Discussion
s2kjock said:
Few miles west of Achnasheen on the A890, looking East?
Quite possibly s2. All I remember thinking was what a fantastically long stretch of road it was, IIRC it ended at a small roundabout which seemed to be rather in the middle of nowhere and thus slightly incongruous ?
Slippydiff said:
Quite possibly s2. All I remember thinking was what a fantastically long stretch of road it was, IIRC it ended at a small roundabout which seemed to be rather in the middle of nowhere and thus slightly incongruous ?
Achnasheen is the only roundabout 100 miles north and 100 miles south... so it's a fair guess 
JM said:
I'll leave the others for now, maybe let Red Devil have a shot.
I'm a bit late to the party, as they have all been identified. 
The specific locations (as close as I can get them).
1. Immediately east of the cattle grid on the A87.
2. From the rocks above the road on the A87.
3. A890 west of Loch Gowan.
4. Dornoch Firth from Struie Hill layby on the B9176.
5. To the left of the layby on the A832 above Gruinard Bay.
6. From the car park of Sand House just off the A832.
7. The slipway here.
8. Ditto here.
Red Devil said:
Think it's the Kyle of Sutherland from the struie?towser said:
Red Devil said:
Think it's the Kyle of Sutherland from the struie?Explorer scale maps (1:25k) names the upper part of the loch as Dornoch Forth as well as the outer section past the (Dornoch Firth) bridge, which is shown as DF on all OS scales, and upper reaches are shown as Kyles of Sutherland in 1:50k and 1:250k But it does appear to be more the stretch of water up from Bonar Bridge.
Genius, pure bl**dy genius. A big thank you to all who established the locations. I shall be revisiting them for reasons I'll come to in a bit.
As can seen from the images of the various locations, we had two days of epic driving in the Autumn of 2011. Alas, some sage words proffered a few pages earlier in this thread regarding the wildlife in the Highlands, were all too accurate.
So apologies for a somewhat lengthy post, but I feel what I've written below is very relevant to a thread about The Highlands.
Less than six hours after the images taken at location 7/8 were taken, I and my beloved (not to mention rare) Mk1 GT3 found our trip ended prematurely here after an unscheduled, high speed off-roading session :
These pictures were taken the morning after the event.
Upon our arrival in the Highlands, we stayed with the kind owners of Camus House B&B
http://www.camushouse.co.uk/
Whilst chatting to the proprietor, he asked where we were heading. We duly told him, and he commented that at this time of the year (first week of October), the wildlife (especially the deer) like to graze by, wander onto or lie down in, the roads at dusk.
His final words on the matter were "Just look out for the eyes staring at you in the road"
So after two days simply superb driving, we headed out towards to the Old Library at Arisaig on the road to Mallaig.
Regrettably fate had dealt us a cruel blow, and during the afternoon my mate, the driver of the 964RS, got lost. I stopped to double back and look for him, having not found him I returned to the first possible junction he'd have to arrive at. I waited for him, but to no avail (as he'd overshot the left turn he should've taken and carried on). I once again doubled back unaware that he'd just driven past the junction I'd patiently been waiting 200 meters down the road from ....... our Highland hoon was rapidly turning into 70's TV farce ........
So an hour and half later we finally wound down towards Fort William. There we stopped at a Little Cheat for a quick drink before heading off to Arisaig.
By now we were running two hours late. Accordingly instead of driving the Mallaig road in daylight, we headed along it with dusk rapidly falling.
Some five miles along the road, the first spots of rain appeared on my windscreen, and ten minutes later the rain got heavier and the the last of the daylight evaporated.
Not far from Arisaig, the road goes underneath the railway by Beasdale station and then does a 180 degree loop back on itself.
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=mallaig&ll=56...
By the time I arrived on this section of road, the rain had stopped and the road though not dry, was all but dry. The long lefthand loop in the road is signposted as 30mph IIRC. Regrettably I was going slightly faster than that.
The exit from the loop leads onto a short straight, followed by a fast left hand kink in the road.
I estimate that I exited the lefthand kink at between 70-80mph. As I did so, I became aware of a deer standing in the opposite carriageway.......
Now perfectly illuminated (and spooked ?) by the car's headlamps, said deer started to walk towards the N/S of the road.
I had two options, head to the O/S of the road and hope the poor animal didn't decide to change its trajectory (risky IMO) or head further to the N/S of the road. I elected for the latter (and in the process broke every rule in the book of 911 driving) that being lifting off the throttle with the car's rear end under load/power, and braking heavily whilst making a quick steering input.
The result ? the mother of all spins (the car felt like it had rotated 180 degrees in it's own length, and the witness marks where the car left the road, tend to confirm as much)
I thus exited the road backwards at between 70-80 mph in the dark ...... unaware of what fate lay ahead.
I remember hearing scraping noises as I flew through the air, I suspected that they were caused by the branches of trees, but as it turned out, I think it was the front of the car being demolished as the nose slid down along the embankment diagonally.
Next there was the most almighty bang, then the car was stationary and silent with its headlamps still on lighting up the undergrowth.
I was winded, but of more immediate concern was the car starting to fill with what I thought was smoke (in reality it was the smoke and powder from the airbag which had triggered in the N/S door) not realising this, my focus was concentrated on getting out of the car smartly.
I pulled on the door handle and pushed the door, but to no avail. Had the impact jammed the door ? ? At this point blind panic took over, and armed with a large dose of adrenaline (along with a side order of brute force and ignorance) I forced the door open.
As can be seen from the images, the tree the car had hit, had fallen over across the car, and with it's branches now facing down towards the ground vertically, they'd effectively stopped the door from opening ........ I forced my way out of the narrow opening and set foot on terra firma (or at least I would've done if ground hadn't been a mushy peat bog that I sank the best part of six inches into .......)
Aware that the driver of the 964 would be arriving sometime in the next few minutes, I knew I had to get up the 15 ft high embankment and onto the road to stop him.
Not appreciating that a 100 yard walk to my right would've enabled me to get onto the road without having to "scale" the 45 degree, 15 ft high incline of the embankment, I set too with a vengeance.
After my first few steps up the incline, I hunkered down and bent double to save myself from falling over backwards, and that's when I realised that I'd broken two ribs ......
Trust me, even with large amounts of adrenaline coursing through your body, broken ribs HURT !!!!!!!
Every lurch up the embankment had me grunting out loudly in pain as my ribs moved in ways they weren't designed to.
Once up on the roadside, I waited no more than two minutes for the arrival of the 964.
Several more trips down to the car and back up the embankment, had the contents of the GT3 emptied and transferred in to the now somewhat more heavily laden 964 RS.
Ten minutes later we arrived at our destination in Arisaig. A hot cup of tea with several teaspoons of sugar had me feeling slightly more chipper. With overnight bags unloaded, I had a brief supper before retiring for the night.
Suffice to say that even dosed up with large amounts of Nurofen, a sleepless night ensued. An image kept on appearing in my mind, that of the carpet section where the seat backs would normally be in a 911.
As I'd removed various items of clothing out of the rear of the car, I'd noticed that instead of lying flat/horizontally the carpet was raised some 4-5 inches at it's centre. How could this be so ?
After a fitful nights sleep, I was all too glad when dawn broke. Showered and dressed (both painfully), I headed down to breakfast, and despite the previous night's "adventure" I felt remarkably chipper, and thus devoured a large breakfast ! !
The owner of the Old Library in Arisaig :
http://oldlibrary.co.uk/
was incredibly helpful and contacted a recovery company who we arranged to meet at the car at 11pm.
During breakfast we learned from the proprietor of a tragic accident that had occurred almost a year to the day prior to my off road excursion. The outcome made my blood run cold :
http://news.stv.tv/highlands-islands/203671-dad-of...
The poor girl who perished along with her boyfriend, had been a waitress at The Old Library, the owner told us we'd see the cairn with it's newly placed flowers as we drove back down the road ........ and so we did.
The recovery driver said he wouldn't be able to recover the car whilst we waited, firstly he'd have to clear it with the local constabulary as he'd need to close the road off (apologies to anyone who was delayed as a result) But also he said he'd be needing a chainsaw to remove the tree prior to attempting to winch the car out........
The journey home was long and painful, the sides of the seat in the 964 RS are in exactly the same position as those of the GT3 that cracked/broke my ribs. The 964 RS is not softly sprung, and it's driver not the smoothest, thus every bump and change of direction was agony.
After a marathon 11 hour journey, I arrived home tired and exhausted at 11pm. That nights sleep, whilst in my own bed, wasn't painless either.
I decided against going to A&E initially, but my mother (a retired paediatrician) and others convinced me that is was the sensible thing to do. I reluctantly went three days later, where after X-Rays they confirmed the ribs were cracked and that there was nothing to be done but rest.
The following weeks gave me plenty of time for quiet contemplation, and the accident involving the death of the waitress hit home shortly after my arrival back home. I came to realise just how lucky I'd been to have escaped with just a couple of broken/cracked ribs and a written off car.
There are so many morals to this sorry tale, you know what they are, as indeed do I.
It's all but three years since my last visit to The Highlands, I'm heading back up there tomorrow (Sat) and I'm very much looking forward to re-visiting the roads and locations identified by your good selves, but I'm also really looking forward to the scenery and the always pleasant, accomodating and helpful owners of the various hostelries I'll be staying at. All make for a truly wonderful experience.
RIP Kirsty and Roddy.
RIP "Gertie" too.
And the reason that carpet section was elevated at it's centre ? The rear bulkhead was massively buckled in the impact. And as a result the engine was trapped between the chassis legs.......
Rear subframe.
Do please drive safely everyone.
As can seen from the images of the various locations, we had two days of epic driving in the Autumn of 2011. Alas, some sage words proffered a few pages earlier in this thread regarding the wildlife in the Highlands, were all too accurate.
So apologies for a somewhat lengthy post, but I feel what I've written below is very relevant to a thread about The Highlands.
Less than six hours after the images taken at location 7/8 were taken, I and my beloved (not to mention rare) Mk1 GT3 found our trip ended prematurely here after an unscheduled, high speed off-roading session :
These pictures were taken the morning after the event.
Upon our arrival in the Highlands, we stayed with the kind owners of Camus House B&B
http://www.camushouse.co.uk/
Whilst chatting to the proprietor, he asked where we were heading. We duly told him, and he commented that at this time of the year (first week of October), the wildlife (especially the deer) like to graze by, wander onto or lie down in, the roads at dusk.
His final words on the matter were "Just look out for the eyes staring at you in the road"
So after two days simply superb driving, we headed out towards to the Old Library at Arisaig on the road to Mallaig.
Regrettably fate had dealt us a cruel blow, and during the afternoon my mate, the driver of the 964RS, got lost. I stopped to double back and look for him, having not found him I returned to the first possible junction he'd have to arrive at. I waited for him, but to no avail (as he'd overshot the left turn he should've taken and carried on). I once again doubled back unaware that he'd just driven past the junction I'd patiently been waiting 200 meters down the road from ....... our Highland hoon was rapidly turning into 70's TV farce ........
So an hour and half later we finally wound down towards Fort William. There we stopped at a Little Cheat for a quick drink before heading off to Arisaig.
By now we were running two hours late. Accordingly instead of driving the Mallaig road in daylight, we headed along it with dusk rapidly falling.
Some five miles along the road, the first spots of rain appeared on my windscreen, and ten minutes later the rain got heavier and the the last of the daylight evaporated.
Not far from Arisaig, the road goes underneath the railway by Beasdale station and then does a 180 degree loop back on itself.
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=mallaig&ll=56...
By the time I arrived on this section of road, the rain had stopped and the road though not dry, was all but dry. The long lefthand loop in the road is signposted as 30mph IIRC. Regrettably I was going slightly faster than that.
The exit from the loop leads onto a short straight, followed by a fast left hand kink in the road.
I estimate that I exited the lefthand kink at between 70-80mph. As I did so, I became aware of a deer standing in the opposite carriageway.......
Now perfectly illuminated (and spooked ?) by the car's headlamps, said deer started to walk towards the N/S of the road.
I had two options, head to the O/S of the road and hope the poor animal didn't decide to change its trajectory (risky IMO) or head further to the N/S of the road. I elected for the latter (and in the process broke every rule in the book of 911 driving) that being lifting off the throttle with the car's rear end under load/power, and braking heavily whilst making a quick steering input.
The result ? the mother of all spins (the car felt like it had rotated 180 degrees in it's own length, and the witness marks where the car left the road, tend to confirm as much)
I thus exited the road backwards at between 70-80 mph in the dark ...... unaware of what fate lay ahead.
I remember hearing scraping noises as I flew through the air, I suspected that they were caused by the branches of trees, but as it turned out, I think it was the front of the car being demolished as the nose slid down along the embankment diagonally.
Next there was the most almighty bang, then the car was stationary and silent with its headlamps still on lighting up the undergrowth.
I was winded, but of more immediate concern was the car starting to fill with what I thought was smoke (in reality it was the smoke and powder from the airbag which had triggered in the N/S door) not realising this, my focus was concentrated on getting out of the car smartly.
I pulled on the door handle and pushed the door, but to no avail. Had the impact jammed the door ? ? At this point blind panic took over, and armed with a large dose of adrenaline (along with a side order of brute force and ignorance) I forced the door open.
As can be seen from the images, the tree the car had hit, had fallen over across the car, and with it's branches now facing down towards the ground vertically, they'd effectively stopped the door from opening ........ I forced my way out of the narrow opening and set foot on terra firma (or at least I would've done if ground hadn't been a mushy peat bog that I sank the best part of six inches into .......)
Aware that the driver of the 964 would be arriving sometime in the next few minutes, I knew I had to get up the 15 ft high embankment and onto the road to stop him.
Not appreciating that a 100 yard walk to my right would've enabled me to get onto the road without having to "scale" the 45 degree, 15 ft high incline of the embankment, I set too with a vengeance.
After my first few steps up the incline, I hunkered down and bent double to save myself from falling over backwards, and that's when I realised that I'd broken two ribs ......
Trust me, even with large amounts of adrenaline coursing through your body, broken ribs HURT !!!!!!!
Every lurch up the embankment had me grunting out loudly in pain as my ribs moved in ways they weren't designed to.
Once up on the roadside, I waited no more than two minutes for the arrival of the 964.
Several more trips down to the car and back up the embankment, had the contents of the GT3 emptied and transferred in to the now somewhat more heavily laden 964 RS.
Ten minutes later we arrived at our destination in Arisaig. A hot cup of tea with several teaspoons of sugar had me feeling slightly more chipper. With overnight bags unloaded, I had a brief supper before retiring for the night.
Suffice to say that even dosed up with large amounts of Nurofen, a sleepless night ensued. An image kept on appearing in my mind, that of the carpet section where the seat backs would normally be in a 911.
As I'd removed various items of clothing out of the rear of the car, I'd noticed that instead of lying flat/horizontally the carpet was raised some 4-5 inches at it's centre. How could this be so ?
After a fitful nights sleep, I was all too glad when dawn broke. Showered and dressed (both painfully), I headed down to breakfast, and despite the previous night's "adventure" I felt remarkably chipper, and thus devoured a large breakfast ! !
The owner of the Old Library in Arisaig :
http://oldlibrary.co.uk/
was incredibly helpful and contacted a recovery company who we arranged to meet at the car at 11pm.
During breakfast we learned from the proprietor of a tragic accident that had occurred almost a year to the day prior to my off road excursion. The outcome made my blood run cold :
http://news.stv.tv/highlands-islands/203671-dad-of...
The poor girl who perished along with her boyfriend, had been a waitress at The Old Library, the owner told us we'd see the cairn with it's newly placed flowers as we drove back down the road ........ and so we did.
The recovery driver said he wouldn't be able to recover the car whilst we waited, firstly he'd have to clear it with the local constabulary as he'd need to close the road off (apologies to anyone who was delayed as a result) But also he said he'd be needing a chainsaw to remove the tree prior to attempting to winch the car out........
The journey home was long and painful, the sides of the seat in the 964 RS are in exactly the same position as those of the GT3 that cracked/broke my ribs. The 964 RS is not softly sprung, and it's driver not the smoothest, thus every bump and change of direction was agony.
After a marathon 11 hour journey, I arrived home tired and exhausted at 11pm. That nights sleep, whilst in my own bed, wasn't painless either.
I decided against going to A&E initially, but my mother (a retired paediatrician) and others convinced me that is was the sensible thing to do. I reluctantly went three days later, where after X-Rays they confirmed the ribs were cracked and that there was nothing to be done but rest.
The following weeks gave me plenty of time for quiet contemplation, and the accident involving the death of the waitress hit home shortly after my arrival back home. I came to realise just how lucky I'd been to have escaped with just a couple of broken/cracked ribs and a written off car.
There are so many morals to this sorry tale, you know what they are, as indeed do I.
It's all but three years since my last visit to The Highlands, I'm heading back up there tomorrow (Sat) and I'm very much looking forward to re-visiting the roads and locations identified by your good selves, but I'm also really looking forward to the scenery and the always pleasant, accomodating and helpful owners of the various hostelries I'll be staying at. All make for a truly wonderful experience.
RIP Kirsty and Roddy.
RIP "Gertie" too.
And the reason that carpet section was elevated at it's centre ? The rear bulkhead was massively buckled in the impact. And as a result the engine was trapped between the chassis legs.......
Rear subframe.
Do please drive safely everyone.
Edited by Slippydiff on Friday 12th September 21:35
JM said:
Both are correct according to Ordinance Survey.
Explorer scale maps (1:25k) names the upper part of the loch as Dornoch Forth as well as the outer section past the (Dornoch Firth) bridge, which is shown as DF on all OS scales, and upper reaches are shown as Kyles of Sutherland in 1:50k and 1:250k But it does appear to be more the stretch of water up from Bonar Bridge.
Och well ,for us Sutherland natives it's always been the "kyle" and you know your home when you see that view. Explorer scale maps (1:25k) names the upper part of the loch as Dornoch Forth as well as the outer section past the (Dornoch Firth) bridge, which is shown as DF on all OS scales, and upper reaches are shown as Kyles of Sutherland in 1:50k and 1:250k But it does appear to be more the stretch of water up from Bonar Bridge.
http://www.historylinksarchive.org.uk/picture/numb...
Slippydiff said:
Genius, pure bl**dy genius. A big thank you to all who established the locations. I shall be revisiting them for reasons I'll come to in a bit.
As can seen from the images of the various locations, we had two days of epic driving in the Autumn of 2011. Alas, some sage words proffered a few pages earlier in this thread regarding the wildlife in the Highlands, were all too accurate.
So apologies for a somewhat lengthy post, but I feel what I've written below is very relevant to a thread about The Highlands.
Less than six hours after the images taken at location 7/8 were taken, I and my beloved (not to mention rare) Mk1 GT3 found our trip ended prematurely here after an unscheduled, high speed off-roading session :
Upon our arrival in the Highlands, we stayed with the kind owners of Camus House B&B
http://www.camushouse.co.uk/
Whilst chatting to the proprietor, he asked where we were heading. We duly told him, and he commented that at this time of the year (first week of October), the wildlife (especially the deer) like to graze by, wander onto or lie down in, the roads at dusk.
His final words on the matter were "Just look out for the eyes staring at you in the road"
So after two days simply superb driving, we headed out towards to the Old Library at Arisaig on the road to Mallaig.
Regrettably fate had dealt us a cruel blow, and during the afternoon my mate, the driver of the 964RS, got lost. I stopped to double back and look for him, having not found him I returned to the first possible junction he'd have to arrive at. I waited for him, but to no avail (as he'd overshot the left turn he should've taken and carried on). I once again doubled back unaware that he'd just driven past the junction I'd patiently been waiting 200 meters down the road from ....... our Highland hoon was rapidly turning into 70's TV farce ........
So an hour and half later we finally wound down towards Fort William. There we stopped at a Little Cheat for a quick drink before heading off to Arisaig.
By now we were running two hours late. Accordingly instead of driving the Mallaig road in daylight, we headed along it with dusk rapidly falling.
Some five miles along the road, the first spots of rain appeared on my windscreen, and ten minutes later the rain got heavier and the the last of the daylight evaporated.
Not far from Arisaig, the road goes underneath the railway by Beasdale station and then does a 180 degree loop back on itself.
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=mallaig&ll=56...
By the time I arrived on this section of road, the rain had stopped and the road though not dry, was all but dry. The long lefthand loop in the road is signposted as 30mph IIRC. Regrettably I was going slightly faster than that.
The exit from the loop leads onto a short straight, followed by a fast left hand kink in the road.
I estimate that I exited the lefthand kink at between 70-80mph. As I did so, I became aware of a deer standing in the opposite carriageway.......
Now perfectly illuminated (and spooked ?) by the car's headlamps, said deer started to walk towards the N/S of the road.
I had two options, head to the O/S of the road and hope the poor animal didn't decide to change its trajectory (risky IMO) or head further to the N/S of the road. I elected for the latter (and in the process broke every rule in the book of 911 driving) that being lifting off the throttle with the car's rear end under load/power, and braking heavily whilst making a quick steering input.
The result ? the mother of all spins (the car felt like it had rotated 180 degrees in it's own length, and the witness marks where the car left the road, tend to confirm as much)
I thus exited the road backwards at between 70-80 mph in the dark ...... unaware of what fate lay ahead.
I remember hearing scraping noises as I flew through the air, I suspected that they were caused by the branches of trees, but as it turned out, I think it was the front of the car being demolished as the nose slid down along the embankment diagonally.
Next there was the most almighty bang, then the car was stationary and silent with its headlamps still on lighting up the undergrowth.
I was winded, but of more immediate concern was the car starting to fill with what I thought was smoke (in reality it was the smoke and powder from the airbag which had triggered in the N/S door) not realising this, my focus was concentrated on getting out of the car smartly.
I pulled on the door handle and pushed the door, but to no avail. Had the impact jammed the door ? ? At this point blind panic took over, and armed with a large dose of adrenaline (along with a side order of brute force and ignorance) I forced the door open.
As can be seen from the images, the tree the car had hit, had fallen over across the car, and with it's branches now facing down towards the ground vertically, they'd effectively stopped the door from opening ........ I forced my way out of the narrow opening and set foot on terra firma (or at least I would've done if ground hadn't been a mushy peat bog that I sank the best part of six inches into .......)
Aware that the driver of the 964 would be arriving sometime in the next few minutes, I knew I had to get up the 15 ft high embankment and onto the road to stop him.
Not appreciating that a 100 yard walk to my right would've enabled me to get onto the road without having to "scale" the 45 degree, 15 ft high incline of the embankment, I set too with a vengeance.
After my first few steps up the incline, I hunkered down and bent double to save myself from falling over backwards, and that's when I realised that I'd broken two ribs ......
Trust me, even with large amounts of adrenaline coursing through your body, broken ribs HURT !!!!!!!
Every lurch up the embankment had me grunting out loudly in pain as my ribs moved in ways they weren't designed to.
Once up on the roadside, I waited no more than two minutes for the arrival of the 964.
Several more trips down to the car and back up the embankment, had the contents of the GT3 emptied and transferred in to the now somewhat more heavily laden 964 RS.
Ten minutes later we arrived at our destination in Arisaig. A hot cup of tea with several teaspoons of sugar had me feeling slightly more chipper. With overnight bags unloaded, I had a brief supper before retiring for the night.
Suffice to say that even dosed up with large amounts of Nurofen, a sleepless night ensued. An image kept on appearing in my mind, that of the carpet section where the seat backs would normally be in a 911.
As I'd removed various items of clothing out of the rear of the car, I'd noticed that instead of lying flat/horizontally the carpet was raised some 4-5 inches at it's centre. How could this be so ?
After a fitful nights sleep, I was all too glad when dawn broke. Showered and dressed (both painfully), I headed down to breakfast, and despite the previous night's "adventure" I felt remarkably chipper, and thus devoured a large breakfast ! !
The owner of the Old Library in Arisaig :
http://oldlibrary.co.uk/
was incredibly helpful and contacted a recovery company who we arranged to meet at the car at 11pm.
During breakfast we learned from the proprietor of a tragic accident that had occurred almost a year to the day prior to my off road excursion. The outcome made my blood run cold :
http://news.stv.tv/highlands-islands/203671-dad-of...
The poor girl who perished along with her boyfriend, had been a waitress at The Old Library, the owner told us we'd see the cairn with it's newly placed flowers as we drove back down the road ........ and so we did.
The recovery driver said he wouldn't be able to recover the car whilst we waited, firstly he'd have to clear it with the local constabulary as he'd need to close the road off (apologies to anyone who was delayed as a result) But also he said he'd be needing a chainsaw to remove the tree prior to attempting to winch the car out........
The journey home was long and painful, the sides of the seat in the 964 RS are in exactly the same position as those of the GT3 that cracked/broke my ribs. The 964 RS is not softly sprung, and it's driver not the smoothest, thus every bump and change of direction was agony.
After a marathon 11 hour journey, I arrived home tired and exhausted at 11pm. That nights sleep, whilst in my own bed, wasn't painless either.
I decided against going to A&E initially, but my mother (a retired paediatrician) and others convinced me that is was the sensible thing to do. I reluctantly went three days later, where after X-Rays they confirmed the ribs were cracked and that there was nothing to be done but rest.
The following weeks gave me plenty of time for quiet contemplation, and the accident involving the death of the waitress hit home shortly after my arrival back home. I came to realise just how lucky I'd been to have escaped with just a couple of broken/cracked ribs and a written off car.
There are so many morals to this sorry tale, you know what they are, as indeed do I.
It's all but three years since my last visit to The Highlands, I'm heading back up there tomorrow (Sat) and I'm very much looking forward to re-visiting the roads and locations identified by your good selves, but I'm also really looking forward to the scenery and the always pleasant, accomodating and helpful owners of the various hostelries I'll be staying at. All make for a truly wonderful experience.
RIP Kirsty and Roddy.
RIP "Gertie" too.
And the reason that carpet section was elevated at it's centre ? The rear bulkhead was massively buckled in the impact. And as a result the engine was trapped between the chassis legs.......
Do please drive safely everyone.
Sorry to hear your last trip north ended like this. A great post though and should help act as a reminder to anyone doing a similar trip. The main thing is you walked away from it and have that experience behind you. It's frightening just how quickly things can change. I along with others have mentioned on this thread the danger that deer pose at various times of the year. As can seen from the images of the various locations, we had two days of epic driving in the Autumn of 2011. Alas, some sage words proffered a few pages earlier in this thread regarding the wildlife in the Highlands, were all too accurate.
So apologies for a somewhat lengthy post, but I feel what I've written below is very relevant to a thread about The Highlands.
Less than six hours after the images taken at location 7/8 were taken, I and my beloved (not to mention rare) Mk1 GT3 found our trip ended prematurely here after an unscheduled, high speed off-roading session :
Upon our arrival in the Highlands, we stayed with the kind owners of Camus House B&B
http://www.camushouse.co.uk/
Whilst chatting to the proprietor, he asked where we were heading. We duly told him, and he commented that at this time of the year (first week of October), the wildlife (especially the deer) like to graze by, wander onto or lie down in, the roads at dusk.
His final words on the matter were "Just look out for the eyes staring at you in the road"
So after two days simply superb driving, we headed out towards to the Old Library at Arisaig on the road to Mallaig.
Regrettably fate had dealt us a cruel blow, and during the afternoon my mate, the driver of the 964RS, got lost. I stopped to double back and look for him, having not found him I returned to the first possible junction he'd have to arrive at. I waited for him, but to no avail (as he'd overshot the left turn he should've taken and carried on). I once again doubled back unaware that he'd just driven past the junction I'd patiently been waiting 200 meters down the road from ....... our Highland hoon was rapidly turning into 70's TV farce ........
So an hour and half later we finally wound down towards Fort William. There we stopped at a Little Cheat for a quick drink before heading off to Arisaig.
By now we were running two hours late. Accordingly instead of driving the Mallaig road in daylight, we headed along it with dusk rapidly falling.
Some five miles along the road, the first spots of rain appeared on my windscreen, and ten minutes later the rain got heavier and the the last of the daylight evaporated.
Not far from Arisaig, the road goes underneath the railway by Beasdale station and then does a 180 degree loop back on itself.
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=mallaig&ll=56...
By the time I arrived on this section of road, the rain had stopped and the road though not dry, was all but dry. The long lefthand loop in the road is signposted as 30mph IIRC. Regrettably I was going slightly faster than that.
The exit from the loop leads onto a short straight, followed by a fast left hand kink in the road.
I estimate that I exited the lefthand kink at between 70-80mph. As I did so, I became aware of a deer standing in the opposite carriageway.......
Now perfectly illuminated (and spooked ?) by the car's headlamps, said deer started to walk towards the N/S of the road.
I had two options, head to the O/S of the road and hope the poor animal didn't decide to change its trajectory (risky IMO) or head further to the N/S of the road. I elected for the latter (and in the process broke every rule in the book of 911 driving) that being lifting off the throttle with the car's rear end under load/power, and braking heavily whilst making a quick steering input.
The result ? the mother of all spins (the car felt like it had rotated 180 degrees in it's own length, and the witness marks where the car left the road, tend to confirm as much)
I thus exited the road backwards at between 70-80 mph in the dark ...... unaware of what fate lay ahead.
I remember hearing scraping noises as I flew through the air, I suspected that they were caused by the branches of trees, but as it turned out, I think it was the front of the car being demolished as the nose slid down along the embankment diagonally.
Next there was the most almighty bang, then the car was stationary and silent with its headlamps still on lighting up the undergrowth.
I was winded, but of more immediate concern was the car starting to fill with what I thought was smoke (in reality it was the smoke and powder from the airbag which had triggered in the N/S door) not realising this, my focus was concentrated on getting out of the car smartly.
I pulled on the door handle and pushed the door, but to no avail. Had the impact jammed the door ? ? At this point blind panic took over, and armed with a large dose of adrenaline (along with a side order of brute force and ignorance) I forced the door open.
As can be seen from the images, the tree the car had hit, had fallen over across the car, and with it's branches now facing down towards the ground vertically, they'd effectively stopped the door from opening ........ I forced my way out of the narrow opening and set foot on terra firma (or at least I would've done if ground hadn't been a mushy peat bog that I sank the best part of six inches into .......)
Aware that the driver of the 964 would be arriving sometime in the next few minutes, I knew I had to get up the 15 ft high embankment and onto the road to stop him.
Not appreciating that a 100 yard walk to my right would've enabled me to get onto the road without having to "scale" the 45 degree, 15 ft high incline of the embankment, I set too with a vengeance.
After my first few steps up the incline, I hunkered down and bent double to save myself from falling over backwards, and that's when I realised that I'd broken two ribs ......
Trust me, even with large amounts of adrenaline coursing through your body, broken ribs HURT !!!!!!!
Every lurch up the embankment had me grunting out loudly in pain as my ribs moved in ways they weren't designed to.
Once up on the roadside, I waited no more than two minutes for the arrival of the 964.
Several more trips down to the car and back up the embankment, had the contents of the GT3 emptied and transferred in to the now somewhat more heavily laden 964 RS.
Ten minutes later we arrived at our destination in Arisaig. A hot cup of tea with several teaspoons of sugar had me feeling slightly more chipper. With overnight bags unloaded, I had a brief supper before retiring for the night.
Suffice to say that even dosed up with large amounts of Nurofen, a sleepless night ensued. An image kept on appearing in my mind, that of the carpet section where the seat backs would normally be in a 911.
As I'd removed various items of clothing out of the rear of the car, I'd noticed that instead of lying flat/horizontally the carpet was raised some 4-5 inches at it's centre. How could this be so ?
After a fitful nights sleep, I was all too glad when dawn broke. Showered and dressed (both painfully), I headed down to breakfast, and despite the previous night's "adventure" I felt remarkably chipper, and thus devoured a large breakfast ! !
The owner of the Old Library in Arisaig :
http://oldlibrary.co.uk/
was incredibly helpful and contacted a recovery company who we arranged to meet at the car at 11pm.
During breakfast we learned from the proprietor of a tragic accident that had occurred almost a year to the day prior to my off road excursion. The outcome made my blood run cold :
http://news.stv.tv/highlands-islands/203671-dad-of...
The poor girl who perished along with her boyfriend, had been a waitress at The Old Library, the owner told us we'd see the cairn with it's newly placed flowers as we drove back down the road ........ and so we did.
The recovery driver said he wouldn't be able to recover the car whilst we waited, firstly he'd have to clear it with the local constabulary as he'd need to close the road off (apologies to anyone who was delayed as a result) But also he said he'd be needing a chainsaw to remove the tree prior to attempting to winch the car out........
The journey home was long and painful, the sides of the seat in the 964 RS are in exactly the same position as those of the GT3 that cracked/broke my ribs. The 964 RS is not softly sprung, and it's driver not the smoothest, thus every bump and change of direction was agony.
After a marathon 11 hour journey, I arrived home tired and exhausted at 11pm. That nights sleep, whilst in my own bed, wasn't painless either.
I decided against going to A&E initially, but my mother (a retired paediatrician) and others convinced me that is was the sensible thing to do. I reluctantly went three days later, where after X-Rays they confirmed the ribs were cracked and that there was nothing to be done but rest.
The following weeks gave me plenty of time for quiet contemplation, and the accident involving the death of the waitress hit home shortly after my arrival back home. I came to realise just how lucky I'd been to have escaped with just a couple of broken/cracked ribs and a written off car.
There are so many morals to this sorry tale, you know what they are, as indeed do I.
It's all but three years since my last visit to The Highlands, I'm heading back up there tomorrow (Sat) and I'm very much looking forward to re-visiting the roads and locations identified by your good selves, but I'm also really looking forward to the scenery and the always pleasant, accomodating and helpful owners of the various hostelries I'll be staying at. All make for a truly wonderful experience.
RIP Kirsty and Roddy.
RIP "Gertie" too.
And the reason that carpet section was elevated at it's centre ? The rear bulkhead was massively buckled in the impact. And as a result the engine was trapped between the chassis legs.......
Do please drive safely everyone.
Edited by Slippydiff on Friday 12th September 21:35
JM said:
towser said:
Red Devil said:
Think it's the Kyle of Sutherland from the struie?Explorer scale maps (1:25k) names the upper part of the loch as Dornoch Forth as well as the outer section past the (Dornoch Firth) bridge, which is shown as DF on all OS scales, and upper reaches are shown as Kyles of Sutherland in 1:50k and 1:250k But it does appear to be more the stretch of water up from Bonar Bridge.
The Kyle is the estuary running from the confluence of the Oykel and the Cassley down to Bonar Bridge - http://goo.gl/kDF154The water in the foreground looking down from Struie Hill is definitely the Dornoch Firth.
Much more of that and we will be looking at tighter speed limits etc. The Highlands do offer temptingly fast roads but having seen some truly dreadful driving up there I do wish people would leave a bit more margin for error as well as thinking -'what does this look like to the locals ?'.....
I'm not wanting to get into the "Highland playground" discussion other than to say I drive a bit slower up there than I used to (learning to ride a motorbike focuses you wonderfully on hazard observation), and yes, I think lower rural speed limits will come - there will of course be no way to enforce them until black box technology becomes mandatory.
The wildlife issue is a real problem in the Highlands - I have driven regularly up there all my life, as have my parents. Of the people we know that live there all the time, I think most have had an altercation with deer, and none of these were enjoying a "spirited drive".
I encountered a large stag at sea level (Loch Duich) 12 years ago late one Spring evening - dipped headlights due to oncoming traffic in the distance, no history of deer sights in that area (I'd driven it many, many times before).
Deer stood frightened leaving me with a choice of 3 foot ditch on once side, and high kerb and 20 foot drop into sea the other - decide to go one way around it, it decides to go same way I do. Luckily I had managed to lose some speed from c 65, and also being in a Saab 9-5 it didn't cause too much damage and I maintained control, but it could have been a whole lot worse, especially in the sort of lightweight, low slung sportscars I drive now (or worse, motorbike). Very little you can do in these situations.
My solution?
Ever since then, north and west of the Great Glen I drive at no more than 40-50 after dark on remote roads, regardless of road conditions, traffic levels and weather. It at least provides valuable additional reaction time and reduces impact speed to hopefully allow you maintain control/minimise damage. This is, however, so painful that I therefore pretty much avoid driving in the area after dark, and at dusk/dawn outside the summer, am extremely careful.
A lot of it is just luck - I was in the South of France last week, and in an agricultural area, not remote, a deer ran across the road in front of us in in the middle of the day - but the odds are much worse in the Highlands at night.
Certainly understand how you feel slippy, and glad you were not badly hurt. Very much "there but for the grace of god" etc
The wildlife issue is a real problem in the Highlands - I have driven regularly up there all my life, as have my parents. Of the people we know that live there all the time, I think most have had an altercation with deer, and none of these were enjoying a "spirited drive".
I encountered a large stag at sea level (Loch Duich) 12 years ago late one Spring evening - dipped headlights due to oncoming traffic in the distance, no history of deer sights in that area (I'd driven it many, many times before).
Deer stood frightened leaving me with a choice of 3 foot ditch on once side, and high kerb and 20 foot drop into sea the other - decide to go one way around it, it decides to go same way I do. Luckily I had managed to lose some speed from c 65, and also being in a Saab 9-5 it didn't cause too much damage and I maintained control, but it could have been a whole lot worse, especially in the sort of lightweight, low slung sportscars I drive now (or worse, motorbike). Very little you can do in these situations.
My solution?
Ever since then, north and west of the Great Glen I drive at no more than 40-50 after dark on remote roads, regardless of road conditions, traffic levels and weather. It at least provides valuable additional reaction time and reduces impact speed to hopefully allow you maintain control/minimise damage. This is, however, so painful that I therefore pretty much avoid driving in the area after dark, and at dusk/dawn outside the summer, am extremely careful.
A lot of it is just luck - I was in the South of France last week, and in an agricultural area, not remote, a deer ran across the road in front of us in in the middle of the day - but the odds are much worse in the Highlands at night.
Certainly understand how you feel slippy, and glad you were not badly hurt. Very much "there but for the grace of god" etc
All I can say is, we had a wonderful time doing "The Applecross Loop". Thank you to GetCarter for inspiration to do it. We then carried on to Strathy Point Lighthouse for five days. The one thing that really stuck out for me was the standard of driving. The only time we were held up was by a French chap for around ten miles at the most. All in all it was as much fun as one could hope for in a diesel BMW estate 
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