Sunday 14 August 2011

Drive carefully...!!!

Doing two turnarounds yesterday meant I had to drive right across the island twice. It was one of those weather days when anything could happen at any time with very little warning - dazzling sunshine, heavy rain, thick drizzle, swirling mist. We were getting frequent bright rainbows, and because of the rain, there were foaming waterfalls splashing down every hillside.

Quite spectacular. (Of course, my camera was safely tucked up at home...grrr)

Now, Saturday is the day in the week when many people begin their holiday, so there were a lot of people driving across Skye yesterday who hadn't been here before. Many of these visitors are foreigners, often driving unfamiliar hire cars and for them, on the 'wrong' side of the road.

Can you see what's coming...? Suddenly-appearing stunning scenery, wet roads, unfamiliar car, someone in the back shouting 'stop, I want to take a photograph'...!

I didn't hit anything, and didn't see any accidents, but near-misses were happening all the time. Cars were parked in the daftest of places, or stopping suddenly without any kind of signal, or creeping along at 20mph inviting reckless overtaking.

My message - when you come to Skye, don't be surprised to find it to be beautiful. And if you are driving, while your passengers may excitedly point out every highland cow or brilliant rainbow, you need to keep concentrating on getting those passengers safely to where you are going. PLEASE remember that there are other people on the road, and don't leave your driving skills at home.

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