Holiday day 4: Lochmaddy to Tarbert

We've had another challenging day with our bikes. This time it was not due to the weather, which has cheered up considerably, but four (yes four) punctures.

Mr hazelh spotted that my front tyre was flat when we wheeled the bikes out of the wet and rod room this morning. He repaired it outside in the sunshine before we set off for the ferry from Berneray to Harris. Two thirds into the ride, it was flat again, so this time he changed the inner tube.

He noticed the third flat just after we set off after lunch at the Anchorage restaurant on Harris. This time it was my back tyre. We mended this puncture in the ferry waiting room.

Two miles further up the road just outside Northton, the back tyre was flat once more. Out came our second spare inner tube. We were now way behind schedule with our cycling and feared that we might need to arrange vehicular transport if we suffered another puncture.

Happily the rest of the journey was without incident as we sped through South Harris in the sunshine. My main blip shows the view from Seilebost across to North Harris. I have included extras of cattle on Scarista beach with Toe Head in the background, and Mr hazelh mending puncture number 2 earlier in the day on North Uist.

(When Mr hazelh was mending puncture number three, I rang the cycle shop in Stornoway to see if two new inner tubes and an extra pump could be sent down to us in Harris. By the time we reached Tarbert these three items were waiting for us in reception at our hotel - even though I had not yet paid for them, and the cycle shop owner did not even know our name! What amazing customer service :-)

Exercise today: 30 miles of cycling.