Talk of the town

I'm no' sure I believed her but when the waitress at the Little Chef in Spean Bridge told us we were the talk of Fort William, it had a certain air of plausability. Four days previously, we were effectively marooned by a Landie which decided that it didn't really fancy the long drive to Skye after all.

We sat in the Little Chef and considered our options; we could press on and risk catastrophic car failure in the middle of God knows where, call out recovery and go home or phone a garage and try and get it fixed.

These options were further limited by the fact that this was after lunchtime on Hogmanay and most of Scotland was effectively shut.

Praise be then to the wonderful folk who live up that way. Crissy the waitress offered to call out her man who was a mechanic & the manager of the LC gave us the numbers of a couple of local garages.

Charlie of Heathercroft Motor Engineers came to the rescue. He took the car for a quick spin and came back looking rather sad. It was, he said, "sick" and advised us to go no further. He could take us on to our destination but couldn't promise that the insurance company would pay to get us all the way home again, or he could just take us home.

Perhaps prompted by our sad wee faces, he then suggested a hire car. The place was shut but he knew the owner and might be able to persuade them to lend us something. It wasn't a long phone call but but it felt like an age. There was a glimmer of hope; the lassie in charge lived across the road from the showroom and was willing to meet us there. So I hopped in the van and Charlie gave me a hurl doon the road to Fort William. Holly of Ben Nevis Motors turned up shortly after Charlie had dropped me off and headed off to rescue some other poor unfortunate.

A quick DVLA check, a cash transaction and I had the keys to a shiny Ford Focus. Result! Back to Spean Bridge to pick up The Future Mrs D & The Boy and we were back on the road. 90 minutes later, and about 4 hours after we'd hoped to be there, we pulled up ootside our wee home for the next 4 days. It was awfy stressful and more than a tad expensive but ultimately worth it and everybody had a grand time.



Let's hear it for the nice folk who go that extra yard when they really don't have to.

Thanks people.

Over the sea to Skye Part II

Ok, so no hills were climbed but that doesn't matter. Just being on Skye for a whole week was deeply satisfying in a "good for the soul" kind of way. Lovely wee cottage with great views, great company, an open fire and a Rayburn to cook on. Even the weather was kind; glorious sunshine nearly every day.

I actually enjoyed the drive up and back, all five and a half hours of it, because there's just so much damn fine scenery to look at. And the roads were relatively quiet, probably as it was the week before the English Easter Bank Holiday. Different story coming back; a steady stream of traffic heading north on the A9. Suckers :o)

Something I haven't experienced for a long time was a proper, clear night sky, free from street lighting. It was jaw-droppingly grand and, for the first time ever, I could actually see satellites with the naked eye. (Caused a wee bit of a UFO alert at first but they were appearing with such regularity that fears of alien invasion were quickly discounted).

And then there was the deer. The buggers were forever creeping about in the field opposite, dimly visible under the full moon but never close enough for us to get a good look until, that is, we surprised them by getting up early.

On our last day, we stood and watched them as they headed back into the trees for the day. TFMD had never seen Red Deer in the wild so it was a special moment and something we'll remember for a long time to come. A perfect end to a perfect week.

Over the sea to Skye

Back to Skye tomorrow for the second time this year. I suspect that there will be far too many kids and dogs in tow for any hills to get done but I live in hope. They'll at least get dragged up to The Old Man Of Storr so that'll be something at least.

The long range weather forecast was looking good, last time I checked, so a bare minimum of gear will be taken. Just in case.