arrived. Soon we were complete, we hadn't needed to rely on Scotrail to transfer the bikes and their train left Glasgow and arrived in Oban on time......😱.
The sun was shining and there was only one thing to do once we were sorted, the Corryvrecken Witherspoons pub is right next door to the ferry terminal so the bikes were parked, the beer kitty was sorted and the first round of beers were ordered. The ferry soon came in and soon we would be boarding, but there was time, so another pint each was ordered. I was marginally concerned about timescales after all the planning that had gone into this trip, I was keen to kneck this beer and get in the queue. There was no rush but my concern caused some amusement amongst the crew.
We were first onto the ferry and were soon lashing the bikes down. The girl working on the deck was not impressed with some of the knots used by some of the ...so called climbers in the group, fortunately mine passed muster. We secured prime seats on the observation deck and sat back and relaxed for the crossing, this was enlivened half way over when a very large pod of dolphins started swimming towards the ferry, thus got everyone off their seats, well, apart from Kenny who was dead to the world. The weather continued to improve, a couple of beers were required to cool us down it was so warm behind the glass on the ferry, it was however definitely less warm on deck and the north wind that is forecast for the next few day was certainly making itself felt, otherwise the further west we went the clouds were becoming less and it was relatively warm by the time we reached Castlebay on Barra. We were soonnoff the ferry and found our bunkhouse for the night, we were soon out in the Castlebay hotel bar having quick beer before a superb curry in the Kimasul cafe, a highly recommended place and now we know why, good beer and great food, though a few more scallops in the scallop pakora would have been appreciated.
We arrived in Oban and got the bikes unpacked from the van about 10 minutes before the lads arrived. Soon we were complete, we hadn't needed to rely on Scotrail to transfer the bikes and their train left Glasgow and arrived in Oban on time......😱.
The sun was shining and there was only one thing to do once we were sorted, the Corryvrecken Witherspoons pub is right next door to the ferry terminal so the bikes were parked, the beer kitty was sorted and the first round of beers were ordered. The ferry soon came in and soon we would be boarding, but there was time, so another pint each was ordered. I was marginally concerned about timescales after all the planning that had gone into this trip, I was keen to kneck this beer and get in the queue. There was no rush but my concern caused some amusement amongst the crew.
We were first onto the ferry and were soon lashing the bikes down. The girl working on the deck was not impressed with some of the knots used by some of the ...so called climbers in the group, fortunately mine passed muster. We secured prime seats on the observation deck and sat back and relaxed for the crossing, this was enlivened half way over when a very large pod of dolphins started swimming towards the ferry, thus got everyone off their seats, well, apart from Kenny who was dead to the world. The weather continued to improve, a couple of beers were required to cool us down it was so warm behind the glass on the ferry, it was however definitely less warm on deck and the north wind that is forecast for the next few day was certainly making itself felt, otherwise the further west we went the clouds were becoming less and it was relatively warm by the time we reached Castlebay on Barra. We were soonnoff the ferry and found our bunkhouse for the night, we were soon out in the Castlebay hotel bar having quick beer before a superb curry in the Kimasul cafe, a highly recommended place and now we know why, good beer and great food, though a few more scallops in the scallop pakora would have been appreciated.
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