Sad Happy

I will be sad to leave here. Sad too that this journey is over. i should have been in Alaska, actually by now in Oregon before heading on a 20-year planned trip through the western third of America. Then Covid happened and that plan failed. I toyed with the idea of completing the islands trip I started some years back, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily but the prospects of government see-saws, multiple tests and different approaches by the different states made me pause. So I decided to visit some places I had long had on the bucket list, Orkney and Shetland by way of the outer Hebrides with a stop in Torridon for some time out.

It has been beyond what I could have imagined. By the time I have done, I will have taken 16 ferry trips – 2 overnight, ridden about 2500 miles, seen whales, dolphins, deer, eagles, seals and otters. I will have stood in a 5000-year-old stone circle and a Viking longhouse. I have met some great people and ridden some amazing roads and walked on empty beaches that would have been highlights in the Caribbean. The weather has been glorious, I have had one day of rain – not to tempt the weather gods for the next 2 days..

The bike has been a struggle at times, too big when loaded for someone with short legs but at other times it has been a wonder, travelling at a pace alongside empty roads with wide-open bends. I feel at home on it now and don’t want to stop riding.

But all things end and so I am packed and ready for my journey home tomorrow. Its been special, very, very special.