Still intrepid

It was always an ambitious plan. We planned to drive from one side of Scotland to the other, across the Highlands, to stay for a couple of nights with our friends in Ullapool – a trip of about 160 miles (258 kms). After Storm Babet arrived we were concerned that some of the roads might be closed. We decided to travel by the larger roads and not take our favourite back roads. 

On the morning we were setting off we checked whether they were any road closures. There were none but they were warnings about a lot of water across the roads and there was a yellow alert warning for heavy rain and strong winds.It wasn't easy driving but as we got closer and closer to Ullapool we thought we were going to be alright. 30 miles out of Ullapool our hearts sank when we saw cars stopping in front of us. I got out of the car and walked up to the gentleman who was putting out the red cones and the ‘Road Closed‘ sign and asked him what the story was. He told me that they had just closed the road due to flooding. I asked if there was another way that we could get to Ullapool and he told me the only option we had was to take a longer route of 100 miles (160kms) on a challenging road via Gairloch. He said that the road sometimes was single lane only and he couldn't guarantee that it would not be closed. It was getting late-ish and we knew we wouldn't be able to turn around and drive back to Aberdeen so we decided to take the detour. We had no mobile coverage so we couldn't ring ahead and warn our friends that we were going to be considerably late. We didn't take any photos  from then on - it took two of us to concentrate on the road.

We eventually arrived, exhausted and ready for that lovely chilled glass of wine our friends had ready for us. In all, that day we drove around 230 miles (370kms) on challenging roads and in awful conditions. At least it taught us that we could still do it and that we can still be intrepid.