Sandown to Stornoway Cycle Ride......at last. By Mike Coleran: 09/24/12

Day Fourteen

Monday September 24th 2012

Leverburgh to Stornoway

Mileage today - 58

Total mileage so far - 951

After thirty seven years in the making, and fourteen days on the road, I've finally made it! I've reached the end of my journey from the Isle of Wight to the Isle of Lewis, Sandown to Stornoway. I rode into town at about 3-30 this afternoon after a very interesting, and challenging day. Up to today, the hardest day on this ride had been the first one, from Sandown to Salisbury, due to a strong headwind all the way. I suppose it was only fitting then that I should have a headwind on the last day too! And what a headwind it was! Yesterday it was a south westerly, helping me along, but today it had turned right round and was a north easterly, doing its damnedest to stop me getting to Stornoway. Anyway, in true cycling tradition, I got my head down and dug in. It wasn't long after leaving Leverburgh that I was seeing some of the most stunning scenery of the whole trip. The white sandy beaches, blue sea, and mountain views in that area must be some of the most beautiful vistas in the world. Absolutely stunning! Photos just cannot do it justice. I couldn't linger too long though, so plodded on to Tarbot where I arrived just in time for the teas hop opening at ten. Beans on toast (two eggs on top) revitalised me for the next leg, 37 miles of rolling country to Stornoway. Those miles seemed never ending, I was making such slow progress. However, more traffic, and more houses heralded the arrival of the biggest town I had seen in some time. After checking in at the Heb Hostel I went out to check out the town. Not a great deal to see in this gritty, working town, but I did pop into McNeil's bar to toast Finlay with a (large) Glenffidic! So that's it, mission accomplished. It's been an amazing trip and has opened my eyes to some parts of Britain that I've never seen before. I've also met some interesting people along the way, some of whom have kindly donated to the BHF. The best and worst bits? Well warm, sunny days riding through the Cotswolds and Herefordshire were bliss. And today on Harris I think I've seen some of the best scenery ever. The worst was the day riding from Sanquhar to Ardrossan, over on the ferry to Arran, and then over the hills to Lochranza. Normally it would have been a pleasant ride. But with .torrential rain from start to finish, it was not very nice (that's putting it mildly!). I only got wet on one other day,and that was just for a couple of hours from Southport to Garstang. So two soakings in fourteen days wasn't too bad. Now for some thank you's. I originally set my target for collecting for the BHF at just £500. That figure was soon passed and is now well over £1000. A great big thank you to everyone who has sponsored me for this very worthwhile cause. Thank you to everyone who has been following my blog every day, I hope you have found it interesting. I know who some of you are but there are a lot who I don't know. Total hits for the fourteen days is almost 3,000. And last, but definitely not least, thank you to my lovely wife, Joanna. She supports me and puts up with me clearing off on trips like this, as well as all the days training whilst at home. It really is appreciated! Inverness tomorrow, providing the ferry isn't cancelled (strong winds forecast). I have allowed myself an extra day just in case, so if I do get to Inverness tomorrow I will have two nights there before my train home on Thursday. Oh, I did say I would get the mileage up to 1000 didn't I, well at 951 I consider that near enough! Anybody want to buy a bike?