Leaving Tarbert was difficult at first. Since the weather was bad again, I plan to finish the ride in Harris & Lewis Island only within a day and take the ferry back to the mainland. I left Tarbert early in the morning, when the weather was really bad. It was raining heavily and the headwind was blowing wildly. The first hour of my ride was hell! The headwind was very very strong, slowing me down by a lot and it was very painful when the raindrops hit my face. I use too much of my energy fighting this headwind, only after an hour of ride, I became really tired. There was a big climb just outside Tarbert, making me even slower. The wind was too strong until I felt like I was almost blown away by its powerful force. It’s the same feeling when I faced the sandstorm in the Taklamakan Desert, its just that I was surrounded by sand back then in the Chinese desert, here its the powerful raindrops.

But after a while, the road finally turned northeast, and the same headwind that made me struggle, turned to be tailwind, blowing me fast towards Stornoway! It was a very strong tailwind and I was riding really fast, I didn’t even realize that there were many other big climbs because all the climbs became so easy. At some point, I don’t even need to pedal going uphill. I arrived Stornoway very early, only 3 hours covering 40 miles of ride, which is around 65km. People here in the UK use miles instead of kilometres. There were no ferry back to the mainland of Scotland that day and I was wet all over and shivering, so I decided to stay under the roof of a guesthouse rather than camping. My tent, my sleeping bag all got wet even though it was carefully covered with rainproof materials due to the very heavy rain. It was a very nice hostel, I was the only guy staying there that night!

Early the next day, 2 travelers came in, a Brazilian and a Swiss. They were solo travellers but they met in Edinburgh and been traveling around Scotland by car together since then. So they asked me to join them to travel around the island with their car since it was only 2 of them. I agreed and for the first time in Scotland, I travel with a car. We were talking about many things in the car and I especially ask the Brazilian girl about the life in South America, in Brazil particularly since South America is always my dream continent. We kept talking until we ignored all the scenery around the island. And only after a few minutes, we reached the Callanish stones, one of the oldest stone, dating back some 5000 years ago. Its one of the most complete stone circles here in Britain and its even older the Stonehenge in England. The weather here is really unpredictable. It was cloudy at first, then rain for 5 minutes, and suddenly, theres sunshine! And again, it rained a few minutes later again.

After that we went to the famous white sand beach in the western part of the island. Its beautiful but the weather turned everything grey, everything became black and white. We didn’t stay long there since the weather didn’t cooperate and it was getting darker anyway. So we went back to our guesthouse in Stornoway. I felt so different since this is my first time traveling by car, it feels very easy, you can travel to 2-3 places in 1 day so easily, while cycling will take 2-3 days to visit each of these places. But one thing for sure, I lost the connection in between. I didn’t feel the connection between Stornoway and the standing Callanish Stones, because we were fast on a car and we were talking and listening to the music, ignoring most of the landscape in between. But when I cycle, I pass one hill to another in a very slow phased, giving me time to observe in very detail the connection between one place to another.

The next day I decided to stay another day there, since they want to explore the north part of the island and we plan to take the ferry back to the mainland together. So all 3 of us drove to the very north of Lewis Island, called the Butt of Lewis! Hehe… It was verrrryyy windy there, we had hard time to talk to each other even though we walked side by side, since the wind was too strong and we heard nothing but the screaming angry wind. We were questioning, what did this Lewis eat in the morning? Probably too much egg that made his butt so windy? Local people here in Lewis Island told us that, theyre so used to the strong wind here and even said that if one day the wind stops blowing, the people here will lose their balance and fall. Hehe… that was a good one.

And the next day, finally we took the ferry together back to the mainland to a village called Ullapool. We then finally split, they drove south back towards Glasgow and I stayed a night in a hostel in Ullapool since it was late in the evening and planning to head north of Scotland the next morning. And of course, we exchange contacts as usual, hoping that we all will meet again someday, somewhere in other parts of the world.

… and when the scary dark clouds coming from the North Atlantic Ocean are giving ways to the blue sky to appear, its magic! All out of a sudden, Scotland is revealing its beautiful scenery to me again. Weather here in Scotland is like a grumpy woman. Its always driving me crazy. But when the mood is good, it can make my heart melting away like…. like… like a chocolate! I rode north from Sligachan fast towards the north heading to Uig, to take a ferry to the Isle of Harris (hehe, pulau encik harris!) leaving Skye. I was feeling a bit disappointed, I couldn’t see the beauty of this island. So I was actually planning to leave Skye on the same day. But upon reaching Uig, the dark clouds suddenly disappeared. In a split second, the usual scenery of Scotland which was usually grey colour, turned to be colourful.

It was warm again, so I took off my Goretex jacket and enjoy a slow ride under the sunshine for a few hours. Everything looks beautiful here under the sun. When I reached Uig, I was amazed with its beautiful location, sitting at the coast under towering cliffs. When I saw those beautiful cliffs, I knew where to camp that night! So I rode down to Uig, get some stuff and climbed back up to those cliffs searching for a place to pitch my tent. While I was busy snapping pictures, I was approached by a curious tourist from France, asking about my cycling trip. We talked a while and exchanged contacts as he would love to read my blog and see my upcoming film and would like to host me if I ride in France.

a lonely biker capturing the magic into his camera microchips…

It feels good to make more friends all over the globe. Met a female Swiss cyclist while I was having lunch in Lochtree, we also exchanged contacts after a long talk. I do this trip, to get out of my old routine life back in KL. I got bored of waking up early in the morning and preparing to go to work, swearing at other drivers while I got stucked in the bad traffic on my way to work, do the same thing at work making me feel like a machine, then swearing again at other drivers in another bad traffic on my way back home and once I reach home, Im too tired to do anything else… and it keeps repeating day after day, nothing new. I feel that my life is not progressing, Im just surviving, that’s all. Out here Im doing routine as well, getting up early in the morning, having breakfast, packing up my tent, riding for miles and miles, find a spot to camp, either in the wild or in a proper campsite, cook dinner, read some books and sleep. But at least I get to see different views everyday, talking to different people everyday, making new friends everyday, approaching different villages, towns, cities, mountains, beaches, etc etc for the first time. Out here, Im always a stranger and always being in a strange land, constantly all the time.

typical Scottish landscapes

Anyway, after finished exchanging contacts with the French, I rode up and down, looking for a perfect camping spot. After a while, I found a nice, quite plain grass to pitch my tent. It was quite steep to get to the spot, so I climbed few times, carrying my bags one by one and finally my bicycle. It was one of the most beautiful camping spot I ever been since here in Scotland. The colors of the sunset was incredible, a very nice gradient from blue to red in the sky. I feel so peaceful, blessed to see this kind of landscapes. Right after I completed setting up my tent, the raincloud coming in again! But it was a small one. It rained for a few minutes while the sun was still shining, resulting in one of the most beautiful sunset I ever seen, a double full rainbow was proudly showing itself under the magical sunset colors in Uig. It appeared for 5-10 minutes or so, and I was watching it in amazement. Maybe it’s a good thing too that the weather here is always bad, so that once in a while when moments like this happen, I will really appreciate it and it feels so special living this moment!

the raincloud is coming! A single raindrop already hit my camera lens

double full rainbow! mannn I feel blessed to be able to watch this!

couldnt stop snapping this lol!

When the sun hides itself under those hills, the color turned blue and it was getting darker. So I had my dinner and read some books, wrapping myself nicely inside the sleeping bag to get warm. Before I went to sleep, I went outside my tent for a while to check my bicycle and the surrounding, and there you go, while I was looking up at the sky, I was shocked, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It was the out of this world, marvellous celestial lights! The night sky was so clear for the first time here in Scotland, and the night sky was really bright. This is almost like what I witnessed in the sky of Tibet few years ago, every single star was blinking proudly and I see shooting stars every few seconds. The shooting stars were so massive, it feels like there was a war going on deep in the space just like in the movie Starwars! I ignored the cold completely, took all my cameras out and film this magic.

there are 4 shooting stars captured in this single image alone. Go find it boys! :)

when the sky is clear, you’re able to witness magic!

It lasted about 40 minutes before the thick clouds started to move in again, and the rain started pouring again. So I went to sleep. I woke up around 2am since it was too cold. I wrapped my body with more jackets and just get outside my tent for a while to see the sky again. It was clear again! This time, its even brighter with the moon. It was really beautiful. Again, I felt blessed to see this marvels in the night sky. It was really cold that night but I managed to ignore it. For the second time I took all my cameras to film this unearthly colors coming not from this planet. Because of this, I ended up staying up all night, watching the sky under the cold weather. I slept around 5 am that night.

sadly this image is blur. My camera couldnt focus, so I used manual.. uhhhh!!

The next day, I woke up very late at around 11 am. And I was feeling lazy when the wind was blowing really strong and it was raining heavily. So I just stayed inside my tent preparing my late breakfast. The sun started to shine again at around 1 so I decided to cycle to the nearby Quairaing, which is famous for its beautiful peaks. When I reached there, it was a bit of disappointment. There were so many tourists there, a big group of students probably from China, shouting and laughing all over. And the wind started to blow really really strong, carrying raindrops with it. So its like the weather doesn’t want me to proceed to climb to the peaks of Quairaing, I turned back and cycle back to Uig. While riding back to Uig, I was struggling fighting the strong headwind, it was hell. Its almost as strong as the one that blew me away during the sandstorm in the Taklamakan Desert 2 years ago.

the view from Quairaing. Sadly I didnt manage to climb it, since the weather was too fierce!

I then finally took ferry from Uig crossing into Tarbert in Isle of Harris. It was a 90 minutes journey. Very comfortable riding it, costing me only around 6 pounds. When I reached Tarbert, it was late, about 8pm and very very cold. The rain was heavy and the wind was very strong. It gonna be hell for me to pitch my tent under this condition. There is a campsite just a mile north of Tarbert village, but when I look around the harbour, I found a bunkhouse, which is 15 pounds a night. So I decided to stay there for a night, I need to sleep inside a roof so badly. I couldn’t stand the cold anymore, at least for a night. When I came in the bunkhouse, I attracted the attention of other tourists who stayed there for the night.

man u dont know how it feels like to see the sunshine for the first time after for so long :p

preparing dinner mmmmmm……

Everybody was asking about my journey, so I became the storyteller for the night. One of them asked me on the reason why I do this trip of a lifetime. I answered, “It’s the simplest reason ever, I was just bored sitting at home”. Everyone was laughing. Then a British guy asked me that whether I’m not afraid of strangers, that I might get robbed or something worst could happen, since I’m traveling alone. I gave them a long answer and said, “Since the first day I live my life on the road, I realized that I’m very… very vulnerable. Why should I be afraid of getting robbed by strangers, since there are so many other things that can kill me today, even right here, even right now. We are all very weak, we are all vulnerable, but most of the time, we tend to forget it, since most of us living inside our comfort zone. This journey made me realize that, reminding me on how vulnerable I am… all the time… especially when a huge truck driving fast passing by me on a narrow road or when I’m stuck in a mountainside under a harsh weather. Whether I will survive my journey or not, its all depends on God’s will. So there is no need to worry.” I was glad that some of them really like my answer. There is a young Scottish traveller who is really inspired of my journey, so I showed him some of my footages and pictures of my journey from my laptop. We chat for the whole night and as usual, ended up exchanging contacts so that we can keep in touch.

The weather didn’t seem to get better. The rain never stops and the thick clouds seem to stay permanently here in the Scottish sky. I hardly see the blue sky since I started my ride here in Scotland. Riding under the sunshine here in Scotland seems like a distant dream. So I packed my stuff under the rain and keep riding, heading towards Mallaig to catch a ferry to the Skye Island. They say the island is beautiful, but Im not sure if I can ever see the beauty of it under this kind of weather.

Gothic looking church, near Mallaig

I then left Fort William late, around 2pm after lunch. Rode some 55km to reach Mallaig under the crying clouds. Im not too sure if Im getting older or weaker or what. But it seems that I can’t stand the cold day after day here. Hmm maybe its really getting colder here. And the weather is getting worst day by day. Im shivering here at night even inside my sleeping bag. Guess I need to get a better, thicker sleeping bag soon. Im using a lousy sleeping bag now since I cant afford the expensive one. But now I think I need to invest on a better sleeping bag, since I don’t really sleep inside a guesthouse or hotels, Im camping every night at the open grass.

imagine sleeping alone here for a night, side by side with draculas! :)

I attract attention on every villages I passed by. People are watching me in amazement…. maybe they pity me. I was wet all over, puffing on every climb pulling the heavy luggage. Upon reaching Mallaig, I camped at a campsite just a kilometre after the village. They have some good facilities there so I took the opportunity to wash all my dirty clothes and dry em up. When I was about to take a long hot shower, I realized that there were no hot water. So there you go, I just took the cold shower under the very cold weather at night, and it feels like there were thousands of sharp needles penetrating through my skin straight to my bones. It was hell! And I was suffering from the cold for the whole night until the moment I fell asleep.

hmm thick clouds everywhere…

The next morning, when I woke up, I realized that the rain never stops! Hehe… Scotland is really the realm of rain! Since I started my ride, I only experience 3 days of sunshine. It was drizzling in the morning, but when I saw the thick clouds approaching, I knew that it gonna get worst. So I didn’t waste my time, I quickly packed my tent and took a ferry to cross into the Skye Island. Taking ferries here in Scotland is much, much cheaper compared to Iceland. I took ferry once in Iceland crossing from Stykkiholmur in the Staeffelsness peninsula to cross into the Westfjords and it cost me around RM80 our money but here I paid only 4 pounds, that’s only around RM20. It was around an hour ferry ride before reaching Armadale, south of the Skye Island.

imagine this landscape during sunset with a clear sky!

When I reached Armadale, it was still cloudy but the rain stops. It was nothing more than a ferry terminal, with only a few shops along the way so I straight cycle north towards the nearest town in the south part of the Skye, to get some food and water before heading to the wild grass outside the town to camp under the open sky. Lucky me, it wasn’t raining even though it was cloudy, making me feel comfortable to setup my tent slowly, taking my own sweet time, unlike the usual day where I rushed setting up my tent under the rain.

leaving the mainland

into the Skyeeee!!!

The next day, as usual its been raining heavily and this time, with the combination of very strong wind! I cycled the southern part of the island hoping to see the unique peaks of Cuilin Hills but sadly I couldn’t see anything. Everything was covered with clouds. So I head north towards Lochtree, the biggest town in the whole of Skye, to get more food and head further north before pitching my tent near a river in Sligachan. The wind was blowing really wild and it was very difficult to pitch my tent. That night I woke up many times due to the very strong wind. I was afraid that my tent will be blown away, together with me and my luggage, the wind was really very strong! If that happen, it will be ridiculous! Hehe…

approaching Sligachan

camping by the river in Sligachan

Im really hoping the sun will shine at least for a full day now. The sun needs to warm this cold northern part of the Scottish soil. Riding constantly under the rain and strong wind for many days, is not something so enjoyable. It doesn’t matter whats the temperature here anymore, it’s the wind that makes it really cold. The wind keeps blowing right to my face, sometimes making it difficult to breathe even when my face is fully covered. And when the raindrops hit my face directly, its very painful, like small stones hitting the skin of my face.

wild camping in the south of Skye

Christian graveyards near Cuilin Hills

The day after I ascended the peak of Ben Nevis, surprising the weather turned out to be good. There was actually blue sky for a few hours! Crap! Lol! I chose not to ride on that day because I wanted to rest the muscles of my legs before riding again. So I just walked around town. Then I cycled around the mountain range to finally enjoy the view of the magical Glen Nevis range. Once the weather is good here, this land of the Scottish people really reveals its beauty. Their landscape amazed me. When I got back to the campsite, I heard people were talking about their climb to the peak on that day, saying that they had beautiful views from up there. I felt so jealous!

Scottish highland cattle. Theyre cute and sexy!

The next day early in the morning, the scary dark clouds coming in, it was raining heavily and the wind was blowing really strong! I could see waves of raindrops blown by the strong wind. I even saw a tent being blown away by the strong wind and 2 young girls were chasing it. It was hilarious! They were packing up when it happened. It was the way the shouted and the way they were chasing it made me laugh from inside my tent.

rush hour in west highland way!

So I decided not to ride and stay another day here. I just stayed inside my tent covering myself from the bad weather, listening to my favourite south american beat from my ipod. It reminds me of my big dream to ride in the Andes Mountains. It was my dream since a while now. I always imagine myself riding in the mountains of South America. Even when I climbed Ben Nevis that day, sometimes I imagine myself climbing my dream mountain, the Aconcagua. It feels like my body was here in Ben Nevis in the north of Europe, but my mind was somewhere in the mountainside of the Aconcagua, deep inside South America. Riding in the Andes was my original plan. Riding through the great Salar De Uyuni, camping at the beautiful Lake Titicaca, making friends with the Peruvians and the Bolivians were all part of that dream.

Scotland finally reveals its beauty for few hours when the clouds are giving ways!

A year ago back home, while my wife was busy searching for a job back in KL by my side, I was actually busy studying the map. I calculated roughly around 11000km ride from Quito, Ecuador all the way down to Ushaia, southmost of Argentina through the Andes range in Peru, Bolivia and Chile. I then decided that it should be later, since it will be very tough for my wife to ride with me in the thin air of Andes mountains, since this gonna be her first time. So we chose the easier route first, we chose Europe and finally we chose Iceland to be our starting point. That was how the story started for us. And only about 3 months before we should depart for Iceland, we discovered that we gonna have a baby. We were surprised and didn’t know what to do at first, everything was already planned, but it was great news. And that was how I ended up here alone, covering myself under my tent here in Scotland under the bad weather, while my wife is now waiting for me in Kyrgyzstan, chilling with her people.

the Glen Nevis range

Lately especially here in Scotland, I had some sleepless nights. Many times before I fell asleep, I imagine the image of my late mom. She passed away 5 weeks after I got married and it was still fresh in my mind. It was shocking when I saw her face turned white when the blood stops flowing in her body at the hospital. She was fit like an athlete even at her age. And the moment I saw her that day when her soul left her body, it was still fresh in my mind, giving me trouble sleeping at night. Even though I didn’t become the person most traditional parents want their kids to be, a doctor or someone with stable and high paid jobs, I hope that shes smiling now that she has turned me from a boy into a real man. When I was riding the mountains of Tibet and the Taklamakan Desert, I had no fear, because I knew that my late mom always prayed for my safety. And that god always hears the prayer from a mother for her child, and I became totally fearless. Now, I hope that god will hear the prayer from a son for his mother. I hope that her soul reaches her final destination in heaven.

The rain never seems to stop here in the highlands. I just kept riding towards Fort William under the rain. Passed by many beautiful views but sadly I didn’t have the chance to enjoy it because of the poor visibility. I pitched my tent at the campsite in Fort William, right at the one of the starting point to climb Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the UK. The locals told me to wait a day before the weather is going to improve slightly so that I can climb the mountain.

on my way to Fort William

view of Christian graveyards

I spent a day exploring Fort William, this is the first town Ive visited so far since I left Dunoon. It’s a very small town, very peaceful. People here are more relax and cars pass by slower compared to Glasgow. It’s a historical town with full of stories of the past. The name of this town can already makes guess the history behind this place.

Fort William town centre

Fort William town centre

The next day in the morning, it was a bit cloudy but the sun was still shining at least. I guess this is the best time for me to climb Ben Nevis. After I had my breakfast, I quickly climb up the mountain while the weather was still good. My friends here in Scotland told me to take the hardest route since it is challenging and exciting and gives the best views, but I didn’t find it. But the again I was thinking, there is no difference which route I take under this kind of weather. I ended up taking the easy tourist route. It feels like climbing those hills in Bangsar and I was cruising fast towards the peak and reached the top in about 2 hours.

the view along the climb

Sadly there was no view at all once I reached the top. When I almost reached the top, the clouds started coming in and blinding me from seeing anything. The wind was blowing really strong! The visibility was really poor and when I look at the surrounding, it was all white just like a blank page of a book! And the clouds were sooo thick like a dictionary!

nothing to see at the peak. awan tebal gile macam dictionary!

And something bad happened tho, while I was at the peak, I wanted to snap some pictures so I attached my camera on the tripod. And all out of a sudden, the wind was blowing very strong for a split second and my camera fell to a rock. When I tried to save my camera, I slipped, it was very very slippery and I was like 2 meters away from the edge of a cliff. It was a sharp 90 degrees cliff, with the height around 200-300 meters. I then realized that how dangerous the place that I was standing, it was at the edge and I don’t have wingsuit to fly down. Luckily the only thing that was broken was the filter of my camera lens. My camera and the lens are still in good condition.

peak of Ben Nevis

I didn’t stay long at the peak. There was nothing to see at this kind of condition, except a hut and few rocks that has many names written by those climbers who reached here. And the wind was really strong up there, making it hard for me to breath. After about 15 minutes staying at the peak, I finally descended the mountain and took me around 1 hour to get down, making the total of 3 hours climbing up and down the Ben Nevis.

into the clouds

got out from the thick cloud at the top while descending down