June 22 - Arisaig to Isleornsay

Well, here we were at the last day biking as a group. By the end of the day, six of the members would be exploring Skye on their own, Will and Ken would be on a train headed back to Glasgow, and only Paul, Lynn, and myself would continue on bikes.

The group, leaving Arisaig

I somehow ended up riding by myself, though I can't remember why. I headed up toward the town cemetery to see if there was anything interesting there. Then I headed out of town on the main road, expecting it to split shortly after it left Arisaig. But instead I found a large construction project, so I assume that my map had "jumped the gun" and had shown the intended new road as well as the old. No problem... the old road had little traffic. It was quite an interesting little road, with lots of sharp curves and short, steep hills. It's no wonder the folks here want to bypass this road, but I sure hope they keep the old route, as it's a nearly perfect cycling road.

The next stop for me was the beach at Camusdarach, where our tour organizers have a shop. So I stopped in to say Hi to Valerie, Ian's wife. And of course to walk out to the famous "Sands of Morar" beach, where scenes from the movie Local Hero were shot. Click here for more info about locations used for the movie, and click here for more information about the movie. I just love this movie; it's one of my favorites. I also fell in love with the beach then, and it was such a beautiful place that it was quite difficult for me to pull away and head on down the road.

By this time, the wind had picked up again, and it was quite strong as I headed into Mallaig. Fortunately, it was mostly a tailwind, quite a change from the first part of the week.

I ran into most of the rest of the group in Mallaig, so we bid farewell to the ladies headed for Skye. Paul and Lynn were off on their own, so that just left Ken and Will (who would be catching a train for Glasgow in a couple hours). So we did what men have done for ages when the women leave town: we headed for a pub. This time to catch part of the World Cup game between Turkey and South Korea.

My ferry wasn't scheduled to leave for Skye for another couple hours, so I stocked up on snacks at the local food store, watched Ken and Will leave on the train, and wandered around Mallaig looking for Paul and Lynn.

The ferry ride across to Skye was mostly smooth, though the rain descended again and ruined some of the views as we crossed over. Once on Skye, we zoomed up the coast using our nice tailwind, and arrived at our destination (Isleornsay) very quickly. On the way, we saw something that was quite humorous. A sheepherder was trying to shoo his sheep away from the highway. He was using his dog, but not in the way you might think. The dog was laying down in the back of the man's pickup truck. The man was making whistling noises, such as the type that he would use to direct his dog's herding. The sheep heard the whistling, and knew what it meant (that The Dog was around). So the dog really only had to sit in the back of the truck and glower at the sheep to get them to move.

Isle Ornsay lighthouse

This evening would be our first stay at a B&B, as all the other days had been with the large group. It was very nice. Paul, Lynn, and I got to meet the owners and actually talk with them. The local hotel, where we found supper, was a short walk away, and fortuately, the rain held off long enough for us to walk over there and also explore the small marina.

Bonnie Lasses in Isleornsay (and let's be honest... aren't they a pleasant reason to hit the pubs after a hard day in the saddle?)