Final island, island number 21 -Bute

After a calm wander in and around the Cathedral of the Isles,  the smallest cathedral in Britain (doesn't this make Millport a city?), we left Cumbrae and headed back to Largs on the ferry.  Then came the hardest part of this trip, the six miles along the coast road to Wemyss Bay. We survived that scary trip and crossed over to Rothesay on the Isle of Bute.

Tired out from yesterday's 38 miles, we pottered north to Port Bannatyne,  looked for my friend's boat, 'Jumblie'. Not there so he must be sailing, which is a lovely thought. We've had grand times in these waters and I look forward to more of them next year.

Bikes on the train back to Glasgow - islands all biked!

Last ferry of the project

Back to the island-biking. After a bit of biking along the shore and marvelling at the number and size of the YES signs, we headed back through Millport for a final food stop at the charming 'Pier at Craigmore'. Then we retraced our steps, so to speak, to the ferry with the wind behind us, train home and that's the end of that biking challenge. Bring on the next one!

Island 20 - Cumbrae, 13th September 2014

Taking advantage of this continuing good weather (I chose a great year to bike islands! ), I set off on the train to Largs by way of a 14 mile reccie of a GoSkyride route in Glasgow.  Checked on a 93 year-old friend in Largs, introduced the support team (of one) to the iconic Nardini's and got on the ferry for the very short crossing to the Isle of Cumbrae.

Knickerbocker glories

The road around the coast is only 10  miles but it felt longer to support team, Mehrab, as we had already biked 27 miles that day.  In the late afternoon, it was peaceful and beautiful. There were more bicycles on that route than cars, as people enjoyed the unexpected warm sunshine.

There are five posts along the way and the visitor is invited to touch all five in order to be able to take home some of the luck of the islanders. Great idea for getting people to engage with their surroundings.  We duly stopped at each of them and touched them. I have plenty of luck already but good to stock up anyway.

We ate at the Chinese restaurant because everywhere else stopped serving very early. This is different to the Glasgow nightlife that Mehrab is used to.  The restaurant is not licenced but has an arrangement with the pub next door that customers can buy drinks and bring them in.  The restaurant staff return the glasses next day. What a simple and effective solution!


We are travelling in the week before the Referendum.  This is an extraordinary time to be in Scotland.  Public engagement in politics has never been this high.  This is a 'divided house' I was told by one of the occupants. Wow!

The B&B was disappointingly typical of long ago. While being a modern house it was stingy about things, which is so silly. But there is so little accommodation on the island that you can get away with all sorts of second-rate service. It is not on TripAdvisor but I got my 'revenge' by paying with a cheque instead of cash. I'll leave the reader to work that one out.

Island 19 – Bull Island, Co. Dublin, Ireland

We mustn’t leave Ireland out of the island-biking and decided that doing an East coast island was the most practicable. Bull Island is more commonly referred to as the ‘Bull Wall’ because the island grew up in front of the wall. Captain William Bligh of Mutiny on the Bounty proposed the building of the North Bull Wall which was completed in 1825. The other piece of interesting information, which is true in spite of the disbelieving looks with which it was greeted in the Antiquary by Roy and Bill D, is that a mouse (and presumably her family) developed sandy colouring to blend in on the island. Bull Island was one place for the ‘Waxies’Dargle’ – a seaside outing for working class people, including ‘waxies’, candlemakers or those who waxed coats and boots, depending on your source. ‘Says my auld wan to your auld wan, will you come to the waxies’ dargle …’. 

Eilish and Marian did a lot of research (about the ride) and concluded that we had to start in Howth, where we could hire bikes at the Bike Hub. We put the word out to family and friends on Facebook and two of my lovely nieces joined us oldies. Did I mention that I have the loveliest nieces in the world?

Starting with a coffee as usual

The day dawned warm and sunny and we started with a coffee (no change there then) sitting outside at Il Panorama. We made a start on the emergency supplies; it reduced what we had to carry anyway. Bikes were collected and I did my bossy safety checks with helmets and bikes. By now we had agreed roles in the group – we had heads of navigation, catering, social media and photography. Missing Bill Badger as always!  After a few photoshoots, to the great amusement of the bike shop staff, we set off in the traffic. Yes, there are bike lanes on that road, but cars parked in them makes it more dangerous than it needs to be. Travelling in a small group feels so much safer than a solo trip. The path then went off-road and that was really nice.

At the causeway/Bull Wall cyclists were supposed to dismount. Those of you who follow my biking adventures will know that such restrictions have to be ignored if you are ever going to have any fun in life. How many bridges could I have done if I had dismounted at every sign? So we biked across the wooden causeway road, irritating the motorists coming the other way when some of us didn’t quite make it across before the lights changed. After a bit of fun on the wall, photoshoots of each other and of interesting scenes, like the man fishing, we went onto the beach for our picnic. What a lovely area this is! We had a very sandy picnic and shared stories from the 1970s when Marian and I had a flat in Dublin together.

Lovely, less distracted, ride back to Howth where I bought some cycling gloves and Ali bought a bike, as you do! I hope that was a good recompense for the very reasonable rental rate we were charged by the Bike Hub. Then time for afternoon tea/coffee and finishing off the emergency supplies. The raspberry flapjack was probably the food highlight of the day, thanks to Michelle Roche (Head of Catering and Hospitality).

Two more islands to go to meet my target of 21. I am not sure I will make it but maybe. It’s all good fun anyway.