ca. 100 km, of which 85 km by ferry
This morning it looked much more friendly compared to the previous day. The sun came out a little, even it was still very cloudy and quite cool. I could take it easy on that day, my ferry back to the mainland was leaving at late noon. So I rolled with my bike through Stornoway, stopped at the grocery store to stock up my supplies, then went to the harbour for a coffee and enjoyed it in peace. With a little more vigor, I would certainly have managed to make a trip to the easternmost Eye Peninsula, which is connected by a narrow land bridge near the airport of Stornoway. But that morning I just took a bike timeout.
At noon the ship came in with the dimensions of the big Arran and Mull ferries. The nearly three-hour tour crosses "The Minch" and therefore almost the open ocean, so a big boat like this is quite appropriate. We passed the lush rolling hills of Sandwick, populated with lots of sheeps, and went out to the open sea beyond, it was getting nicer and sunnier here. I spent part of the time outside on the deck, the camera always ready, but so far from the mainland, I was lacking motifs for picture taking. The other part of the time I warmed myself at the coffee bar inside, there was plenty of space, not much passengers were on board.
In the afternoon, the mainland was reached, we passed through the islands in Loch Broom, surrounded by towering mountains, on which dark gray clouds accumulated. But it didn't look like it should rain at the next moment. Loch Broom finally narrowed to a fjord, soon after we landed in Ullapool. The city is situated well protected on a promontory in Loch Broom and looked friendly and clean to me. I wondered how long I should cycle on this day. Basically I could have biked a bit, but the locations of the campsites faced me with the decision: either very short or even quite far.
I chose "quite far" the day before, so I stayed with my motto of this day: take it easy and go slow. The next camp in Ardmair is only about 6 km away, so I had time to look around in Ullapool. Near the center I met a very friendly cyclist from France, who was traveling only with light bags. He told me that his destination is a remote area south of Loch Hope. He raved about this area he has visited before with friends. To go there, he had to make a big detour via Durness on the north coast and wanted to get ahead a bit on this day.
I wished all the best to him and not much rain, he still joked, that I will surely overtake him when I start in the same direction tomorrow. But I was not in the mood for sporty races on my biketour. Soon after, I also started my way to climb up the only hill of the day to a saddle of 90 m altitude. Then I rolled down to cross a valley, on the other side it was uphill again for a short distance. From this hill, I could spot the beautifully located camp at Ardmair Point. It is located on a headland in Loch Canaird, right in front of the Isle Martin. On the opposite hillside of the 743 m high Ben More Coigach, dark clouds gathered, which enveloped the summit area completely.
When I arrived, I immediately noticed the wind, blowing from the ocean like pressed through a jet into the narrowing valley and roaring through the camp like a huge permanent fan. The shore meadow was fully exposed to the wind, only closed caravans could stand it there. Behind the reception building there was a sheltered area, I found one of the last free sites there. Later in the evening more campers with tents arrived and filled the narrow area between us completely. Thus it was a bit tight, but what else should they do, the storm didn't calm down during the night.
