Cycling: Scotland, Outer Hebrides

Through a cycling friend who is one of the guides, we were connected to Scot Tares of Skinny Tyres in Scotland. They are a family business leading cycling tours for the past 25+ years. Hebridean locals, family and friends of Scot, would stop when they saw the Skinny Tyres van parked along the turnouts and cafes. We were picked up and dropped off in Edinburgh. We woke up leisurely some mornings; a few mornings we met a ferry a on a schedule. Swinging a leg onto a bicycle came easily with the familiarity from cycling at home, just in the new Hebridean landscape. Riding in twos and threes along the island single track roads became second nature, as did watching the moors, bays, cliffs, and stone buildings pass by. Scot Tares of @Skinny_Tyres_Cycling_Holidays met us along the way and Bill cycled sweep for the trip. We leaned our bikes on stone walls outside cafes, pubs, community centers, farms, brochs, castles, churches, and art galleries to leisurely examine what caught our different interests. Cycling in the breezes, across the bridges, through the villages, passed the farms allows such a three-dimensional feeling of seeing and being, for the briefest moment, a part of the Scottish landscape. Cycling the curves of the bays, following the contours of the cliffs, and listening to the waves and waterfalls made the Hebridean Way one of the most memorable weeks of my long life outdoors.