Passed Times

This was the main road up the west coast of Scotland. Single track with passing places, the diamond white signs are still there. Now a nature reserve, this 2 mile stretch would have totally disappeared if not for walkers keeping the grass and moss back.

I often wonder at mankind's efforts to shape the world to their desires, this stretch of road didn't exist in 1900, the only way to get to Scourie was by boat, and in 2000, again, the road doesn't exist, now bypassed with a new two lane road. Was it worth the expense, or squandering, of money to build for that short period of time?

Well my first excursion to Scotland, as a six year old back in the sixties, in a Bedford Dormobile , we would have followed this road, although I have no recollection of this stretch. I do remember the ferry crossing at Kylesku, and places where we camped overnight, but little else. There are many places where the old road can still be seen, many forming lay-byes, a drive to a distant house, or just a patch of tarmac slowly fading into the roadside verges. You can now travel from Ullapool to Durness in a couple of hours, a journey that would have taken a day or more. I would love to travel back in time, just for one slow journey along the old roadbed. Anyone who has driven the coast road from Achiltibuie to Lochinver and on to Stoer and Unapool will know the charm of the old roads..