The Inner Hebrides

My Dad always used to recite a little rhyme:

The Earth belongs unto the Lord
And all that it contains
Except the Kyles and the Western Isles
And they are all MacBrayne's

He wasn't wrong - their distinctive black ferries have a very nice business going and are the only way to get around the Hebrides. Some of them we had entirely to ourselves...

...and some of them were enormous!

On this trip we visited a long list of islands: Arran, Kintyre, Islay, Mull, Iona, Barra, South and North Uist, Harris and Lewis. I'm going to cover the Inner Hebrides in this note, and leave the Outer Hebrides to another!

We started in London and got the train to Glasgow. Bikes safely on board.

Another short train journey to Ardrossan and we were ready for our first island - Arran!

Arran is beautiful.

Arran locals proudly display their political allegiances!

We hopped on another ferry and spent the night on Kintyre, and then got the ferry to Islay the next day.

Islay shops have the best range of Composts...

Islay is famous for distilleries but the scenery is beautiful.

From Islay the next destination was Mull. To get there meant getting a ferry to Oban on the mainland first...

...before getting another to my favourite island in the inner hebridies. There were a lot of ferries at Oban - naturally all of them owned by CalMac!

We had three days planned to circumnavigate Mull and visit Iona. The first day was spent riding across Mull in beautiful sunshine.

The island of Iona is a short ferry trip from Mull

Iona is famous as the place where Saint Columba lived. It is very peaceful and has a beautiful abbey with breathtakingly beautiful ancient Gaelic crosses.

The Abbey has a tranquil central cloister which is lovely in the sun.

We spent the morning on Iona before returning back to Mull

A short stop at the SPAR to replenish supplies...

..before riding the stunning back road to Tobermory via Calgary. Even in the rain this road is a spectacular ride and one of the best day rides I have ever done.