Day 1 - Arrival

Thank you beautiful community for your prayers and intentions for good weather! Warm breezes and blue sky all day! Highly unusual apparently!

This morning, in various states of jet lag, we all piled into two vans with two bike trailers attached and headed from Inverness to Mallaig, a stunningly scenic 2.5 hour journey. The CalMac ferry then carried us over the Minch to the outer Hebrides in 3.5 hours. Just as we left the harbour we were blessed by a pod of silvery dolphins splashing in the ferry wake. The magic has begun.

Tucked into the sweet Palochar Hotel on the beach in South Uist we ate a beautiful dinner. And then as the sun was setting over the sea we went about fitting our bikes and getting ready for our first cycle tomorrow, around the island of Barra.

Much love Janie and team. xo

Day 2 - 60 km

We set off this morning at 9 am for our first day of cycling. First stop, after 10 kms, was to walk on to the 20-minute ferry to Barra. The officious wee Scottish man decided there wasn’t room to take 14 bikes on the ferry even though we had reserved the van and trailer. The ferry was half empty!  So Pete and John, our 2 soigneurs, had to pack half of our bikes inside the van by taking off the front wheels. Apparently, on most days cycling the Hebrides there are unforeseen changes in plans required. In true Callanish fashion, you just go with the flow!

The weather was a topic of conversation all day. The most beautiful day as you can see from the photos. Even Pete said it was the best cycling day he’d ever had on Barra.

It’s hard to articulate the deep feelings of today. Cycling around the whole island with a group of incredible people, panting up some big hills alongside friends and family, and at times (for some of us) walking our bikes up the steepest bits, deep in conversation, lots of laughs, and tears for those we are missing. And sheep at every turn and gannets diving out of the sky for fish in the turquoise sea. Views that took our breaths away.

And a woman stopping her car to ask ‘Who is Callanish?’ And then handing over a cash donation of twenty pounds! And the man in the suit at the ferry who asked to take a photograph of the team for the Lewis newspaper!

And finally, at the end of the 60 kms day, a jump Into the North Sea for many of us, in surprisingly warmish water. What a day!

Day 3 - 81 km

Weather continues to be superb, though the northerly wind did pick up today for our cycle up island ending with a ferry ride to Tarbert, Harris.

Some of the team did 81 kms, some did 65 and all of us found our groove on mostly flat roads with beautiful white sand beaches and aqua blue sea. Lunch at Charlie’s Bistro on Benbecula where lunch was on Martha from Callanish!  Thanks so much!  Best smoked salmon fish cakes I’ve ever eaten.

Tired and very happy, we all headed to bed immediately after dinner!

Thanks to Sophia who is presently on Lewis with her brother Billy.  An amazing surprise when we heard she’d decided to come to the Hebrides and to the Stones on Sunday!

Day 4 - 75.1 km

I will never forget cycling the Golden Road on Harris with my team this morning. I felt we were in one of the ‘thin’ places. A "thin place" is an ancient Celtic concept describing a location where the barrier between this world and the spiritual realm feels very thin, making heaven and earth feel close. 

Purple heather covered hills, up and down, up and down the tiny single track roads, sheep trotting up to meet us as we stopped for Picnic Pete’s coffee out the back of his van with homemade ginger cake. 

A stop at the 15th century St Clement’s church was a highlight for me.  I found myself alone in there for a while reflecting on how lucky I am to be on this pilgrimage with my Callanish community. And how grateful I am for all the support we have received over these past thirty years to keep Callanish going as a refuge for many. Thank you to all of you for your donations. The team has raised over $160,000 as of tonight!!

The last 30 kms of cycling took in the spectacular white sand beaches of the west coast of Harris. Andrea and Sarah got in for a swim accompanied by some cows on the beach. 

End of day pizza and tablet gelato with a candle to celebrate Judy’s birthday. 

Now to sleep. Tomorrow the Callanish Stones. Hurray! Only a 60 km bike ride to get there.

Love to you all,

Janie

Day 5 - The Callanish Stones

We did it!! We cycled to the Callanish Stones. Another day of weather that defied all forecasts. And it was Allison Prinsen’s birthday. A day that has no words really. The photos say it all.

It was also our first midge attack day! Those tiny little blighters gather in huge clouds and bite! Some of our crew brought midge hoods! Luckily when the wind comes up they scarper. Today was our first full on introduction to midges. But the energy of excitement to get to our destination kept us moving.

The team cycled up two major hills and then across the moors of Lewis to the west coast. Wide expanses of land with a few houses dotted around and a view to the sea.

We stopped 1.5 kms from the Callanish site to ready ourselves for our last push to our pilgrimage destination. Thanks to our guides who planned a route to cycle to the back entrance.

Justine had packed the flower petals in her handlebar bag, along with a few poems and of course lots of Kleenex! Some of us started crying before we even arrived.

Heading up the last stretch we could see and feel the circle of 65 stones up on the hill. Blue sky and huge white and grey clouds as a backdrop. The Callanish stones have stood for 5000 years. Although there are many theories about these circles (there are now 6 Callanish circles including the main site) there is still much mystery around their purpose which makes them even more compelling.

Sophia and her brother were there to welcome us. They too had cycled, from their spot in Stornoway. We started our ceremony by sitting up on a grassy knoll above the Stones to have a circle check in. “How is it finally here?” Stories of our ancestors and our lives and our griefs poured out as we sat on the land surround by beauty in view of the stones. And there were beautiful insights and experiences expressed that are yet to be understood and integrated.

We then entered the stone circle as the other visitors had emptied out (of course) and with handfuls of dried petals from our community back home in Vancouver, we tossed them into the wind. All the wishes and intentions offered up to rest where they may, connecting us to everyone back home and to all our ancestors far and wide.

Day 6 - 62.7 km

The hardy ones of the group started off early, in the wind and the first light rains, to cycle from Borve (our hotel) south to the Callanish Stones, and back, picking up where the cycling had stopped the day before. The rest of us slept in and had a long slow breakfast together!

To complete the Hebridean Way, the whole team then cycled up to the Butt of Lewis, across stunning windswept land. Gusts of wind at 45 km/hr would hit us sideways every so often making it a wild ride! Allison P and I resorted to loudly reciting some of our favourite Mary Oliver and John O’Donohue poems (badly, sorry Trevor). A pilgrimage doesn’t end until it ends!

We made it to the Lighthouse and Allison K sang ‘Lighthouse Keeper’ as we celebrated with bubbly thanks to our fantastic guides.

After a trip to see the shieling and the black houses at Gearrannan, and the Dun Carloway Broch, we ended up back at the Callanish Stones at 6 pm. And we were the only visitors!

We held a ceremony in the centre of the circle of 13 stones, to anchor our trust in the ongoing evolution of Callanish, and finding a safe and stable retreat space to hold our work into the future.

Day 7 - Departure

Homeward bound!

We honoured Pete and John, our two guides, after breakfast, with gifts, cards and a song sung by Allison K. They said, ‘That was a first! (about the song).  They have been thoroughly ‘Callanished!’ Hearts wide open. They then surprised us by giving Callanish a generous donation! Those two bonhommes went above and beyond, in every way, and we hope to meet again one day!

Ending with a circle (of course) and a hilarious award ceremony created by Tori and Allison K, we said our last words of thanks to each other for this pilgrimage of a lifetime. All of us are deeply changed in ways that we’ve yet to know fully.

Then we set off in the vans, bikes on back, for the drive to the ferry terminal in Stornoway. Time for a wee bit of retail therapy and then 2.5 hours over the North Sea back to the mainland, landing in the lovely town of Ullapool.  The crossing was steeped once again in sunshine with a warm breeze!

As you can see from the pics it was naptime for some  and deck time for others! The weather has been uncanny. This is my 4th time to Callanish (first time on a bike) and I have never been there in so much sunshine. We only had one short spell of rain the whole week. Our guides would tell us the pretty grim forecast the evening before our next ride, and then, every day, it would ‘brighten up’.  The light travelled with us for 343 kms, up the islands of the Outer Hebrides from Barra to the Butt of Lewis. How lucky were we!

Thanks to all of you who have donated to our fundraising campaign (now well over $160,000!) and for tracking us all the way. We truly felt the energy and love from all of you holding us up.

Thank you to the team of cyclists who so generously supported your own trips, leaving kids and families at home (thanks to them too), and for fundraising over many months. Thank you too for your supreme strength of body, heart and mind to accomplish what we did together. And for your laughter and tears.

Thanks to Sophia for flying to Scotland from Vancouver with her brother Billy, with the weight of her recent diagnosis of cancer, to take photos of our arrival at the stones and for our social media. You are an inspiration, truly!

And finally, thanks to our namesake, the Callanish Stones, which carry the great mystery of life and death, as they have stood between earth and sky, in wind, rain and sunshine for 5000 years. How many people, like us, have stood with their backs against the stones and been awed by their steadfast presence? You inspire us to hold steady, to continue our healing work with families living with cancer, in the ‘old ways,’ in the simple ways of caring for one another, knowing that we will all die, and that living is a deeply precious gift.

Much love to you all,
Janie and the team xo