Hebrides 2019 - Days 0, 1 & 2

Day 0

I have a good plan of the route. I am going with a mate. When he heard about the trip, he's done his CBT and bought a 125. He lives about 100 miles north of me, so I will rendezvous with him en route.

The plan is to ride to Ullapool and get the ferry to Lewis and Harris. Stay there for a while then get the ferry down to North Uist and ride down to South Uist. Then get the ferry to Barra, before finally returning back to the mainland via Oban, and returning back down south.

I had looked all my kit out, so needed to pack it all.

 I had bought some new Oxford soft luggage for the bike. I specifically went for waterproof luggage.

The new luggage is so much better than my previous luggage, which strapped over and under the saddle. To be fair I do have a proper full size rack now, which I didn't have before, so that plays a part too. Here's the bike loaded up with all my gear for the trip.

I've also got a small rucksack with a water bladder in it. I've got a spare pair of waterproof gloves in there too, and my waterproof over trousers. I'm sure it's going to be wet in Scotland.

Day 1

Early(ish) start to the day, and got to the rendezvous site on time to meet my riding buddy.

Pretty uneventful day. Due to a navigation error, this was quite a bit short of our intended goal for the first day's distance. Day 2 is going to be a monster.

Day 2

Early start today, about 06:00. The night was mostly quiet, but there were a couple of cars that went past our camping spot, and one stopped before driving off.

This is about 09:00 and we've already been on the road for about three hours. We finish the day in Glasgow where my friend has his bike booked in for its first service at the Mutt dealership, first thing in the morning. We did about 320 miles today.