Day 10 Islay and Jura

Today we had a bit of time to explore the islands, and the weather was good when we woke up. We changed plans and decided to venture into Jura on the bikes whilst support went off to sort our accommodation for the night. We had tried to change our ferry booking to a later one after deciding to simplify tomorrow’s route, but the ferry was full, so we had to revert to the original plan for a 7 am ferry which therefore necessitated a shift to a campsite near to Port Ellen. 

Jura is a combination of bleak and beautiful, with barren mores and bare scree-strewn mountains on the one hand, lush trees, lichens and moss on the other. We were all on the lookout for wildlife and deer were common. A large raptor we watched catching some thermals was most likely a buzzard. After some stiff climbing we ended up in Craighouse, a beautiful situated little coastal town / village, where we had a lovely lunch. We had to push it a bit to get the ferry back to Islay and wound up back at the tent (left up to dry) a bit tired. We worked out that we had done 700 m of climb in 18 miles of riding. We quickly collapsed the tent, had a brief coffee stop at the ‘Ceramic cafe’ of the lady who runs the Persabus camping, then headed off for Port Ellen on back roads. John H took the opportunity to take his bike over to Jura and do a bit of cycling there, which he thoroughly enjoyed.

Islay is mountains in one corner, and pretty much flat everywhere else. So it was only a small amount of climb and we could see the other side of the island. Again, much of Islay also has a bleak beauty, with heather speckled more land, isolated Croft’s and scattered sheep. The road surfaces are atrocious though! We got such a shaking hat we feared for our bikes and my wrists were getting quite sore by the time we arrived at Port Ellen. Port Ellen is another place of contrasts; you are greeted by a malting plant, looking a bit like something out of an industrial heartland. Then the harbour is picture-postcard. After rejoining with the support team we headed off to the campsite, situated in the sand dunes at Kintra. John H magically brewed up  food whilst we set up camp. We spent a delightful evening watching the sun set over the Atlantic, then star gazing before the clouds swept in. 

We got our heads down early as we were going to need to be up at 5:15 am to break camp in time for the morning ferry.

To bed early apart from John H that is.  John H found himself helping out a damsel in distress who had managed to get herself locked out of her car at our campsite in the middle of nowhere. To cut a long story short, after trying to get into her car (more secure than he thought) he spent a lot of time on the phone to the Police to ensure that her car would be sorted and that she was safe.