Skye and Uist Bicycle Tour

The sudden hot spell just after Easter 2015 happened to coincide with a bike touring holiday in Scotland with a close friend, so we had an incredible week cycling in the sun instead of Scotland’s usual mist and rain. The route was around the Eastern edge of Skye then across to the top of Uist and back on the Western side.
The first proper day of cycling took us out from Fort William and along Loch Eil, the route wasn’t too bad as there weren’t many steep hills alongside the loch. However, as we left it and climbed up towards Mallaig where the ferry to Skye was it got more and more hilly.
We stayed at the eco-campsite in Armadale, that was an experience in itself (pro-tip, be wary of anything with ‘eco’ in the name!) The campsite itself was in a lovely location and almost felt like an island as it was stuck on a peninsula of the island, however the facilities were a bit shoddy and the campsite layout was non existent. I’m still not convinced we camped on a proper pitch, I think it was meant to be a grassy bit beside the path.
From Armadale we headed up to Sligachin, a small settlement at one end of Loch Sligachin. On the way there we past Portree, the main town on Skye and home to a beautiful row of multicoloured houses overlooking the harbour. Further on we passed two cows, one I named Barbara who is pictured below, in the distance you can see the Old Man of Storr.
I highly recommend Berneray Hostel, it is ran by Gatliff Hebridean Hostels Trust along with Howmore below and one other hostel on the Isle of Harris. The location is stunning and the hostel itself consists of two thatched cottages right on the sea.

Howmor Hostel is a short walk from a beach of glistening sand and light blue sea, one one side you have rolling mountains and on the other a scene that could just maybe be straight from Hawaii.
The final few days of the trip was going to be out to the Isle of Mull but the weather started to turn horrible and we believed that being stuck out on an island would be even worst. We decided to call it a week and head back, its better to have memories of the glorious sun than of howling wet rain and wind.
Tour Information:
Start Point: Fort William
End Point: Oban
Type: Campsites and hostels
Distance: 130 miles
Time Taken: 6 days/7 nights
Total Distance: 297km (185 miles) in total, over 6 days
plotaroute link – Cycle tour of Skye and Uist