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Harris
Apr 24, 2003

I haven't written anything for a while, so I will tell you about my trip to Harris. Harris is one of the Outer Hebrides - pronounced "Hebri-dees" (the Western Isles off the west coast of Scotland). There are various ways to get there depending on where you start from. I started in Edinburgh (well, I had to get to Edinburgh from London first but we'll skip that bit). I took a train from Edinburgh to the Kyle of Lochalsh - making one change in Inverness. The first leg takes you from Edinurgh, over the Forth Bridge to Fife, and then north through places like Glenrothes, Pitlochry, Blair Atholl, Kingussie, and Aviemore before arriving at Inverness. The second leg has some really stunning scenery, and goes through Achnasheen, Strathcarron, Stromeferry, and Plockton (where they filmed Hamish Mc.Beth) before arriving at Kyle of Lochalsh. Incidentally - if you ever visit this area by car and you like scary roads, take the road from Tornapress to Applecross - if you dare! I stayed the night in Dornie which isn't far from Kyle.

The next day I got on the Citylink coach (which passes through Dornie) to Uig, which is on Skye. The Isle of Skye is now connected to the mainland at Kyle of Lochalsh by the controversial Skye Bridge. The Citylink coach goes all the way from Glasgow to Uig, so that's another way to get up there. The scenery on Skye is also amazing, there are huge hills that just seem to go from the sea, right up to the sky - maybe that's why it's called Skye .

From Uig, I got the ferry to Tarbert, on Harris. You can also get a ferry to Lochmaddy on North Uist. It's important to check the timetables when planning this trip as the ferries are not at all frequent, and don't run every day. However it is possible to get from Edinburgh to Tarbert in one day if you leave early. Anyway, the ferry is really nice and only takes one and a half hours to get to Tarbert.

Harris is such an amazing place. It's quite hilly, and the roads are very windy (as in twisty!) but there are also some amazing beaches on the west side, with white sand and crystal blue water - which is of course the Atlantic Ocean. From the top of a hill at the south-west tip we had a great view of Leverborough, and other islands like Pabbay and also Taransay, where the "Castaways" (from UK television) lived for a year. We climbed over to the "Toe Head", where there is a natural arch formed from the sea battering at the rocks. Standing near the edge is not for the faint hearted! Further north on Harris there is the highest point on Harris/Lewis, a hill that is called "The Clisham" at 799m. We got a surprise at the summit - someone has left a colourful cuddly toy (a hippo) attached to the triangulation pillar! We also visited the Callanish stone circle in Lewis. These are standing stones that have been there for over 5000 years, before even the Celts came to Britain! The stones themselves are some of the oldest on earth, at about 3 billion years old.

Well, now that I've been to Harris and Lewis, I really want to see the other Western Islands too. I've heard there are some amazing beaches on Barra, so maybe next time I'll start there and head north to South Uist, Benbecula, North Uist and back over to Harris again. For such a small country there are so many places to go in Scotland! In the hostels we went to on Harris we met a Canadian, an Australian, an English woman, and another Scot. This might be typical but we seem to go all over the world but forget about our own back yard!

(4 replies, Latest reply: Apr 28, 2003)

Land's End
Mar 10, 2003

I decided to visit Land's End at the weekend! I'd been down to Penzance in Cornwall before, for the total eclipse in 1999, but never made the small extra trip (I've also been to Thurso in the north of Scotland but haven't yet been to John O'Groats!). So I got the train from Paddington to Penzance on saturday afternoon and spent the evening and night there.

On sunday morning, I got the bus from Penzance to Land's End. It's only 10 miles but the bus takes a very scenic route through many places so the journey takes about an hour. A really nice place on the way is Sennen Cove, which is very close to Lands End, along the coast to the north east.

Land's End itself is really amazing - not just because it's the "end" of Britain, but because of the amazing views you get from the cliffs. The famous rocks that stick out from the sea - the Armed Knight, Enys Dodnan (with the archway through it) and the Long Ships (where the lighthouse is) get a real battering from the waves. Some of the breakers seemed to be over 30ft high, and sent sprays twice as high again when they hit the rocks and cliffs . There's also a part of the cliffs that cuts into the land a bit further, and the wind creates a vortex which sends the foam from the sea shooting upwards like snow falling the wrong way! I got some of this spray on my camera so I'm not too sure how well my photo's will come out . Some of the cliff walks are maybe a bit dangerous for small children, especially when it's as windy as it was on sunday . But you just have to be sensible and stay back from the edge! I would recommend Land's End to anyone really, and I'll definately be going back to Cornwall again to see a bit more some time .

(7 replies, Latest reply: Mar 11, 2003)

Possible Food Poisoning
Jan 14, 2003

I'm slightly worried. Last night I made a chicken curry but the chicken wasn't totally defrosted before I started cooking (I couldn't be bothered with the hassle of putting back and leaving for longer). So anyway I had the curry but started to feel slightly odd about 2 hours later. I was really worried going to bed in case my stomach exploded while I was asleep or something. But I woke up this morning feeling fine, so I'm hoping that everythings fine. Maybe I have an iron gut! On the other hand, I just looked at a food poisoning website and some types can take up to 5 days to emerge!! The question is, should I have another of the same tonight (I made 3 days worth)? I think it could be an interesting experiment .

(10 replies, Latest reply: Feb 21, 2003)

400 Miles! London to Edinburgh by bike.
Oct 31, 2002

On friday the 25th October 2002 I did my first big ride on my new bike. I'd packed everything the night before, so I could leave as early as possible. My alarm went off at 5am, and after having a shower, making a cooked breakfast and getting my gear on I set off at 6.15am, from Hornchurch. It had been raining earlier but it had stopped when I set off. The journey was more or less in 4 stages:

1 Left Hornchurch, got onto the M25, came off after one junction and got onto the M11 heading north. Then kept going when the M11 ends (I think it's the A14) which took me onto the A1. It started to get light at about 7.30, somewhere on the M11. I stopped at a service station on the A1, just after doing 100 miles, I think it was about 8 o'clock. Filled the tank up again, phoned my mum and brother, and had a coffee and a muffin!

2 Left the services at about 8.45 (perhaps too long a break, but I wasn't sure how tiring the journey was going to be so I was playing it safe). It was daylight now, and quite nice. It felt good after the break and also because I knew I was over the 1/4 way mark So I planned to go well over 100 miles before the next stop. My good feelings were soon washed away after another hour when it started to rain severely, for about 15-20 minutes! I was cursing badly inside that helmet, and I felt a little cold. Luckily I was wearing weather-proof gear so I didn't get wet on the inside. When the rain stopped I wanted to keep going to sort of "blow-dry" and in the end it got sunny again, so as planned I kept going for about 170 miles (now about 270 in total). I stopped at a service station near Darlington, filled the tank up again and had a coffee and muffin (deja vu?). This was about 11:10am.

3 Got going again at about 11:45, feeling much better now but hoping there would be no more rain! Luckily there wasn't, it was quite nice for a while. I hit my first traffic jam just before Newcastle - turned out to be a crash. On the bike it's not much of a problem, as you can filter through the traffic jam at about 20 mph or so. There was a second traffic jam (again a crash) not long after the first one, again near Newcastle. Got past the Angel of the North - really nice statue - but now starting to get blown about a bit as the wind had picked up. But I battled on until Berwick-Upon-Tweed, my final stop, which I got to at about 2:10pm (I think). There was no need for petrol here, Edinburgh is only about 60 miles away! Guess what I had? A coffee and a.....ham sandwich!

4 I've forgotten the times now, but I think I set off from Berwick-Upon-Tweed at about 2:45 ish. The journey from here was not very fast as it was quite gusty, the roads were a bit busy, and not good for overtaking at the best of times (lots of blind corners). There are also a few roundabouts (it's not like a motorway up here) and due to recent flooding there was lots of places with water pouring over the road. The spray from over vehicles meant I had to keep wiping my visor with my glove. It was nice crossing the border in to Scotland!!! Once I got to Edinburgh I hit traffic again (just before getting onto the city bypass) but with some crafty filtering got going again no problem I got off the bypass at Hillend (where the ski-slope is in Edinburgh) and then headed into the centre to my parents house. I arrived at just before 4pm - making the entire journey 9 hours 45 minutes, 410 miles, and overall about £25 in petrol.

I returned on the following monday (28th October) but I won't go over that journey - it wasn't as exiting as the first one. But I made it back in 9 hours by having shorter breaks and maybe going a bit faster overall as there was no rain that day! Next big journey? Well it won't be till it's warmer. Maybe to Le Mans in France next June....?

(No replies)

600 mile service
Oct 9, 2002

Today I took my motorbike for it's first service (The vicar wasn't very pleased, ha ha). This is the 600 mile service which is "free" except for the oil and oil filter they replace. The thing is, that's all they do on the first service so "free" is a bit misleading. I suppose they didn't charge me for the labour. It must take at least....10 minutes to replace the oil and filter. Ah well, at least now I can go above 5000 revs and see what this machine can really do! Although I won't be going above 70 mph because that would contravine the laws of Great Britain

(No replies)