Bicycle Book Tour in the Hebrides
24th September 2024
One month ago today, I carried my unbelievably-heavy bike down the stairs (really shouldn’t have loaded it upstairs) and out the front door, and set off pedalling to my local train station.
“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.”
– Bilbo, The Fellowship of the Ring (a friend quoted this to me in a card )
This was my book tour for The Edge of the Silver Sea: travelling the Hebridean Way by bike, visiting local schools along the route to deliver creative writing workshops.
As I keep saying to people, I still can’t believe it’s all over and that it went pretty much according to plan. My trusty bike Lou (Lookfar), who is about the same age as me, never let me down. I didn’t get into any accidents despite cycling along main roads on rainy days, or incur any injuries beyond a sore neck and shoulders.
But it still feels like I haven’t fully digested the whole experience, so I think it’s about time for a recap.
I took a train to Oban and stayed the night there before the ferry out the next day, grabbing a few last-minute emergency items like a foil blanket and a new waterproof. My family saw me off, and then I had a 5-hour ferry trip to Barra. I've never been on such a long ferry before - it really felt like the hundred-mile journey to Roscoe!
I got off the ferry with about 20-30 other cyclists, but after the first 24h I didn't see any of them again. Most had only a week to do the trip in, and I was lucky to have two. I could also only go so far each day as my trip was organised around school visits on five different islands: Barra, Benbecula, North Uist, Harris and Lewis. Most of the time it felt like I was the only person cycling at all.
I camped the first night in Vatersay, at the official start point of the Hebridean Way. This meant cycling five miles south before beginning the journey north, and it started with a big climb over a hill. I hadn't expected to get off and push on day 1, but there would be plenty more of that to come!
I wasn't too fussed about the official start but it was supposed to be a beautiful camping spot, and the hostel on Barra was full. I'm so glad I made the extra journey - it was the most spectacular place I camped the entire trip. It also wasn't raining in Vatersay despite pouring rain on the mainland, so it was a very strong start.
I gave my first workshop in the morning at Castlebay School, where the Gaelic-speaking pupils kindly helped me check my pronunciation of some of the characters and creatures in The Edge of the Silver Sea. Then I carried on to the north of the island, stopping at a beautiful community garden and cafe for lunch before my ferry in the afternoon.
Eriskay welcomed me with another big hill, but the descent was so much fun I would actually say it was worth it (rare to hear me say anything positive about a hill). I carried on over the island to South Uist, where I set up camp at Kilbride Campsite and hunkered down for a night of wild weather.
The next day was the shortest cycle of my whole trip for a bunch of logistical reasons but it meant that I ended up at Brae Lea Guest House in Lochboisdale for the night, which was so luxurious after a couple nights of camping! I accidentally squashed and broke my Kindle in the tent, too - my only reading material - and the lovely host Rupert let me borrow a book from the library to see me through.
The next day I had a campsite booked, but I switched it for a hostel bed on Benbecula as it was pouring all day. I tried to always stay in accommodation the night before a school visit so I didn't have to do the campsite pack-up beforehand and could have a shower before turning up, but actually even most of the places I camped had hot showers nearby.
It was a pretty difficult day - my waterproofs soaked through and I got very cold, but 30 miles of cycling kept me busy. I was also feeling a bit lonely at this point, so when I arrived at the hostel to find I was the only guest I was pretty sad about it. But at least I could watch TV on the sofa and make lots of tea.
In the morning I had my second workshop at Balivanich School, where the young people had loads of brilliant story ideas, including a local legend about a mermaid in Culla Bay. I didn't have far to travel to my next school on North Uist, so I took a detour around the Isle of Grimsay. This was an excellent decision as there was a boat museum, a beautiful harbour and a woollen mill.
Unfortunately as soon as I turned north-west I was hit by a headwind so strong it kept bringing me to a standstill, and this was the direction I travelled for the next 10 miles. Eventually I made it to my accommodation, the Tractor Shed Camping Pods in North Uist. This was one of my favourite nights of the trip: a cosy bed inside a little hut, where I finished the Jenny Colgan book I'd borrowed (about an island hotel) and watched short-eared owls hunting by daylight while I drank my morning tea.
In the morning I cycled 500m to Sgoil Uibhist a Tuath, where the gym was set up for a workshop. It was a great group with lots of enthusiastic writers! Afterwards I headed back to my accommodation just so I could join a live Q&A about the book on my phone. I usually have to prep so much for this kind of thing, but it had to be then, so I just plugged in my headphones and tuned in and it went surprisingly well!
I carried on through North Uist in glorious sunshine, and a golden eagle flew right over my head. It felt like I had so much time to cycle the distances I'd planned that I could just randomly turn and follow a sign for a picnic area to eat my lunch, and then find a bench beside a stunning view like this one below.
I was worried about where I'd camp when I reached Berneray so I toyed with the idea of checking into a hostel, but when I arrived at the local cafe, someone recommended a spot beyond the village where they'd camped with their motorhome. After some cake and ginger beer (genuinely living the high life at this point) I carried on to the place they'd suggested and found an honesty-box campsite in the dunes overlooking the sea. I could not believe my luck.
I had my first swim of the trip here, although I discovered I don't find swimming in the sea quite as fun without anyone to notice if I drift away! I spoke to some other campervanners who recognised me from South Uist (very distinctive in my yellow gear) and recommended checking out a nearby seal viewing point, so I went back there and watched the seals chilling on the rocks for a while, then came back to set up camp.
In the morning I discovered my stove wasn't working anymore - it didn't seem to be threading onto the gas canister properly. So, grumpy without my morning tea, I packed up and headed to the ferry terminal, thinking there was a cafe there. There wasn't.
The ferry journey was beautiful, threading through the shallows and rocks of the Sound of Harris, but I was even grumpier by the time we reached Leverburgh. I only have one cup a day so I don't think I'm particularly caffeine-dependent (especially for a writer) but my cup of tea was such a part of my morning routine, I felt like everything was a bit off. There was a tea van in the harbour but I decided to carry on to a cafe called Temple a few miles north.
I'm so glad I did! They made me a big pot of tea with oat milk and, although they don't serve food, they provide plates and knives so you can buy their rolls, dips, cheeses etc and make your own sandwiches. Which is exactly what I did, as it was now nearly midday and I'd been living off protein bars for too long.
Most days I had protein bars for breakfast, then tried to stop at a cafe along the way to get something substantial for lunch. For dinner I'd eat one of the meals we had cooked and dehydrated ahead of time. The top bar bag on my bike was stuffed full of protein bars and trail mix, and when I got to the end of my trip I still had meals and protein bars left over! Maybe I could have saved some weight and space if I'd bought snacks along the way, but I got a bit carried away doing the food shop beforehand and it felt good to know I had loads of food with me at all times.
I cycled on through Harris, passing some absolutely stunning beaches which I wasn't feeling too tempted to swim in anymore. I knew there was a big climb coming up and I just wanted to get it over with. There was, and I did. It was slow and I pushed my bike a lot and I did burst into tears when a few drivers decided to zoom past me on the single-track road over the summit, but then it was pretty much downhill all the way to Tarbert.
Tarbert became my home for the next few days. One thing I learned about myself over the course of this journey is that I don't cope well with the changes of scene every night. If it's my tent that's fine, because it's my little house, but I was finding the different accommodation difficult to cope with, even though they were all nice places. So I decided I would settle here at least two nights, which became three.
Firstly I had to rest because it was a weekend, and I was visiting Sir E Scott School in Tarbert on the Monday morning. So on Sunday I decided I'd go on a rest day ride to Scalpay, where there's a WDC Shorewatch site. I didn't quite realise how hilly this journey would be, and I didn't honestly notice much of a difference without my heavy bags on the bike - it was still really hard! But once I got to Eilean Glas lighthouse, I was so happy I'd made the trip.
The water was so still I felt like I could have seen any movement on the surface from there to Skye. It was also very cool going into the bothy and unlocking the cabinet to get the equipment in such a remote place. (Anyone can become a Shorewatch volunteer, the training is free and you can visit any Shorewatch site to do a watch.)
As soon as I arrived I saw - and heard - porpoises passing below the lighthouse. Then there were schools of dolphins fishing and zooming past. The cherry on top was an otter which popped up with a fish after I'd been there more than two hours, then fished alongside the rocks for the next five minutes.
Tarbert was such a lovely place to rest and hang out for a few days. After the visit at Sir E Scott School, I met up with local author Louisa MacDougall for impromptu tea and writing chats! Then I waited for the afternoon ferry to arrive from Skye, because my aunt and uncle, who live in Croydon, just happened to be on it. It was their first time visiting the Outer Hebrides, and they were only staying one night, and it just happened to be when I was there too!
We went to Luskentyre Beach together, driving back over the hill that had almost defeated me a couple of days earlier in about 15 minutes. My aunt and I swam in the sea while my uncle exclaimed "Now this is a beach!" and we ended the day with dinner at Hotel Hebrides. It was such a joy to see family after a week of solo travel.
My aunt and uncle were staying elsewhere on the island, so we said our goodbyes and I packed up my stuff, ready for the final day of cycling. I had considered getting a bus to Stornoway, and lovely Louisa offered to drive me over the hills and I seriously considered it. But I decided that I'd come that far and wasn't quite ready for the cycling to be over, so despite the rain the following morning, I set off for the biggest climb of the entire trip.
The first couple of hours were pretty awful. The rain was driving and I was struggling with asthma, probably compounded by panic about the steep hill and sometimes busy road I was pushing my bike up. I wouldn't call this type 2 fun - it wasn't any kind of fun. I called home to hear friendly voices and sang to myself to get through it.
Once I was out of the mountains, though, I started to feel excited. There really wasn't far to go to Stornoway. When I got to the "Welcome to the Isle of Lewis" sign, I stopped to take a photo and some bikers beeped and gave me a thumbs up as they passed.
At the cafe where I stopped for lunch, I was suddenly surrounded by cyclists again. It was a bit surreal after seeing almost none for most of my journey. I cycled into Stornoway just in time to check in to my B&B for the next couple of nights. The official end point of the Hebridean Way is the Butt of Lewis, but I had decided early on to end in Stornoway instead, where I could visit schools and get the ferry back to the mainland.
In the morning I visited Stornoway Primary School, and in the afternoon I headed to the Nicolson Institute, the local secondary school. It was a high note to end on as the librarian had brought together a group of enthusiastic writers and the library felt like such a safe, creative space.
I really enjoyed exploring the town, visiting the Hebridean Tea Store and An Taigh Cèilidh Gaelic community centre, listening to trad music at the arts centre An Lanntair, and walking in the woods at Lews Castle. I couldn't really believe the cycle was finished - it felt like it had been far too straightforward!
The only technical issue I had the whole time was my pannier rack slipping back, but all it needed was to be put back in place and tightened up. I did briefly worry that the massive weight of my bags had bent the pannier racks out of shape. I had all my bike tools with me and two spare inner tubes, and fortunately all I had to use was one spanner.
The last day was actually the most challenging - I decided I could get home in one day instead of two, then made a fundamental mistake when I checked bus availability, and then the ferry was half an hour late so I would have missed the bus anyway. I spent the entire day in panic mode that I was going to miss my train - way out of proportion in retrospect, since I could have just changed back to my original plan to stay a night in Ullapool, but I think I was just very ready to be home again.
I had to figure out another way to get to Inverness and made it there with just four minutes to spare until my train to Edinburgh, Lou's front wheel barely attached, and bike grease all over my hands and face. The train conductor felt so sorry for me when I tried to explain that I hadn't had time to print off my tickets that he sent me to the first class carriage and gave me some of his own Haribos. 😂
When I got to Waverley, someone was playing You've got a friend in me on the piano that lives in the station, and I felt all warm and fuzzy. I wolfed down a veggie burger on the train home and cycled up to my front door just after 11pm, a day earlier than planned and VERY excited to sleep in my own bed.
Bikepacking is less intimidating than it seemed when I first started looking into it, even as someone who doesn't cycle much. It helps if you have friends who can lend you some (nearly all) of the bags, and watching lots of YouTube videos of bike touring trips didn't hurt. I guess the many, many hours spent planning, going over maps, and making lists paid off in the end!
Although my wonderful publishers at Floris Books helped a lot with organising the school visits, I didn't have any funding or external financial support for this trip. I just want to be clear about that in case any other writers reading this are thinking of planning something similar. I lost track of my budget spreadsheet but would be happy to talk costs if you send me an email.
It was an excellent excuse to finally visit the Outer Hebrides, and though the preparation took a long time, the whole trip went pretty smoothly, and every school I visited was warm and welcoming. I do think Blair (the climate activist protagonist of The Edge of the Silver Sea) would be satisfied with this low-carbon book tour.
Final stats:
200 miles cycled
6 school workshops
11 islands visited
£1,056 raised for Mermaids!
Finally I want to say a massive thank you to everyone who sponsored me on this journey and helped raise this money for Mermaids. Authors don't get paid much, and although I'm donating 10% of my royalties from sales of this book to the charity, that doesn't work out as much as you might think. So this campaign was a huge boost, at a time when Mermaids needs our support more than ever. Thank you!