We started off the day with bacon and mushroom sarnies, then bimbled over to Derwentwater, inflated the canoe and went for a paddle
The lake is lovely, and Laura enjoyed herself
then after a couple of hours, we headed off to a pub, but they were shut, so went to Sainsburys and got some more cider and rum and are chillaxing in the sunshine.
The next day, we went to Ravenglass and went on the miniature railway to Eskdale
Then followed by a drive over the hills to Coniston Water, inflated the canoe again, and went for another paddle
This is another really nice area to paddle, apart from the odd fat git in an inflatable...
I heard what sounded like a motorboat coming up behind me, but it got louder and louder, and I glanced back to see what looked like a Hercules aircraft at about 30-50 foot above the water. Unfortunately, I didn't get my camera out quick enough, so I only got a shot of it disappearing into the distance.
Me and my mate Darren have just done the Outer Hebrides tour on the bikes, we set off at about 4 am Sunday, and got to Skye 760 miles later. As you can wild camp in Scotland, we soon found a camping spot by a loch
Unfortunately the midges are out in force this year, Darren made himself some hot chocolate, and approximately 30-40 midges landed in it, so he stirred them in, and roughly another 50 landed in his drink. It looked like it as liberally sprinkled with black pepper. Some French tourists turned up at our "camp site", but they looked at me wearing motorcycle goggles and a balaclava, wondered why I was wearing said apparel, then the screaming started as the midges discovered "fresh meat"! (there was almost a punch up as they were all trying to get into the car at once). The next day, we got a ferry crossing from Skye to North Uist in the Outer Hebrides
We went from North Uist to Benbecula, and then to South Uist (as they are all connected by Causeway) and had look at the white sandy beaches
We then discovered that there was strike action imminent, so we headed (at a rate of Knots) up to the isle of Berneray, for the boat over to Harris.
We made it, although the ferry company said pre-booking was essential, we bought tickets on the boat. All the schedules were wrong, and CalMac ferries didn't seem to have a clue if there would be any boats running at all...
We then headed over Harris to Lewis, and had a look at the Callnish standing stones
then it was time to look for a wild camp for the night, we found one near the Stones
The next morning after a look at another white sandy beach, we decided to head back to Harris to catch a ferry to Skye, as it looked like we may get trapped due to the strike action. Unfortunately, Darren was running out of fuel, so I followed a sign for 24 hour petrol,12 miles later, I found the petrol pumps were gone and had been replaced with a rockery! Anyway, we eventually made it to the ferry terminal, and got the last boat to Skye (glad I was on a motorbike, as loads of people couldn't get on)
We had a tour round Skye and had a look at Kilt Rock waterfall
then we headed over to the mainland to find a camping spot. Unfortunately, we couldn't find anywhere midge-free, so we went to a hotel. The next morning we headed over to the Falkirk Wheel (which is a bit like Arnold Schwarzenegger, a lot smaller in real life!) then we were planning to have a look at Hadrians Wall, but Darrens bike started messing about, so we decided to head home. He only broke down about 11 times on the way back, and 1830 miles later I was back. A highly recommended trip, so long as you remember to put your watch back 40 years.
