SMELLS LIKE TEAM SPIRIT
It’s 10am on a chilly November morning and three of us are sat in the van at Ullapool in Northern Scotland wondering what the hell we are doing? We’d caught the 11pm Stena Ferry from Belfast over to Cairnryan in Scotland the previous evening and then driven seven hours through the night to this remote ferry port, ready for the 11am Cal Mac ferry to the Outer Hebrides. In the past thirty six hours we have barely slept. None of us has changed clothes, we smell and our tempers are fraying. But the light at the end of the tunnel is that, in four hours or so, we will be in Lewis – one of Britain’s Meccas for quality waves! ‘Is this misery all worth it?’ I start to ask myself. I guess we’ve done the hard part now and are hopefully in the right place at the right time and are going to score something special to make all this suffering worthwhile?
The Cal Mac ferry finally pulls out of Ullapool and we leave the Scottish mainland behind and head across the North Minch straights over to Stornaway. The three hour ferry ride allows us a small window to catch some sleep, although there is a sense of excitement between us that keeps us awake for the first part of the crossing. Lewis is the largest of the Western Isles and is steeped in history and culture ranging back to the Iron ages. With 8,000 of its 18,000 population living in Stornaway, the Islands capital, arriving on the Island is a totally different feel to when you rock up at the deserted ferry port in Tiree.