The Day(s) of My Return
“The best laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft agley!” Thus wrote Rabbie Burns, poet laureate of Scotland, in 1785 and ne'er did he speak more truthfully than the start of my journey to Scotland. The plan called for a lengthy, but uneventful flight, connecting through Newark, New Jersey, to Edinburgh, Scotland. Upon landing early on Tuesday morning and meeting up with my friend and traveling companion, Sharon Campbell, we were to travel by way of Loch Tay north to...but never mind. That was the plan. As Rabbie so well put it, reality has a way of foiling the best of plans, be they of mice or men.
The journey itself was very trying, having begun on Monday with a change of flight from my origination in Nashville due to very inclement weather at my connection in Newark. After waiting, boarding, de-boarding and boarding again, we finally began the first leg to Newark. On arriving in Newark, I was confronted with another delay, initially of but a few hours but culminating in near eleven hours. This was caused by a massive storm (yes, the same storm system that had delayed my initial leg) that moved through earlier in the day wreaking havoc by striking a number of aeroplanes with lightning, including the conveyance of yours truly, resulting in major damage. So I passed the night in the terminus accompanied by my fellow irritated travelers. Of this, I'll speak no more.
I finally arrived on Tuesday as night fell upon Edinburgh – certainly one of he loveliest cities I have visited in all of my travels if not in the entire world. After collecting my luggage and negotiating the local customs officials, I finally met up with the aforementioned, and delightful, Sharon. Having traveled over 4000 miles since leaving my home and my Dusty, I was now faced with the daunting excursion of four hours to our first destination, the Ben Wyvis Hotel in Strathpeffer, just beyond the city of Inverness, known as the Capital of the Highlands. It by this time being 9:30pm local time, thoughts of a leisurely drive with stops at Loch Tay and Blair Castle were no longer an option. So we made our way to our rental and began our magical journey in the dark...in the rain!
Now the route seemed direct enough, cross the Firth of Forth into the Kingdom of Fife and proceed north along the M90 until we intersected the A9 and continue to Inverness and then on to Strathpeffer. Our plans “got laid” as it were when we were supposed to make the transition from the M90 onto the A9 at Perth. Now, this was the very night that the Scottish Department of Transport decided to CLOSE the connecting ramp from the M90 to the A9 at Perth to perform God Almighty MAINTENANCE!
So instead of proceeding merrily (well, not exactly merrily, but I'm sure you understand) on our way, we found ourselves dumped onto the wet, narrow and confusing streets of Perth. Now, for those unfamiliar with the fine country of Scotland, outside of the major cities during mid-week, it typically shuts down after 10pm. Luckily, we were able to find a local to give us excellent instructions to get back on the A9. Unluckily, we did not follow them well and we soon found ourselves motoring up the A94 in the direction of the village of Coupar Angus.
Once we discovered our error, we decided, rather than backtrack the way we had come, we would proceed onward through Coupar Angus and then cut westward and intersect the A9 at Dunkeld. This would involve driving down the A984 for 15 miles or so. I would advise that, should you find yourself in a similar situation, you NOT follow this line of reasoning!
Now, here I must digress briefly to give you a quick description of the roadway system within Scotland (and, of course, the UK). At the top of the food chain, as it were, are the M roads. M roads are equivalent to the limited access interstate system here in the States. The A roads are similar to our two and four lane major highways that do not include limited access. And the B roads can be anything that might carry traffic. The B roads are but one lane wide with periodic pull offs to await the approaching traffic to pass. (Should you meet someone not at one of the pull offs, then one of the drivers must give way and backup to the nearest pull off. While this sounds somewhat barbaric, I would say the local drivers are much more agreeable and this always happens without the exchange of coarse words or hand gestures. In fact, a tip of the hat and a smile often accompany the act.)
Now, the grade of the roadway can also be judged by the number of digits following the letter. For instance, the A9 is as fine carriage way as you would care to drive on. The A94 is still a roadway to be proud of. The A984, on the other hand, is barely two lanes wide at its best and barely one at it's worst. And on a rainy night at mid-night with but 3-4 hours sleep in the previous 24, it is a daunting task. Fortunately, Sharon was at the wheel, but it took the two of us to navigate the path and there were many times we wondered if we were actually on the correct road.
Needless to say, this little jaunt added 45-60 minutes to journey that was already rather overwhelming. However, triumph we did over this adversity and soon found ourselves back on the trusty A9 headed towards Inverness and Strathpeffer. Slug on we did with the only bright spot a fiery meteorite that lit our northerly path. We can only surmise that the clouds broke briefly to give this heartening sign to keep our spirits up.
We finally arrived at the Ben Wyvis Hostelry at about 3am and fell into bed and a stupor around 3:30am. Unfortunately, we did not have Wednesday to wile away at rest for we still had a schedule to keep and miles to travel. So, rising at 7:30am on Wednesday, we broke our fast and proceeded north to areas unknown to us. But that tale must wait, for again I must sleep.
As I write, it has turned to Friday morning and this day we must make the long journey from the north of Caithness south back to Edinburgh where I will meet up with dear Amy, Alex and the rest of our troupe to begin the main focus of the Beatonite Return to Scotland. No I have not fallen into time warp (such as I did on my journey down under) and lost two days, I have only now found the needed wi-fi to post this journal.For now, Adieu!
A Journey Through Caithness