I know it's me posting this but Neil will post his own photos when he gets back!!
Plus I told him I'd get in first anyway. :twisted:
Neil & John arrived on the island yesterday after (what Neil said) was a bad sea crossing from Ullapool to Stornoway.
We met up at Barvas Garage on the West side of the island this morning and our first port of call was the beach at Barvas where you can drive onto the sand dunes.
There's not alot of area but enough for Neil to get bogged with his skinny tyres.
We were following a track on top of the dunes and came to a little dip, with soft blown sand in the middle. I made it with no problems but Tonka Toy dug in a bit on the first run, backed up and went again but nothing doing. Neil tried to come off the dune and down a slope but ended up cross axled and up to the chassis.
I managed to winch him round a wee bit more before too much sand got around the front wheel and we stopped to dig the front out a little. Then my winch packed up! :roll:
So John got his 110 round and connect up his winch with a snatch block and after much fountains of sand from Tonka's wheels he came out. =D>
We thought we should call it day at Barvas and move on. So we headed South down the Western side of the island visiting a Broch and Standing Stones on the way. (We found a coach load of Stone Huggers at the Standing Stones, very strange crowd!! :shock: )
Anyway, from here we drove across to the main road from Stornoway to Tarbert to find a 3.2 mile track into the Harris hills that leads to the largest fresh water loch on the islands. The first 500 yards went well and then we came across two tracked excavators that were repairing the track. No problem, one pulled off the track to let us passed and we followed the other up the track about 1/4 mile until he parked up and then on we went.
Track takes you from near sea level (Loch Seaforth is in the back ground) to about 750 meters into the hills and then drops down again to the loch.
It's nothing challenging, just nice views of areas of the island than most people don't get to see.
The track ends on the gravel shores of Loch Langavat, where you're surrounded on three sides with hills and the Loch in front of you. Oh, and a little stream you have to go through to get onto the shore.
After a break on the Loch shore it was time to head back up the track, wait for the excavators to move again (very nice chaps! =D> ), and back on the main road for Stornoway. Total milage was around 100 miles in all and a good day out with fellow Mud Clubbers. :D
And if anyone else is heading up here: I know a nice little place on the beach!! :mrgreen:
Neil, Carol want's to see a photo of the Stone Huggers!! :D
