Shetland minus one week

A week before we left to travel north, in order to prepare myself for being on a Scottish Island I thought, let’s cycle The Hebridean Way. 

A 220 mile bike ride over 5 days: 10 islands, 6 causeways and 2 ferries. 


I checked the weather forecast - no storms predicted so we booked it all at the last minute (apparently it’s more normal to plan this trip a good few months in advance due to sparsity of accommodation) so with a lot of naivety and luck we’ve had the most incredible 5 days of cycling. We stayed in a variety of places including a hostel which turned out to be a converted old people’s home (best nights sleep all week 😂) and a wooden grass hut. 

The sun shone. We ate lots of cake and had some amazing coffee. We saw plenty of wildlife, including an otter, a white tailed sea eagle and dolphins. In summary it’s quite the most beautiful place I have ever visited. 



And also a very quick way to switch off from the stresses of being a GP in 2023. 

As this is a medically themed blog rather than a tedious account of my holiday ……. my clinical  observations were as follows:

1. There are a lot of cemeteries

2. Every mile or two there is an AED (not sure if linked to point one). 

3. It’s clearly a hotspot for urology as in a tiny museum about crofting and Harris tweed there was an ancient looking cystoscope in the corner…



4. I didn’t see a single pharmacy - somewhat different to holidays in France. 

5. If you have a medical need to access a toilet (or indeed just any need) then don’t visit or cycle through Lewis on a Sunday. Everything is shut including anywhere with a toilet. You can thank the Free Church of Scotland for that.

The Hebridean Way. The most stunning and varied of landscapes. What a start to my sabbatical, and apparently there’s plenty of  locum work on Barra…. 😉



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