Bags Packed: Three Weeks in the UK (and Yes, We're Mostly Excited About the Bikes)

Tomorrow we fly to London, and that's the start of a three-week trip around the UK: London, Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow, Oban, and then — super exciting — six days cycling the length of the Outer Hebrides on e-bikes, before finishing up through Inverness and Edinburgh and flying home from there. Twenty-three days, one carry-on each, and a spreadsheet that has been open in a browser tab for weeks. 😆

First, a Week in London

We're easing in gently: a week of theater and music — Hadestown, Don Giovanni at the Royal Opera House, the Charlie Bates Big Band at Ronnie Scott's, Shakespeare's Globe, and a couple more besides. 7 shows in 5 days! A bit of Soho, a proper pub or two, and hopefully a good curry along the way. Then trains up through Birmingham and Manchester and Glasgow, mostly free days to wander and eat well before the real adventure starts.

Then, the Part We're Actually Excited About

From Oban we pick up e-bikes and take the ferry out to Barra, and from there it's island-hopping by bicycle and CalMac ferry all the way up to Lewis — Barra to South Uist, North Uist, Harris, and finally Stornoway, with the Clisham hills and (weather permitting) a detour out to the Callanish Standing Stones along the way. We've been building up to this for months: longer rides, steeper climbs, all in service of pedalling along some of the emptiest, most beautiful coastline either of us has ever seen. If the photos of Harris are even half as good as the ones we've been staring at while planning, we are in for something special.

Whisky along the way (probably way too much!), a soft landing in Inverness and Edinburgh at the end, and then home. We'll post as we go — for now, we're just trying to remember where we put the passports.